CATI Centre contacts almost 60 000 respondents annually
Numerous surveys, several hundred thousand persons interviewed and just as many phone calls made - in the ten years since its establishment, the Call Centre of the Croatian Bureau of Statistics carried out all that, or rather, a well-coordinated team of specially trained interviewers that diligently record answers and collect data by applying the CATI method - Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing did.
How it all began?
The entire telephone interviewing system was tested in the period from September 2014 to January 2015 by conducting three surveys on agricultural farms in the field of crop production statistics. After successfully conducting the testing phase of the system, the Croatian Bureau of Statistics gradually expanded the use of the telephone interviewing method to other survey researches. Today, the CATI method is used, for example, to collect information on trips made by the domestic population, on the usage of information and communication technologies in households, on the labour force, on agricultural family farms etc.
How does the interviewing process work?
Every year, data is collected from 55 000 - 60 000 respondents via telephone interviewing, and in order to adjust to the respondents, the interviewing process is also done in the afternoons and on Saturdays. All respondents selected to participate in the survey by the random sampling method receive an announcement letter to their home address prior to the beginning of the survey, which contains all information about the survey and their participation in it.
"In 99% of cases, these are pleasant conversations, and the communication ends in a very friendly manner. I try to have a personal approach. At the beginning of the conversation, I explain why it is important to give accurate and honest answers and what the collected data will be used for. There are questions that people are sensitive to, so I explain to them that all of the data are published exclusively in aggregated form, and I point out that the
Official Statistics Act (NN, Nos 25/20 and 155/23) guarantees the confidentiality and secrecy of collected data. When respondents understand the need for research and that their personal data are protected, they are ready to talk and answer all the questions," says the interviewer who has been conducting the
Labour Force Survey (LFS) for the past two years.
"In addition to recording answers, we, the interviewers, are also here to educate respondents. I often direct them to where they can find the data processed and published in aggregate form on the
website of the Croatian Bureau of Statistics. They are happy to see that their participation contributed to the successful implementation of the survey," she concludes.
Continuous upgrading = quality data
The information published by the Croatian Bureau of Statistics is important for making various decisions and measures related to economic and social policies and for monitoring the implementation of measures and programmes, but also for scientific researches and international comparisons.
Therefore, we would like to express our gratitude to all individuals who contribute to the quality of collected data by actively participating in the survey researches, and to our CATI Centre, we wish you many more years of successful work!
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