Ending the year by adding to the count

I always like it when I complete at least one interview on the last day of the year. It was especially gratifying this year because I interviewed a person on a project that I have been working on since July. I have conducted a good share of the interviews for the survey myself. The respondents have been difficult to reach and it usually takes 30 minutes or more to do the interview.

We have learned much while working on this project. Such a long interview presents opportunities to learn about nuances of establishing rapport and eliciting cooperation from respondents.We have talked to people from all over the world and have learned a little about their cultures. I am grateful that such a project came along to give me topics to blog about for a long time to come.Some of the experiences we have had will contribute to a sense of camaraderie for those of us who have worked on the project. I am grateful to have the work when things are slow otherwise.

I look forward to more telephone adventures in the coming year.

We're Almost Done

The other day we had a small party in our phone room to mark a project’s 100^th day of dialing. The same day marked another milestone on the project for me: it was the third time I had to ask a pregnant woman her weight. I know I shouldn’t stereotype people – especially when working on a scientific survey – but show me a pregnant woman who is not sensitive about her weight.

The project is a social research study in which we are required to ask respondents extremely detailed demographic information about each member of a respondent’s household, including height and weight. The weight questions are almost at the end of the questionnaire so that an interviewer has an opportunity to build rapport with a respondent. Still, the question comes up rather abruptly. Some respondents are taken aback. We don’t ask female respondents if they are pregnant, but they often volunteer the information early in the interview.

The first pregnant woman on the project to get the weight question gave me the idea to say “We’re almost done” right before the weight question comes up. She was a good sport about it, but she said “What!? Did you just ask me my weight?” when I suddenly asked her “Approximately how much do you currently weigh?” She then laughed and told me her weight. Not only that, but she weighed and measured her two toddlers.

Building rapport on a project in which an interviewer must ask for intimate details of a respondent’s life is often a matter of tone of voice. The interviewer must sound professional and positive, but also nonchalant and not too interested in the answers to the questions. Knowing when to say “We’re almost done” is a matter of timing. Saying this at the right time can mean the difference between completing an interview and not completing an interview. The statement not only helps a respondent to be patient and stay on the phone, but can also give an interviewer the last bit of rapport they need to get answers to sensitive questions. It can soften the abruptness of a question. The third pregnant woman I had to ask the weight question barely hesitated before answering.

They Call Me Mr. Diversity

Our current project leads me to believe that I did not misspend my youth.  We interview people all over the United States, from many different backgrounds.  Many of our respondents speak English as a second language.  Most respondents have financial problems and life issues that go along with financial problems.  The 30-minute interview contains many more demographic questions than most market research surveys.  Many of these demographic questions are at the beginning of the survey, and the answers drive whether we ask other demographic questions at the end of the survey.  We usually have all of the demographic questions at the end of the survey, to give us a chance to build rapport with respondents.  Most respondents received a letter before we started calling.

Some things I did as a young person that seemed pretty knuckleheaded at the time prepared me for this challenge.  I was a globe spinner in elementary school.  In junior high and high school I often put aside my homework while in the library so that I could randomly page through the encyclopedia or magazines.  When I was old enough to ride the city bus on my own I would hop on random bus routes to explore Minneapolis and St. Paul.  I spent the summer of my 21^st year on a hitchhiking tour of the United States.  At different times I have avoided college, television and owning a car because I believed I could experience life better without them.  I intentionally sought work, live music, volunteer activities and recreation that would broaden my experience.  I struck up conversations with many interesting individuals while engaged in these activities.  This exposed me to many cultures and taught me to not feel sorry for myself. 

My diversity of experience taught me adaptability, which we need to get the job done.  On our present project the interviewer and the respondent sometimes have to work together to figure out the best person in the household to answer the questions.  Diverse experience as well as my present career gave me many pieces of information about human beings that I can put to use.  I am grateful that my parents encouraged me to study foreign languages while I was in school.  It now makes it easier to understand foreign accents and pronounce names correctly.

Recently, one of the interviewers I supervise had a difficult interview.  He and the respondent had difficulty understanding each other’s accents.  The interviewer became frustrated and wanted to terminate the interview.  He worked very hard to speak slowly and clearly.  I told him to repeat a question once and mark “Don’t Know” if the respondent still did not understand.  Afterward, I found a tactful way to tell him to listen to his own accent.  I invoked the name of a former coworker from China.  She sometimes did not understand things I said until I used a British pronunciation or spelled a word.

I told the interviewer to try to use a Mid-Atlantic accent.  I told him to imagine an island in the Atlantic Ocean somewhere between New York and London.  A person who grew up on this island would have an accent somewhere between an eastern American accent and a British accent.  Such an accent can be helpful when talking to people who speak English as a second language.  For many such people, the Queen’s English was their first exposure to the language.  The conversation was effective.  The interviewer responded to my coaching and had a much more productive shift on his next shift.  He had a better attitude about interviewing foreign respondents.  I learned about the Mid-Atlantic accent from recreational reading.  I have coached other interviewers on not being shocked when respondents tell about their financial problems or family problems.

Neutrality and being able to instantly establish a rapport with a respondent are useful skills for any telephone survey, but they are especially important for our present project.  A sense of adventure and love of people are also quite useful.  Being well-read and well-traveled is helpful for any interviewer.  I understand why my father said that every young person should go on an odyssey.  He used to say that if a person goes to college, the college should be far away from home.  The world is much bigger than we imagine.

Can Big Data Predict Local Elections?

In the public opinion research office where I work we have several framed bar graphs hanging on the wall.  These bar graphs show how closely our survey results matched the actual voting in several local elections.  We also have a Dilbert comic strip on the wall that succinctly captures the challenges of getting reliable information from telephone polling:

Dilbert is in a meeting with his boss and a consultant.  The consultant is explaining the results of a survey and says that they surveyed 1,000 people who still have landline phones and no caller ID.  When asked for their opinions a new technology, 34 percent replied, “Fiddlesticks” and 23 percent could not hear the question.  The other 43 percent thought that the interviewer was in the room with them and offered hard candy.

The Obama campaign made use of Big Data before the election in 2012.  They were able to precisely predict how the vote would go in each state.  I also learned that the campaign relied on benchmark data that was gathered from conducting 10,000 telephone interviews.  These interviews measured the opinions and demographic characteristics of voters throughout the United States.  The campaign used this information to create models of voters who might be persuaded to change their vote and if so, what might influence them to do so.  This helped the campaign to carefully craft individualized online ads to reach voters even in solidly Republican precincts.

I like to remember the part about the 10,000 telephone interviews when I see posts on LinkedIn warning me that my job may become obsolete.  Big Data and such things as text analytics may automate some of the work done by human analysts, but someone will still need to get on the telephone to gather information that can be used to calibrate such data.  Such calibration will be even more important in predicting local elections. 

We recently completed a survey about a levy issue that will be on the ballot in November of 2014.  We are planning to conduct another in October.  I have taken steps to learn more about Big Data and text analytics to learn if they can be used to predict elections with the same accuracy that we have achieved with telephone surveys.  If our clients perceive that they can get the information they need to influence how likely voters will vote, they will believe that they will not need to spend money on telephone surveys.  It will be important to be ahead of this perception rather than trying to catch up with it.

I doubt that there is enough data on the Internet to provide insight on crafting campaign messages for a local election or accurately predicting such an election.  The Obama campaign had plenty of text to analyze.  People were interested in the presidential election.  They posted blogs and participated in discussions on Facebook about it.  I see almost nothing about local elections.  The posts that I do see are for candidates, not bond or levy issues.

The Dilbert comic strip mentioned above illustrates one of the challenges of polling individuals younger than 65.  I wonder whether Big Data and text analytics can measure the opinions or predict the voting behavior of those older than 65.  Such people are more likely to vote on bond and levy issues than younger people, but are less likely to participate in heated debates on Facebook than younger people.  Calling them on the telephone may be the only way to learn how they plan to vote and why.

John C. Stevens
Saperstein Associates
(614) 261-0065
jstevens@sapersteinassociates.com

My Article Published in a Trade Publication

Steve Quirk sent me an email in late January asking me to write an article for his online newsletter.  He mentioned in the email that he had seen some of my posts on this blog and thought I might have something practical to contribute.

I am glad Steve asked me to write Back to basics:  Six essential skills for telephone interviewing.  Writing the article made me think.  I think it will help me train interviewers.

Proper Inflection Can Reduce Refusal Rates

I received some free coaching on telephone presentation skills from a prospect during my telemarketing career.  He asked me, “Are you asking me or telling me?”  I was telling him about a service so that I could set an appointment for a sales rep to make a presentation.  I was inflecting up at the end of sentences so that they sounded like questions.  The prospect went on to tell me that this habit was extremely annoying and showed a lack of confidence.  

Anyone who sells anything needs confidence.  If a salesperson is not confident the prospect immediately doubts the product or service.

I remembered this free coaching when I started working in market research and public opinion research.  We are not selling anything, but the same principles apply.  If an interviewer does not sound confident when he reads an introduction to a questionnaire, respondents will doubt the legitimacy of the survey.  They will think that it is not really a survey but a sales scam.  An interviewer can sound more confident by reading statements as statements and questions as questions.  An interviewer who is not confident will read an introduction to a survey like this:

‘Hello?  My name is John Stevens?  I’m calling from Saperstein Associates?  A public opinion research firm in Columbus, Ohio?’

An interviewer who reads an introduction this way is rarely conscious that she is doing so.  She is asking the respondent a question, which is ‘May I continue?’  If an interviewer can be aware of this and overcome it, he will have a better chance of having respondents listen long enough to learn what the survey is about.  This results in lower refusal rates, which helps and interviewer to feel more confident, which can further reduce refusal rates.

John C. Stevens
Saperstein Associates
(614) 261-0065

jstevens@sapersteinassociates.com