The Phones are Ringing, but is Anyone Answering? 28/07/00 The Council for Marketing and Opinion Research (CMOR) in the US has recently released the findings of a report carried out earlier in 2000, the Telephone Survey Practices Study. The primary goal of the study was to collect data from telephone research centres about their survey practices. A total of 135 Web based surveys were conducted in January/February 2000 among Marketing Research Association members who managed or owned telephone research facilities. Of the 135 that responded, 40% were classified as data collection companies and 60% as full service research firms. The key findings were as follows: Contents of Introduction - Introductions to telephone interviews are very important because most refusals occur at this point of the interview. Results from the survey indicated that six introduction elements are included in more than two thirds of cases. These are: company name, general interview topic, interviewer's first name, statement 'not selling anything', statement of confidentiality and approximate length. Call Monitoring - The survey found that only 12% of the facilities always mention in the introduction that the call may be monitored and another 28% mention it sometimes. Answering Machine Messages - 17% of the facilities interviewed currently leave a message on answering machines, while another 22% are considering introducing this practice in the near future. Callback Validations - Respondents often cite that they are called at inconvenient times. More than three quarters of the facilities interviewed perform callback validations to consumer studies, business studies and both. Do Not Call Lists - Some research companies have established and implemented internal do not call practice. Over half of the facilities interviewed maintain a do not call list for all studies and another 24% plan to implement a do not call policy in the near future. Interviewer Characteristics/Training - Interviewers are often expected to work on more than one study at a time. The majority of interviewers have worked for a minimum of six months at the same facility, whilst one quarter of the interviewing staff is considered full time. On average, less than one day is spent in initial training and most often this is through an in house training programme. Supervisor Characteristics/Training - Nearly all supervisors have worked for their companies for at least six months and have worked as an interviewer for nearly one year prior. Supervisors receive much more training than interviewers and most have professional development programmes available. CMOR believes that now is the time to develop strong recommendations to demonstrate that the industry is self regulating. In addition, the high correlation between respondents' impressions of their recent survey experience and future willingness to participate make it imperative that researchers concern themselves with making the survey process a 'pleasant' experience. Areas which need to be addressed, in the opinion of CMOR, include: Developing model language for introductions, including a statement about call monitoring Reviewing and recommending maximum call attempts by day, and total attempts to a household Considering the establishment of an industry 'do not survey' list Establishing productive hours of operation for telephone centres Developing a comprehensive technology assisted training for interviewers