CPResearch
started telephone interview from 1997. In
1998, CPResearch set up its Computer
Assisted Telephone Interview (CATI). Now
there are 30 stations in Beijing office. In
order to satisfy clients request on CATI,
CPResearch has set up its Web CATI from year
2004.
Web CATI
SurveyStar is a web-based
CATI system, it is owned by
CPResearch. In order to
satisfy clients' increasing
request on CATI, CPResearch
launched its Web CATI in
Shanghai and Guangzhou at
year 2006, and will
eventually expands into
cities of the 2nd tier in
the next several years.
Up to now, CPResearch has
800 qualified CATI
interviewers in Beijing,
Shanghai, and Guangzhou.
Eventually CPResearch will
have several thousands
qualified CATI interviewers
all over China.
SurveyStar consists of three
separate server: server for
dialing, for questionnaire
management, and for database
management. All three
servers are connected into
internet. Local computers
log on the server for
dialing, entering username
and password, then can start
interview.
Web CATI will be fast
because of large amount of
interviewers, will be more
accuracy because of
interview in dialects, and
will still high quality
because of strict and
transparent measures.
Computer Assisted Telephone
Interview
(CATI)
CPResearch has totally 30
stations in Beijing CATI
center. CATI has a number of
advantages:
1) Standardized
sampling and call-back
procedures can be
programmed in the system to
insure uniformity of
practice and more efficient
calling routines.
2) Interview questins can
be automatically modified
to insert information
already obtained and to
phrase questions
appropriately by such
personal characteristics as
gender and marital status.
3) Computer-controlled skip
patterns permit far more complex
interviews than are possible with
paper and pencil forms. Questions
can be designed to vary according to
answers given earlier in the
interview or even according to
random numbers. Complex experiments
can be integrated into the survey.
4) In-process data
cleaning is a standard
benefit, since many
potential interviewer
errors, such as missed
questions or inappropriate
skips, are virtually
eliminated. Also, apparent
discrepancies between
responses may be
automatically identified for
probing during the course of
the interview.
5) Tabulations and data
files are available sooner
because data entry and most
manual editing and data
cleaning steps are
eliminated. For more complex
studies, this may save weeks
between the completion of
interviewing and the
beginning of analysis.
6) Automatic
record-keeping, by date,
time, sample segment, and
interviewer, facilitates
both interim and final
reports on sampling outcomes
and interviewer performance.
Automatic timing of
alternate question wordings
and sequences can aid in the
design of interviews that
are less burdensome to
respondents and more
efficient for researchers.