Telephone methodology for community surveys

Maximising response rates in household telephone surveys

BACKGROUND Epidemiological and other studies that require participants to respond by completing a questionnaire face the growing threat of non-response. Response rates to household telephone surveys are diminishing because of changes in telecommunications, marketing and culture. Accordingly, updated information is required about the rate of telephone listing in directories and optimal strategie...

Small-community-based surveys.

Rapid, small surveys are routinely done in much of the developing world but are less common in the United States. We present as an example a rapid survey of immunization status and other factors in a predominantly Hispanic region in Los Angeles. The survey united county employees, students, and community volunteers, first to enumerate the eligible population and then to conduct in-person interv...

Evaluation Methodology for a Telephone-Based Conversational System

This paper describes a suite of metrics that we use to evaluate our JUPITER system which provides worldwide weather information over the telephone. Since May, 1997, we have made the system available to the general public via a toll-free number and have collected approximately 35,000 utterances to date. These data have proven invaluable for system development and evaluation. Because JUPITER make...

Satellite Rural Telephone Network Design: A Methodology for Performance Optimization

Using Advance Respondent Letters in Random-digit-dialing Telephone Surveys

The rationale for the use of an advance respondent letter is based on the experience of survey researchers that contact before an actual interview attempt “warmsup” respondents, hopefully making them more positively disposed toward participation than if they were only to receive a “cold call.” The logic is that using advance respondent letters will increase response rates, thereby reducing the ...