A computer-assisted telephone interview (CATI) is a survey method used primarily in market research. CATI surveys involve telephone interviews supported by a computer. The interviewer conducts the telephone survey using a questionnaire displayed on a computer screen. Questions are read from the screen and respondents’ answers are entered directly into the interviewer’s computer.
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CATI questionnaires: dynamic functions and routing logic
CATI questionnaires are often designed dynamically so that respondents are only asked questions that are relevant and applicable to them. For example, if a respondent says that they do not know a particular product, they will not subsequently be asked about its benefits or quality. Dynamic questionnaire functions can reuse responses in follow-up questions, show or hide questions and pages, and route respondents to or past specific pages. These individual paths are often used to keep questionnaires as short and engaging as possible for each respondent. The questionnaire logic, including conditions, visibility rules and jumps, is defined when the questionnaire is created. During the interview, the interviewer simply follows the automatically generated path and can focus on recording the responses.
Create a dynamic questionnaire
What are CATI surveys used for?
Computer-assisted data collection is commonly used in market and opinion research projects as well as electoral and social research, for example in representative population surveys. Customer surveys can also be carried out using CATI. CATI makes it possible to conduct a larger number of interviews in a relatively short period and analyse the data electronically straight away. Computer-assisted telephone interviews can be implemented using online survey tools. The online questionnaire is created in advance so that the interviewer sees the questions to be read out on screen. Respondents’ answers can then be entered directly on the computer and processed further. Data quality is generally higher than with paper-and-pencil surveys because sources of error such as illegible handwriting and mistakes during manual data transfer are eliminated.
Topics and use cases for computer-assisted interviews
CATI data collection can cover anything from general political opinion research to targeted surveys for specific groups, for example as part of urban development or mobility projects. Companies can also use computer-assisted interview projects alongside broader online surveys. Topics may include customer satisfaction or market potential. However, because participants and customers are generally easier to reach online than by telephone, companies usually use conventional online customer surveys.
Conducting CATI research with LamaPoll
The LamaPoll survey tool can be used both for conventional online customer satisfaction surveys and for creating dynamic questionnaires as the basis for CATI research. Questionnaires can be created easily and intuitively and adapted to the survey situation and method. You can also use our free questionnaire templates, copy them into your own LamaPoll account with one click and customise them as required.
With LamaPoll, you can conduct CATI studies, target-group surveys and customer surveys securely and in compliance with data protection requirements. Free questionnaire templates for market research projects, employee surveys and customer surveys are available here: questionnaire templates
What is LamaPoll?
LamaPoll is a survey tool for creating online questionnaires. Our survey tool lets you create, run and analyse online questionnaires quickly and easily. Create your questionnaire in just a few steps, customise it for your organisation and conveniently invite customers or employees by email. An online questionnaire enables you to gather insights quickly and easily to improve customer or employee satisfaction. You can register for the LamaPoll survey tool free of charge and immediately create and run online surveys with up to 50 participants. If you need more responses for your online questionnaire, simply choose one of our plans: billed monthly, cancel any month. You can also choose from our online questionnaire templates and examples.
