Call and contact outcome codes
Call and contact outcome codes define the outcome of each inbound or outbound call or contact, and are used in determining the queues in which used records should be placed. (The sample management scripting language refers to outcomes as Sample record return codes.) Code numbers 1 to 149 are reserved for internal use by the sample management system, and are described in the following section. If you want to define your own outcome codes you must use numbers 150 or above.
Inbound
When respondents connect to your website to participate in a survey, the outcome code is set by the authentication or interviewing process. Records that fail the authentication process never reach the interviewing program and have their outcome codes set by the sample management script. Records that pass authentication are passed to the interviewing program. When the interview ends for whatever reason, the interviewing program passes the record back to sample management with an appropriate outcome code.
Outbound
Interviewers working on telephone or personal interviewing projects see a list of possible outcomes on their screens. If the respondent agrees to be interviewed immediately, the interviewer clicks Start Interview; otherwise they select an outcome from the list. Records for which telephone interviews take place are assigned their outcome codes by the interviewing program in the same way as for inbound calls.
The following outcome codes are defined for telephone and personal interviewing projects in the site-level DefaultCatiSampleRecReturnsCodes property in DPM. These codes form the basis of the outcome menu that is displayed for interviewers working on telephone or personal interviewing projects. The Interviewing Options activity allows supervisors to modify this list for a particular project.
Note The When displayed column shows when call outcomes are displayed (by default) if they are applicable to the interviewing mode. Call outcomes not applicable to the interviewing mode, like AnswerMachine for personal interviewing, are never displayed.
Return codes
Completed
Value: 1
Queue: COMPLETED
When displayed: Not displayed
Interview complete.
Stopped
Value: 2
Queue: TIMED_OUT or STOPPED
When displayed: Not displayed
Interview timed out or stopped. If the TimedOut interview property is set to 1, the record is placed in the TIMED_OUT queue; if it is set to 0, the record goes into the STOPPED queue.
Failed
Value: 4
Queue: FAILED
When displayed: Not displayed
Error during call or interview. Records with this status should be investigated and, if appropriate, moved to another queue for dialing or redialing.
OverQuota
Value: 5
When displayed: Queue: UNUSABLE
Not displayed
The interview has been terminated because the respondent failed the quota checks.
EarlyComplete
Value: 6
When displayed: Queue: COMPLETED
Not displayed
Interview completed early (that is, before all questions have been asked).
To make this option available to interviewers, change its visibility setting using the Interviewing Options activity.
FailedScreener
Value: 7
When displayed: Queue: UNUSABLE
Not displayed
Respondent did not qualify to complete the interview.
Abandoned
Value: 8
Queue: UNUSABLE
When displayed: During interview
Respondent refused to complete interview.
Reviewed
Value: 10
Queue: COMPLETED
When displayed: Not displayed
Interview has been reviewed.
Appointment
Value: 11
Queue: APPOINTMENT
When displayed: Before interview starts
Respondent made an appointment.
NoAnswer
Value: 12
Queue: RECALL
When displayed: Before interview starts
No answer.
AnswerMachine
Value: 13
Queue: RECALL
When displayed: Before interview starts
Answered by answering machine.
Busy
Value: 14
Queue: RECALL
When displayed: Before interview starts
Respondent's phone is busy.
TransferToWeb
Value: 15
Queue: TRANSFER_TO_WEB
When displayed: Before interview starts
Flag this record as being for inbound (Web) interviewing.
Rejected
Value: 16
Queue: RECALL
When displayed: Before interview starts
Call rejected. This may be a mobile phone set to “Do not ring”, or a home phone that requires the caller to identify themself before it will ring.
The Caller Id property is set to True so that caller identification will be set for the next call even if it is disabled for the project.
NetworkBusy
Value: 17
Queue: RECALL
When displayed: Before interview starts
Call could not be made because the telephone network was busy. The first appointment time is set for 1 minute's time. Thereafter, the appointment time is based on the standard NoAnswer delay.
FastBusy
Value: 18
Queue: 1st RECALL
2nd UNUSABLE
When displayed: Before interview starts
Call resulted in an in-band fast busy (reorder) tone. This is supposed to be for network congestion but is used by some North American legacy switches to indicate an unallocated number.
The record is scheduled for calling in one minute's time. If the same result is obtained on that call, the number if assumed to be unallocated and is moved to the UNUSABLE queue.
The number of call attempts is not incremented because the record has not been called.
DialerBusy
Value: 19
Queue: RECALL
When displayed: Before interview starts
Call could not be made because the autodialer was busy.
The appointment time is set for 1 minute's time.
The number of call attempts is not incremented because the record has not been called.
Fax
Value: 21
Queue: UNUSABLE
When displayed: Before interview starts
Fax answered.
WrongNumber
Value: 22
Queue: UNUSABLE
When displayed: Before interview starts
Phone number incorrect for respondent.
Disconnected
Value: 23
Queue: UNUSABLE
When displayed: Before interview starts
Phone number invalid.
CellPhone
Value: 24
Queue: UNUSABLE
When displayed: Before interview starts
Cell phone—do not interview. Use, for example, when interviewing on cell phones is prohibitively expensive.
BusinessNumber
Value: 25
Queue: UNUSABLE
When displayed: Before interview starts
Type of number not valid for survey.
PossibleWrongNumber
Value: 26
Queue: CHECK_NUMBER
When displayed: Not displayed
The number has changed, or was incomplete (for example, too few digits so the call did not ring), or a recorded announcement or special tone was detected.
The number is not redialed. Interviewers may use the Specific Contact button to retrieve numbers from this queue and listen to the audio in order to disposition them properly or update the number.
NotAvailable
Value: 27
Queue: UNUSABLE
When displayed: Before interview starts
The designated respondent is not available within the timescale of the project; for example, they may be on holiday.
Refused
Value: 31
Queue: REFUSED or UNUSABLE
When displayed: Before interview starts
Respondents who refuse to start an interview go into the REFUSED queue unless they have refused an interviewer with the HandleQueue_ REFUSED qualification. In this case they go into the UNUSABLE queue.
LanguageBarrier
Value: 32
Queue: UNUSABLE
When displayed: Before interview starts
Interviewer does not speak respondent's language. Do not schedule an appointment.
LanguageRecall
Value: 33
Queue: RECALL
When displayed: Not displayed by default. If displayed, then only before interview starts.
Interviewer does not speak respondent's language. Schedule an appointment with an appropriately qualified interviewer for five minutes' time.
RejectedByReviewer
Value: 34
Queue: UNUSABLE
When displayed: When an interview is being reviewed.
The reviewer has rejected the interview for some reason. A typical example may be because the reviewer calls the respondent and discovers that the interviewer falsified the interview.
Edited
Value: 35
Queue: The queue from which the record was selected
When displayed: Not displayed
Indicates that the participant record was edited via UNICOM Intelligence Interviewer - Offline for Windows.
Canceled
Value: 41
Queue: The queue from which the record was selected
When displayed: Before interview starts
Interviewer clicked the Cancel Contact button. The contact is returned to the sample management system as if it were never retrieved.
DialerFailed
Value: 42
Queue: RECALL
When displayed: Not displayed
Dialer unable to make the call.
The next call is scheduled for 72 hours' time. (The 72 hour appointment time is designed to help supervisors meet regulations about redialing silent numbers.)
Note This return code is used when unexpected events occur (for example, an ISDN protocol error where the telephone network sends some information which, according to the protocol specification, it should not send). If an unplanned event occurs after the participant has answered the call but before the call has been connected to the interviewer, the call will be cleared and becomes a silent call.
Silent
Value: 43
Queue: SILENT
When displayed: Not displayed
A group call was made but no extension was free to take the call, or the interviewer's phone was on-hook. These calls are often referred to as “nuisance calls”.
The next call is scheduled for 72 hours' time. Records are not redialed, but a supervisor can move them into the APPOINTMENT queue when the dialer returns. (The 72 hour appointment time is designed to help supervisors meet regulations about redialing silent numbers.)
Unknown
Value: 44
Queue: RECALL
When displayed: Not displayed
Records with this status will be treated the same as records with a NoAnswer status.
Reviewed
Value: —
Queue: —
When displayed: Not displayed.
Reserved for future use.
The interview has been reviewed after completion. This return code will be used by Phone Participants when it returns the sample record after the review.
RemoteHangup
Value: 45
Queue: 1st RECALL
2nd SILENT
When displayed: Not displayed
If the call is hung up after connection, the call and the sample record are passed to the interviewer, who will then select an appropriate call outcome from the list.
See also