A single tool for managing CATI and WAPI samples

Nebu Dub InterViewer offers its users a robust, flexible and GDPR compliant sample management solution out-of-the-box. 

The functionality enables you to quickly and efficiently manage your sample, in which you store the information about the respondents you want to invite to participate in a survey.

You can store email addresses, phone numbers, names, usernames, passwords or any other personal information in the sample file, and can then easily edit them or filter on them in the sample management module which is useful for both CATI and WAPI projects.

Using sample properties 

Nebu Dub InterViewer's Sample Management functionality allows you to:

• Efficiently manage your fieldwork,
• Reduce the fieldwork costs by helping you to optimize the usage of sample per project,
• Use sample properties in your questionnaires, for example you can:
  • Define quotas
  • Specify routings
  • Include in expressions and conditions
  • Display sample properties in particular questions (for instance to confirm the current address of a respondent), or in the invitation/reminder email (to personalize them)

Nebu Dub InterViewer recognizes a set of sample properties automatically and fetches appropriate values for an interviewer during the fieldwork, like: 'Status,' 'Result,' or 'Appointment.' For example, the sample module automatically provides a proper language version of a multilingual questionnaire to an interviewer (for CATI) or a respondent (for WAPI) based on the sample property.

The tool also allows you to create custom properties to meet your specific needs. You can create as many as you want. Available data types for sample properties are:

• Integer: A whole number (e.g.: -4, -1, 0 , 4, 8596, etc.)
• Real number: A number - decimals are allowed (e.g.: 1.53)
• Choice list: A list of options (which cannot be adjusted after the initial setup, so it is advisable to only use if the list items will stay the same)
• Text: Free text, running to a maximum of 255 characters.
• Long text: Free text with no length restriction.
• Date
• Time

By default, the custom sample properties can be edited by interviewers during the CATI study. To prevent this from happening, you can set field access to ‘read-only’.

Default sample properties

 The system offers its users several out-of-the-box sample properties:

User Name	Code	Phone
Email	Company	Result
Tries	Interviewer	Interviewed On
Country ID	Retry after	Appointment
In Use	Password	Time Zone
Time Group	Skill Group	Language
InActive	Responded	Sent

Adding sample

You can add fields to your sample:

• Manually, with the use of the program interface
• By importing a sample file from:
  • A text file (ASCII or ASCII in bulk mode)
  • An Excel file
  • Another Nebu Dub InterViewer project
  • Dub Knowledge, our panel management solution

When importing a sample file, you can specify:

• Whether to import sample as active or inactive entities
• A layout of a sample record and manage the order of properties
• Deduplication options, to ensure that only new records are being uploaded and to define whether to remove or deactivate duplicated records

Sample expiration functionality

Nebu Dub InterViewer users can set up automated sample expiration rules, based on specific "date" fields in the sample to:

• Automate and optimize your sample usage even better
• Improve customer experience programs, by reaching out to respondents not too long after the desired touchpoint
• Use the new functionality to improve internal compliance processes, for example, with the new GDPR legislation
  
  

The sample module of Nebu Dub InterViewer provides you functionalities to store and manage your sample usage in an efficient way.

Defining blocking reasons

The tool allows you to use sample properties to describe reasons why a sample record ought to be blocked. You can create multiple blocking reasons per project, and switch them on/off by checking the respective checkbox at any time. Using this functionality results in all sample records identified by the rule not being fetched to an interviewer (for CATI projects). Please note it will not have an effect on WAPI interviewing, the URL sent out will work despite Blocking Reasons. However, you can use it to set the filter of the mail scheduler.

Quick deactivation and activation of sample records

This feature enables you to deactivate all sample records which are in the current filter selection with a click of a button. You can activate previously deactivated records as quickly as you blocked them and this action will not affect the records blocked by other user blocking reasons. Please note that this feature will automatically define a Blocking Reason to your system.

Blacklisting

The blacklisting functionality enables you to create and maintain a list of respondents who no longer want to participate in surveys and therefore you do not want to contact anymore, both for CATI and WAPI projects. You can also use it to comply with local do-not-call/do-not-mail registries.

Filtering the sample

To identify particular sample records you can use the filtering functionality to help you:

• Filter the sample on the status, or results of the interviews ('Status/Result')
• Filter on active, or inactive numbers ('Blocked')
• Filter for WAPI projects by the following criteria:
  • Times invite sent
  • Record status like Sent/Received/Started/Responded
  • The bouncer status of the sent emails
• Filter for CATI projects by the following criteria:
  • Interviewer: That is, based on the code of the interviewer who conducted a particular interview
  • Time zones: The time zone of the respondent, which can be found in the 'TimeZone' column of sample management
  • Max tries: The number of maximum tries for contacting a respondent specified in sample management module
• Filter for additional criteria: 
  • Respondent code ('From' and 'Up to' codes)
  • Language
  • Test cases (test sample records)
  • Particular sample batch imported
  • Special character sets
• Define specific conditions for filtering using the User Interface or an SQL query (this filter works in the same way as creating conditions in the design of the questionnaire - and link to this page)

The tool also allows you to search for any value captured in any of the sample record properties (looks for exact matches and partial matches of any string you would like to identify.)

Time zones & Time groups

The 'TimeZone' property allows you to define the respondent's time zone (the tool automatically adds the appropriate time zone to sample records that have this value missing.)

The Time group functionality offers you an ability to define specific rules for dates and times for when you would like to conduct interviews. For example, when the project requires B2B interviews, you can create a time group called "Working hours only" and define it as from Monday to Friday, from 9 am to 5 pm.

By using a combination of Time zones and Time groups functionalities, you can ensure that respondents are only approached within the hours specified in the time group they belong to and the system automatically calculates for you the time difference between the interviewer and the respondent.

All sample records for which the local time does not match the times set for the assigned Time group are made inactive. As soon as the hours of the time group and time zone are met with the settings, the record will become active and the system will fetch the correct sample records to an interviewer.

Sample clustering

The sample clustering functionality enables you to cluster records with the same phone number. It has proven useful for example when you are approaching more than one respondent from the same company, meaning they can all be reached by dialing the same central phone number.

When sample members with the same phone number are clustered, the interviewer can try to interview all the respondents from a company one after one another. After every try, or completed interview, the interviewer can select another respondent from this cluster or choose to leave the cluster. As long as the interviewer is interviewing cases from the group, all other records in the cluster will be blocked, meaning that the sample members belonging to the cluster will not be offered to different interviewers.

The advantage of this option is that the interviewers do not have to dial the same number over and over again to ask the receptionist to put them through to a different person every time, but can interview several different respondents with the least effort and without any possible inconvenience.

While calling to a cluster, the interviewer also can be given the option to create new sample records.

Fieldwork and Marketing research studies are undertaken to learn about populations by taking a sample of that population. The size of the sample determines how accurately your sample results reflect values in the population. Once you have the sample size determined, Nebu Dub InterViewer comes in handy. The Quota Management functionality allows you to define specific groups (cells) of respondents who have to participate in the research and will enable you to monitor whether those quotas have been reached. 

For example, you conduct a research project that requires the participation of 250 respondents (n = 250) in total. You want to make sure that 30% of the participants in the study are men with mobile phones, 30% women with mobile phones and 40% men or women without mobile phones. The Quota management functionality helps you to make sure you will reach these targets most efficiently and effectively.

Quota types

Sample properties quotas	Questionnaire quotas	Cross-reference quotas
You can set up quotas based on sample properties known in the sample before starting the fieldwork. As soon as one of the cells is full (that is, the target of one of the quota cells has been reached - e.g., 75 men with a mobile phone in the above example), all other records that meet the quota criteria will be set to "no longer required." Only the remaining records in the sample file will be fetched to an interviewer for the rest of the research.	If the sample file does not include properties you need, the tool allows you to create quotas based on the survey. Questionnaire quotas depend on answers given by respondents during the interviews. This functionality allows you to route respondents from questions with the quota full, to the rest of the questionnaire, where their answers are still needed, or to a specific 'end of questionnaire form' for those who no longer meet the criteria.	With this functionality, you can also set up cross-quotas based on the combination of a maximum of four questions or sample properties. For instance, you may want to create a quota cell which contains men who belong to a specific age group so that records in these groups can be routed to different questions of the questionnaire.

Operations on quotas 

The Quota management functionality provides you a set of operations out-of-the-box. Except for some necessary actions like 'clear,' 'remove,' 'add new,' or 'edit' the quota program provides you with a few valuable options:

• Calculate: It calculates how many records in the dataset fall into the quota, so you can more accurately determine whether you can reach your target based on your current sample
• Non-closing: If you choose this option no sample members will be blocked when you reached your target for a particular quota cell
• Selectable by an interviewer: If this option is turned on an interviewer can choose to only call respondents matching the quota conditions
• Include swapped interview (CATI -> WAPI): By enabling this option, the record will only be counted into the quota if the WAPI part is finished as well. Please know that enabling this option affects the productivity of the interviewers. By default it's unchecked, meaning the interview will be counted into the quota as soon as the CATI part is finished
• Condition: You can set the conditions which a record has to meet to be counted into the quota. You can use the same logic as you would when designing the survey, or when filtering the sample.

 To go back to the Nebu Dub InterViewer product page click here.