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. 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.
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
Interview complete.
Value: 1
Queue: COMPLETED
When displayed: Not displayed
Stopped
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.
Value: 2
Queue: TIMED_OUT or STOPPED
When displayed: Not displayed
Failed
Error during call or interview. Records with this status should be investigated and, if appropriate, moved to another queue for dialing or redialing.
Value: 4
Queue: FAILED
When displayed: Not displayed
OverQuota
The interview has been terminated because the respondent failed the quota checks.
Value: 5
Queue: UNUSABLE
When displayed: Not displayed
EarlyComplete
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.
Value: 6
Queue: COMPLETED
When displayed: Not displayed
FailedScreener
Respondent did not qualify to complete the interview.
Value: 7
When displayed: Not displayed
Queue: UNUSABLE
Abandoned
Respondent refused to complete interview.
Value: 8
Queue: UNUSABLE
When displayed: During interview
Reviewed
Interview has been reviewed.
Value: 10
Queue: The queue from which the record was selected
When displayed: Not displayed
Appointment
Respondent made an appointment.
Value: 11
Queue: APPOINTMENT
When displayed: Before interview starts
NoAnswer
No answer.
Value: 12
Queue: RECALL
When displayed: Before interview starts
AnswerMachine
Answered by answering machine.
Value: 13
Queue: RECALL
When displayed: Before interview starts
Busy
Respondent's phone is busy.
Value: 14
Queue: RECALL
When displayed: Before interview starts
TransferToWeb
Flag this record as being for inbound (Web) interviewing.
Value: 15
Queue: TRANSFER_TO_WEB
When displayed: Before interview starts
Rejected
Call rejected. This might 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.
Value: 16
Queue: RECALL
When displayed: Before interview starts
NetworkBusy
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.
Value: 17
Queue: RECALL
When displayed: Before interview starts
FastBusy
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.
Value: 18
Queue: 1st RECALL
2nd UNUSABLE
When displayed: Before interview starts
DialerBusy
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.
Value: 19
Queue: RECALL
When displayed: Before interview starts
Fax
Fax answered.
Value: 21
Queue: UNUSABLE
When displayed: Before interview starts
WrongNumber
Phone number incorrect for respondent.
Value: 22
Queue: UNUSABLE
When displayed: Before interview starts
Disconnected
Phone number invalid.
Value: 23
Queue: UNUSABLE
When displayed: Before interview starts
CellPhone
Cell phone: do not interview. Use, for example, when interviewing on cell phones is too expensive.
Value: 24
Queue: UNUSABLE
When displayed: Before interview starts
BusinessNumber
Type of number not valid for survey.
Value: 25
Queue: UNUSABLE
When displayed: Before interview starts
PossibleWrongNumber
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 can 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.
Value: 26
Queue: CHECK_NUMBER
When displayed: Not displayed
NotAvailable
The designated respondent is not available within the timescale of the project; for example, they might be on holiday.
Value: 27
Queue: UNUSABLE
When displayed: Before interview starts
Refused
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.
Value: 31
Queue: REFUSED or UNUSABLE
When displayed: Before interview starts
LanguageBarrier
Interviewer does not speak respondent's language. Do not schedule an appointment.
Value: 32
Queue: UNUSABLE
When displayed: Before interview starts
LanguageRecall
Interviewer does not speak respondent's language. Schedule an appointment with an appropriately qualified interviewer for five minutes' time.
Value: 33
Queue: RECALL
When displayed: Not displayed by default. If displayed, then only before interview starts.
RejectedByReviewer
The reviewer has rejected the interview for some reason. A typical example is because the reviewer calls the respondent and discovers that the interviewer falsified the interview.
Value: 34
Queue: UNUSABLE
When displayed: When an interview is being reviewed.
Edited
Indicates that the participant record was edited via UNICOM Intelligence Interviewer - Offline for Windows.
Value: 35
Queue: The queue from which the record was selected
When displayed: Not displayed
Canceled
Interviewer clicked the Cancel Contact button. The contact is returned to the sample management system as if it were never retrieved.
Value: 41
Queue: The queue from which the record was selected
When displayed: Before interview starts
DialerFailed
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.)
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.
Value: 42
Queue: RECALL
When displayed: Not displayed
Dialer unable to make the call.
Silent
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.
Value: 43
Queue: SILENT
When displayed: Not displayed
Unknown
Records with this status will be treated the same as records with a NoAnswer status.
Value: 44
Queue: RECALL
When displayed: Not displayed
Reviewed
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.
Value: 10
Queue: The queue from which the record was selected.
When displayed: Not displayed.
RemoteHangup
If the call is hung up after connection, the call and the sample record are passed to the interviewer, who can then select an appropriate call outcome from the list.
Value: 45
Queue: 1st RECALL
2nd SILENT
When displayed: Not displayed
InboundLookup
The interviewer should select this outcome if the inbound caller provides information that allows the interviewer to choose a better matching record for the call. The current record is returned, and then the interviewer can search for the better matching record manually.
Value: 46
Queue: The queue from which the record was selected, or if InboundDeleteUnusedNewRecords DPM property is True , the queue from which the record is deleted.
When displayed: Before interview starts
See also