Survey system aids with
research
By Laura Pelner
Campus
Editor
A new computer system in the sociology and anthropology
department is making research a lot easier for Purdue graduate students
and professors.
The system, which is called a Computer Assisted
Telephone Interviewing system, allows a researcher to contact large
numbers of people quickly and tabulate the results in an easier and
more exact manner.
"It's possible to conduct a national survey on
a topic and have tabulated results in a matter of days, if not hours,"
said John Stahura, professor of sociology. "Most polling organizations
and marketing research firms use the same type of automated calling
system that we have in the department."
Once a researcher has defined the study parameters
and obtained a sample of subjects, the people to interview, the information
is entered into the system and the study can begin.
"The questionnaire is programmed to produce screens
that are read by the interviewers at the interviewing stations," said
Stahura. "The telephone sample is used to create a data set in which
is recorded an accounting of each time the number has been called and
the disposition of each call."
Stahura said each station has a computer terminal,
modem, telephone and separate phone line. When the interviewer logs
on to a station, the study information appears on the screen, as well
as information about who is going to be called.
"If the person agrees to answer the questions,
the interviewer begins reading the questions and entering their responses
through the keyboard," said Stahura. "Most, if not all, of the questions
are pre-coded."
When each interview is finished, the information
gathered is sent to the computer server so the results are always updated.
"At any point a manager can examine the data and run summary reports,"
Stahura said.
He said the biggest advantage of the system is
that Purdue faculty and graduate students can get national data cheaply
and easily. "Our grad students also become familiar with the survey
process, obtain interviewing skills and become familiar with state of
the art technology used in the information collection business," Stahura
said.
Many students get to use the system in an upper-level
sociology class on survey methods. Stahura said the centerpiece of the
course is conducting a national telephone survey and last spring over
300 interviews took place.
An associate professor in the department, Timothy
Owens, recently used the system for a self-esteem study he conducted.
"I designed a study of American adults perceptions' of an experience
with self esteem," he said.
The study included questions about how often people
thought about self esteem and read about it or discussed it with others.
Owens said the new computer system minimized interview error and was
more efficient.
"There was less of a chance of asking redundant
or irrelevant questions," he said. "It also reduces errors because the
interviewer has to put in some kind of an answer for everything."
Owens said the computer system is a tremendous
resource for Purdue. "These (Computer Assisted Telephone Interview)
labs, their only limitation is the imagination of the researcher involved,"
he said.
Many universities have similar systems, including
Indiana University in Bloomington and Indianapolis.
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