Setting up Controlled and Cost-Efficient Studies

In addition to providing you powerful, work-saving questionnaire authoring, WinCati gives you flexible and efficient setup for defining study specifications. And WinCati’s point-and-click interface lets you have easy access to the features you need to control your research and your costs.

Best Practices Research

With WinCati you can conduct rigorous, effective research using study specifications that can be set up quickly and easily.

• You can establish an unlimited number of time zone rules to avoid calling into time zones during lunch or dinner hours.
• You can specify an unlimited number of “no answer” callback rules, fixing how many times you want respondents to be called in one time period before being called in another.
• You can create your own set of disposition codes that you can copy to other studies.

You set up study specifications using standard Windows interfaces. This screen shows the specification window for defining time zones.

• With WinCati, you can establish an unlimited number of quotas. You can define regular quotas, hierarchical quotas, multiple quotas, and quota constraints. Quotas can be assigned based on information gathered during the interview, or information known in advance.

You can assign samples to interviewers based on disposition codes or database fields. For example, you can assign Spanish-speaking respondents to Spanish-speaking interviewers, or you can assign refusals to refusal converters. You can also assign priorities to sample to ensure that you reach low-incidence sample quickly.

• At all times WinCati oversees your studies like a best practices supervisor.

Straightforward Setup

WinCati not only lets you specify exactly how all aspects of a study should be handled, but also lets you set up your specifications quickly and easily.

• You can copy your study specifications from an existing study; you can start from scratch by entering new specifications; or you can create some new specifications and copy others.
• For example, you might copy disposition codes and time-zone calling rules from one study, copy “no answer” callback rules from another study, and then create the remaining specifications. Of course, you can edit any copied specifications to meet the unique requirements of your new study.
• WinCati organizes study specifications as if each set of specifications were its own index card or tab. One tab contains the time zone rules, another holds the disposition codes, and so on. To create or edit study specifications you select the applicable tab, then use the tab window to enter or modify the specifications.

Windows for defining study specifications are arranged in a “tab view.” You enter each set of specifications by clicking on the appropriate tab then using the window that displays to set up the specifications. You use the window shown here to specify the settings for controlling sample.

WinCati uses a standard, commercial, ODBC-compatible database for storing sample.

You can import sample into the database from a wide variety of formats, including standard database formats and those formats used by sampling services such as Genesys, Scientific Telephone Samples, and Survey Sampling. WinCati lets you create a “never call” list which can be checked as you import sample. You can also copy sample from an existing study, generate random digit dialing (RDD) samples, or have interviewers dial from paper lists.

You can import sample from a variety of formats, as shown here.

You can move information from the sample database to the questionnaire if you want to include contact or user-defined data in the interview, or move information from the questionnaire back to the sample database if you want to update sample records based on information gathered during the interview.

You can create large sample databases and control the sample in replicates. The database contains fields for all contact information (including international phone numbers), complete call histories with notes, and over 10,000 characters of user-definable information.

Each piece of sample is stored as a record in the study’s sample database. The record, as shown here, contains contact information, any custom fields you define, information indicating its dialing status, and a history of all call attempts. You can view, edit, search, or copy records in the database.

The Study window serves as an on-screen navigator to guide you through the study set-up and reporting processes.

You start at the top left of the window and work your way through to the bottom right as you proceed through a study.

All of the functions you need for creating and monitoring the progress of a study can be accessed from this window.

The Check Setup feature lists the steps you must complete before you can begin interviewing. You can access it at any time to see which steps have been completed and which steps remain.

You can password-protect studies to limit access to both the study setup and reports. And, you can assign a separate password that permits your staff to run reports only.

Overall, you’ll find setting up studies with WinCati to be quick, powerful, and uncomplicated.