A CATI survey is a method used in research to collect data through telephone interviews with respondents. Here’s how it works:
In a CATI survey, researchers first select a sample of individuals or businesses they want to survey. They create a structured questionnaire, including questions about demographics, preferences, opinions, or behaviors. This questionnaire is programmed into CATI software.
During the interview, the interviewer reads the questions to the respondent and records their answers directly into the CATI software. The software provides prompts, answer choices, and predefined codes to assist the interviewer. It also manages call scheduling, tracks call outcomes, and stores respondent answers electronically.
Once data collection is complete, researchers can easily analyze the data using statistical tools and software. CATI surveys offer efficient data collection, randomization, and reduced data entry errors, but they have limitations like potential interviewer bias and the inability to capture non-verbal cues. Despite these limitations, CATI surveys are valuable for gathering structured data from a targeted sample over the phone.