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Interviewing: Interviewer
The Interviewer settings allow you to specify interviewer dialing parameters.
Dialing option
Select whether an autodialer is used to dial phone numbers, whether interviewers must dial numbers manually, or whether interviewers can use modems to dial numbers.
Note The Dialing options are only available when a dialer is installed on the server.
SPSS Dialer (Extension) – Power dial for the interviewer screen. In extension dialing, the autodialer dials participants only when interviewers click the Start Dialing button in the Phone Participants activity. This mode can result in longer wait times for interviewers, but is unlikely to result in silent calls.
SPSS Dialer (Group) – Dial for the interview in a group (with optional predictive dialing). In group/predictive dialing, the autodialer dials participants before interviewers are available to answer the connected calls. That is, the software predicts when interviewers will click the Start Dialing button. This mode can deliver the highest interviewer productivity, but might result in silent calls.
Modem - Show Dial Contact button on the Interviewer screen. Allow interviewers to use modems to dial phone numbers. The Dial Contact button on the main screen of the Phone Participants activity will then be usable. When interviewers click that button, the phone number displayed in the main screen will be dialed automatically by the modem. Note that the modem option will work only for phone numbers that are formatted as follows:
+Country/RegionCode (Area/CityCode) SubscriberNumber
For example, 44 12 3456 7890 for a subscriber in the United Kingdom. In addition, a separate software installation is required on each telephone interviewer station that will use the modem option. For more information, see "Things you must do on local computers" in the UNICOM Intelligence Interviewer - Server Admin Installation Instructions. If a station has access to more than one modem, you can specify which one to use: see “Settings for the Phone Participants Activity” in the UNICOM Intelligence Developer Documentation Library.
If you select the option to use modems, the project cannot use an autodialer. Interviewers will still be able to dial numbers manually if they have access to a telephone keypad. The modem option works only in Microsoft Internet Explorer on Microsoft Windows.
Manual - Interviewer dials numbers manually. Interviewers must manually dial the phone number displayed on the main screen of the Phone Participants activity.
Note If you select the option to dial phone numbers manually, the project cannot use an autodialer or modems.
Never dial automatically
When selected, interviewers will be forced to preview contacts prior to dialing.
Select project specific qualifications
When selected, interviewers do not have to select their own qualifications as the process occurs automatically based on the qualifications specified for the project to which they have been assigned.
Interviewer to select qualifications
When selected, interviewers will be prompted to select their qualifications at the start of each session.
Interviewer qualifications control which sample records are allocated to each interviewer and are a good way of making the best use of your interviewers' skills. There are two ways of assigning qualifications to interviewers, which can be used together or separately. Administrators can set an interviewer's qualifications when they create UNICOM Intelligence Interviewer - Server Admin accounts, or interviewers may select their own qualifications at the start of each interviewing session or during a session.
Depending on how your company uses qualifications, it may be appropriate for administrators to set some qualifications and for interviewers to be allowed to select others. For example, language or refusal-conversion qualifications could be set by administrators, while location qualifications that specify which region an interviewer should call could be set and changed by interviewers themselves.
Administrators can also define distinct qualification groups that are applicable on a per-project basis. These qualification groups can be selected when setting the interviewer qualifications. Defined qualification groups are selected via the Qualifications for this project list. Qualification groups that are not chosen are ignored by the selected project. Once qualifications are configured, interviewers do not have to select their own qualifications as the process occurs automatically based on the qualifications (global and project-specific) to which they have been assigned.
For more information, see “Interviewer Qualifications” in the UNICOM Intelligence Professional User's Guide.
Select the qualifications that interviewers may select themselves. Selecting the option but no qualifications is the same as not selecting the option at all.
Note Take care when choosing which qualifications interviewers may select, as it is possible to allow interviewers to select qualifications they do not have. For example, suppose the administrator has created Sam's account with a French language qualification. If you allow interviewers to set the language qualification, Sam will be presented with the full list of languages and will be able to choose any combination of languages from that list.
Display status messages in Phone Participants
When selected interviewer status messages will display in the UNICOM Intelligence Interviewer - Server Admin Phone Participants activity.
Show Specific Contact button on the Interviewer screen
When selected, interviewers can retrieve specific participants from the sample database and the Specific Contact button on the main screen of the Phone Participants activity is enabled. When interviewers click the button, a dialog box appears where they can either retrieve their last contact or search for a contact. If they search for a contact, they can select the field to search and specify the value to search for. The choice of fields to search is determined by the settings in the Show column in Project: Display Fields.
Automatically select next contact
When selected, the interviewing program automatically selects an interviewer's next contact; when not selected, interviewers must click a button to request their next contact.
Interviewers working on projects with this option set will see a check box labeled "Auto contact selection" just above the list of outcomes, so it is still possible for some interviewers to work in fully manual mode if you want.
Some projects may use a combination of automated and modem or manual dialing. You can still select the "automatically select next contact" option for these projects, but interviewers who are using the dialer will need to cancel the "Auto contact selection" check box on the interviewing screen otherwise they will not be able to stop the dialer making calls when they reach the end of their shift or need to take a break.
Enable monitoring/recording
When selected, supervisors can monitor and record interviewers while they are in progress.
Interviewer must get approval for monitoring/recording
When selected, interviewers must obtain consent for monitoring and recording from each participant.
Depending on your local laws or your organization's policy, you can configure monitoring for three different scenarios:
Scenario
To specify this
Monitoring and recording are not allowed for this project
Clear Enable monitoring/recording.
Monitoring and recording are always allowed for this project
Select Enable monitoring/recording, and clear The interviewer must get approval for monitoring/recording.
Monitoring and recording are allowed only if the participant gives his or her consent
Select Enable monitoring/recording and The interviewer must get approval for monitoring/recording.
If you select The interviewer must get approval for monitoring/recording, Yes and No options appear on the main screen of the Phone Participants activity whenever interviewers retrieve a contact. As part of their introductory script, interviewers must ask each participant if they give their consent for monitoring and recording, and then record the participant's answer by selecting either Yes or No.
The options under The interviewer must get approval for monitoring/recording determine the default settings of the Yes and No options as described below:
Option
Description
Interviewer must manually select an option
The interviewer must always select either “Yes” or “No”.
Default setting is 'monitoring/recording prohibited
“No” is selected by default. The interviewer can change the selection.
Default setting is 'monitoring/recording allowed
“Yes” is selected by default. The interviewer can change the selection.
Allow Interviewer to start an interview without a dialer connection to a respondent
When selected, interviewers are allowed to start interviews without a dialer connection to a respondent.
See also
Telephone: Interviewing settings