Interviewer - Server > UNICOM Intelligence Interviewer activities in UNICOM Intelligence Interviewer Server - Admin > Interviewing Options > Defining sample management parameters
 
Defining sample management parameters
Sample Management scripts for telephone interviewing projects must perform the following tasks:
select records for the autodialer to call (or, for projects that do not use an autodialer, select records for interviewers to call manually)
set appointment times for records that were busy or unanswered when called
ensure that records with appointments are presented for calling at the correct times to the correct interviewers
assign records with specific requirements to interviewers with the appropriate qualifications
reschedule missed appointments
ensure that records are selected in a particular order of priority; for example, appointments arranged with participants, then appointments that have been set automatically, and finally new records
dispose of records that become ineligible for use due to being called too many times.
The Sample Management script needs to have certain information in order to accomplish these tasks. For example, to set appointment times automatically it needs to know how much time must elapse between the previous call and the appointment. The settings you can define are as follows; the Sample Management script will use defaults for any settings that you do not define.
Variable settings
No answer delay
The number of minutes that must elapse between consecutive calls to an unanswered number. The default is 30 minutes.
Busy delay
The number of minutes that must elapse between consecutive calls to a busy number. The default is 30 minutes.
Answer machine delay
The number of minutes that must elapse between consecutive calls to a number that was answered by an answering machine. The default is 30 minutes.
Web callback delay
The number of minutes that must elapse before a record that timed out or was stopped during a self-completion (Web) interview may be called using telephone interviewing. The default is zero which means that records for timed out or stopped Web interviews will not be called back.
Reject delay
The number of minutes that must elapse between consecutive calls to a number that rejected a call. Calls can be rejected if a mobile phone user has activated a meeting profile that rejects calls, or if a home phone has been set to reject calls that do not also transmit the caller’s telephone number. The default is 1620 minutes (or 27 hours).
Silent appointment
The number of minutes that must elapse between consecutive calls to a number that might have received a silent call. Silent calls can occur when an autodialer generates more connected calls than there are interviewers available to handle the calls. The default is 4320 minutes (or 72 hours). Note that when a silent call occurs, the sample management script will change the value of the Queue field on the participant record to SILENT. To ensure that the phone number will be recalled at the end of the delay, the supervisor must change the value of Queue from SILENT to APPOINTMENT.
No preference for appointments / Give preference to the interviewer who arranged the appointment
Whether the “Before an appointment, ...” setting applies to any available interviewer, or only to the interviewer who arranged the appointment. The default is that it applies to any available interviewer. If instead, you choose that it applies only to the interviewer who arranged the appointment, and the project uses group/predictive autodialing, the interviewer will not be connected automatically to the participant who has an appointment. Instead, the participant’s details are displayed on the interviewer’s screen, and the interviewer must then click the Start Dialing button to dial the participant’s phone number.
Before an appointment, by any interviewer and Before an appointment, by the arranger only (these are actually a single setting)
The number of minutes before the appointment time when a number with an appointment can be called, either by any interviewer or the arranger only, depending on the setting of “No preference for appointments / Give preference to the interviewer who arranged the appointment”. The default is five minutes.
After an appointment, by any interviewer
The number of minutes after the appointment time when a number with an appointment can be called by any available interviewer. The sample management script uses this setting only when the “No preference for appointments / Give preference to the interviewer who arranged the appointment” setting is to give preference to the arranger. The default is five minutes.
Before a recall
The number of minutes before the recall time when a number with an automatic appointment can be called. The default is ten minutes.
Time zones
The time zones in which participants are located. The values that you enter in this field must be the indexes of the time zones in the list of time zones stored in the registry. If you need to enter more than one time zone, separate them with semicolons, and do not include any spaces. If you leave this field blank, UNICOM Intelligence Interviewer will ignore time zones and calling times when selecting records for interviewers to call.
See Time zones.
Use interviewer qualifications
Whether or not to assign calls to interviewers based on interviewer qualifications. For example, if the participant’s native language is Spanish, then assign the call to a Spanish speaking interviewer.
Time zones
Time zone
Displayed as
Index value
Greenwich Standard Time
(GMT) Monrovia, Reykjavik
90
GMT Standard Time
(GMT) Greenwich Mean Time: Dublin, Edinburgh, Lisbon, London
85
Morocco Standard Time
(GMT) Casablanca
-2147483571
W. Europe Standard Time
(GMT+01:00) Amsterdam, Berlin, Bern, Rome, Stockholm, Vienna
110
Central Europe Standard Time
(GMT+01:00) Belgrade, Bratislava, Budapest, Ljubljana, Prague
95
Romance Standard Time
(GMT+01:00) Brussels, Copenhagen, Madrid, Paris
105
Central European Standard Time
(GMT+01:00) Sarajevo, Skopje, Warsaw, Zagreb
100
W. Central Africa Standard Time
(GMT+01:00) West Central Africa
113
GTB Standard Time
(GMT+02:00) Athens, Bucharest, Istanbul
130
E. Europe Standard Time
(GMT+02:00) Minsk
115
Egypt Standard Time
(GMT+02:00) Cairo
120
Syria Standard Time
(GMT+02:00) Damascus
South Africa Standard Time
(GMT+02:00) Harare, Pretoria
140
FLE Standard Time
(GMT+02:00) Helsinki, Kyiv, Riga, Sofia, Tallinn, Vilnius
125
Israel Standard Time
(GMT+02:00) Jerusalem
135
Jordan Standard Time
(GMT+02:00) Amman
-2147483582
Middle East Standard Time
(GMT+02:00) Beirut
-2147483583
Namibia Standard Time
(GMT+02:00) Windhoek
-2147483578
Arabic Standard Time
(GMT+03:00) Baghdad
158
Arab Standard Time
(GMT+03:00) Kuwait, Riyadh
150
Russian Standard Time
(GMT+03:00) Moscow, St. Petersburg, Volgograd
145
E. Africa Standard Time
(GMT+03:00) Nairobi
155
Georgian Standard Time
(GMT+03:00) Tbilisi
-2147483577
Iran Standard Time
(GMT+03:30) Tehran
160
Arabian Standard Time
(GMT+04:00) Abu Dhabi, Muscat
165
Caucasus Standard Time
(GMT+04:00) Baku, Tbilisi, Yerevan
170
Azerbaijan Standard Time
(GMT+04:00) Baku
-2147483584
Mauritius Standard Time
(GMT+04:00) Port Louis
-2147483569
Caucasus Standard Time
(GMT+04:00) Yerevan
170
Afghanistan Standard Time
(GMT+04:30) Kabul
175
Paraguay Standard Time
(GMT+05:00) Asuncion
-2147483567
Ekaterinburg Standard Time
(GMT+05:00) Ekaterinburg
180
West Asia Standard Time
(GMT+05:00) Tashkent
185
Pakistan Standard Time
GMT+05:00) Islamabad, Karachi
-2147483570
India Standard Time
(GMT+05:30) Chennai, Kolkata, Mumbai, New Delhi
190
Nepal Standard Time
(GMT+05:45) Kathmandu
193
N. Central Asia Standard Time
(GMT+06:00) Novosibirsk
201
Central Asia Standard Time
(GMT+06:00) Astana
195
Bangladesh Standard Time
(GMT+06:00) Dhaka
-2147483565
Sri Lanka Standard Time
(GMT+06:00) Sri Jayawardenepura
200
Myanmar Standard Time
(GMT+06:30) Yangon (Rangoon)
203
SE Asia Standard Time
(GMT+07:00) Bangkok, Hanoi, Jakarta
205
North Asia Standard Time
(GMT+07:00) Krasnoyarsk
207
China Standard Time
(GMT+08:00) Beijing, Chongqing, Hong Kong, Urumqi
210
North Asia East Standard Time
(GMT+08:00) Irkutsk
227
Singapore Standard Time
(GMT+08:00) Kuala Lumpur, Singapore
215
W. Australia Standard Time
(GMT+08:00) Perth
225
Taipei Standard Time
(GMT+08:00) Taipei
220
Ulaanbaatar Standard Time
(GMT+08:00) Ulaanbaatar
-2147483563
Tokyo Standard Time
(GMT+09:00) Osaka, Sapporo, Tokyo
235
Korea Standard Time
(GMT+09:00) Seoul
230
Yakutsk Standard Time
(GMT+09:00) Yakutsk
240
Cen. Australia Standard Time
(GMT+09:30) Adelaide
250
AUS Central Standard Time
(GMT+09:30) Darwin
245
E. Australia Standard Time
(GMT+10:00) Brisbane
260
AUS Eastern Standard Time
(GMT+10:00) Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney
255
West Pacific Standard Time
(GMT+10:00) Guam, Port Moresby
275
Tasmania Standard Time
(GMT+10:00) Hobart
265
Vladivostok Standard Time
(GMT+10:00) Vladivostok
270
Central Pacific Standard Time
(GMT+11:00) Solomon Is., New Caledonia
280
Magadan Standard Time
(GMT+12:00) Magadan?
-2147483735
New Zealand Standard Time
(GMT+12:00) Auckland, Wellington
290
Fiji Standard Time
(GMT+12:00) Fiji
285
Kamchatka Standard Time
(GMT+12:00) Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky - Old
-2147483566
Tonga Standard Time
(GMT+13:00) Nuku’alofa
300
Azores Standard Time
(GMT-01:00) Azores
80
Cape Verde Standard Time
(GMT-01:00) Cape Verde Is.
83
Mid-Atlantic Standard Time
(GMT-02:00) Mid-Atlantic
75
Argentina Standard Time
(GMT-03:00) Buenos Aires
-2147483572
E. South America Standard Time
(GMT-03:00) Brasilia
65
SA Eastern Standard Time
(GMT-03:00) Cayenne, Fortaleza
70
Greenland Standard Time
(GMT-03:00) Greenland
73
Montevideo Standard Time
(GMT-03:00) Montevideo
-2147483575
Newfoundland Standard Time
(GMT-03:30) Newfoundland
60
Atlantic Standard Time
(GMT-04:00) Atlantic Time (Canada)
50
Central Brazilian Standard Time
(GMT-04:00) Cuiaba
-2147483576
SA Western Standard Time
(GMT-04:00) Georgetown, La Paz, Manaus, San Juan
55
Pacific SA Standard Time
(GMT-04:00) Santiago
56
Venezuela Standard Time
(GMT-04:30) Caracas
-2147483573
SA Pacific Standard Time
(GMT-05:00) Bogota, Lima, Quito
45
Eastern Standard Time
(GMT-05:00) Eastern Time (US, Canada)
35
US Eastern Standard Time
(GMT-05:00) Indiana (East)
40
Central America Standard Time
(GMT-06:00) Central America
33
Central Standard Time
(GMT-06:00) Central Time (US, Canada)
20
Central Standard Time (Mexico)
(GMT-06:00) Guadalajara, Mexico City, Monterrey
-2147483581
Canada Central Standard Time
(GMT-06:00) Saskatchewan
25
US Mountain Standard Time
(GMT-07:00) Arizona
15
Mountain Standard Time
(GMT-07:00) Mountain Time (US, Canada)
10
Mountain Standard Time (Mexico)
(GMT-07:00) Chihuahua, La Paz, Mazatlan
-2147483580
Pacific Standard Time
(GMT-08:00) Pacific Time (US, Canada)
4
Pacific Standard Time (Mexico)
(GMT-08:00) Baja California
-2147483579
Alaskan Standard Time
(GMT-09:00) Alaska
3
Hawaiian Standard Time
(GMT-10:00) Hawaii
2
Samoa Standard Time
(GMT-11:00) Samoa
1
Dateline Standard Time
(GMT-12:00) International Date Line West
0
You set these parameters at the start of the project, and can change them throughout the interviewing period to match the current requirements of the survey. For example, if it is the last day of the survey and you are running low on new participants, you might want to increase the maximum number of times that numbers may be called. You might also want to reduce the elapse times for automatically set appointments so that numbers with callbacks become available for recall more quickly.
To define sample management parameters
1 Select the Parameters option under the Calling Rules folder.
2 In Use these Time Zones, enter the time zones in which the participants for this project are located. If participants are in more than one zone, separate the zone numbers with semicolons.
3 Replace any of the default settings for other parameters by typing new values into the text boxes. When entering calling times, you can specify times in 12-hour (hh:mm am/pm) or 24-hour (hh:mm) format, but the next time you open the Interviewing Options the times will be shown in 24-hour format.
4 If you want calls to be assigned to interviewers based on interviewers’ qualifications, select Interviewer Qualifications.
To change the default settings
If you find that for every new project you always change the settings on the Parameters page to the same new values, you can instead change the default settings that UNICOM Intelligence Interviewer. For more information, see Changing the default settings.
See also
Interviewing Options