What is CATI?

CATI stands for Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing. In the same way that computers are replacing the clip board and questionnaire in face-to-face fieldwork, so too they are taking over in telephone interviews. Interviews carried out by telephone can be guided by a questionnaire displayed on the screen of a computer. The interviewer records answers via the keyboard, entering numbers which correspond with the pre-coded responses displayed on the screen.

CATI interviewing offers considerable advantages:

• The interviewer is left free to concentrate on the interview itself as the routing instructions are taken care of
• Data is entered directly and the subsequent transactions of data processing are eliminated. Costs and punching errors are reduced
• The whole process is speeded up because data is entered as it is obtained
• At intervals during the survey, the researcher can interrogate the computer to examine the results
• An analysis of results can be obtained immediately after the last interview has been completed.

There are some disadvantages to CATI interviewing. A conventional questionnaire can be knocked up in no time and without the help of someone who knows their way around the technical nuances of a CATI system. Getting a questionnaire set up and running, fault free, on a CATI system takes time. Coping with open ended responses presents some problems on CATI because, although the systems can accommodate open ended comment, capturing them requires interviewers to have good typing skills. If a respondent makes changes to an earlier answer when part way through the interview, it is more difficult to return and make alterations than is the case with paper questionnaires. In general, CATI is best suited to structured interviews carried out in large numbers, especially repeated surveys where all the possible answers have been worked out and can be listed as pre-coded responses.