Yes, you can!

Editor’s note: Jennifer Mitchell is director of the international division at Hispanic & Asian Marketing Communication Research, Inc., a multicultural research firm in Belmont, Calif.

When speaking to clients who want to conduct research in Latin America, many mention that they have been advised not to conduct telephone research with Latin American consumers, as it is "not feasible" and not "appropriate to the culture."

In our experience, this is not always the case. Often enough, telephone interviews are in fact the best way to conduct a study. This article will attempt to dispel some myths about this methodology in Latin America. I will also identify problem areas and review the advantages this methodology has over others . . . even in Latin America!

The main hurdles to telephone interviewing in the Latin American region are telephone penetration and list availability and quality. When the target of the research is higher-income consumers, then telephone penetration becomes less of a problem, given that telephone penetration is concentrated in the higher-income brackets. If the issues around list availability can be solved, the advantages of telephone interviewing over in-person methodologies are significant. Amongst them, cost effectiveness, time in collecting the data and data quality.

So what about phone penetration? Phone figures in these countries are anything but encouraging when considering a telephone interview, as the number of telephones per 100 citizens is still very low, especially when compared to the U.S., which has four times more phones. The table below shows some figures of estimated phone penetration in different countries and cities, from a variety of sources. Given that the market is changing so rapidly, it is difficult to estimate at any given time the number of accessible telephone lines in each country.

Country

Population

Lines/100 inhabitants

Estimated number of lines

Argentina

35,797,985

18

6,220,000

Brazil

164,511,366

14

14,380,000

Columbia

37,418,290

13

4,790,000

Chile

14,508,158

15

2,240,000

Mexico

97,563,374

12.4

11,890,868

Venezuela

22,396,407

11

2,490,000

Source: CIA Factsheet, 1997

But these figures can be misleading. For example, the table below shows differences in telephone penetration, by region, in Brazil. The more cosmopolitan cities have a much greater telephone penetration, as would be expected. In addition, if one considers that each household has on average four people, in São Paulo we are looking at 35 phones per 25 households. Although this simple calculation does not eliminate business lines, these figures shed a different light on the phone penetration issue.

Brazil

Telephone lines per 100inhabitants

Average household size

Total Country

10 to 14

4 people per household

By City

São Paulo

35

4

Brasilia (capital)

60

4

Nordeste

6

5

Source: Pro-Marketing Inteligencia de Mercado, 1998

It is key to consider the target respondent in context of the country and city. Will the average Latin American citizen, representing the middle-class and above, be likely to have a phone in their home? In most major cities, the answer is yes. Lack of a phone in a middle-class household probably indicates that the person does not belong within the description of the average middle-class citizen, just as it would in the U.S.

Telephone penetration is changing daily in Latin America. Seventeen million fixed lines are expected to be installed in the next five years in addition to capacity for 16 million new cellular phones. In Brazil alone, direct investments in telecommunications are expected to surpass U.S.$100 billion over the same time frame1.

Certain caveats

There are of course certain caveats to address when conducting telephone interviews. There is a high-class neighborhood in San Salvador, for example, which does not have fixed phone lines - residents have cellular phones because it has not been possible to install telephone lines. In Brazil, often the name on the list does not match the respondent’s because lines are bought and sold like commodities. However, these lines are restricted to the particular area in which they were bought, so it is very likely that the social class of the end user will be similar to the person who originally paid for the line. Digits are being added to telephone numbers in some cities in Brazil to meet the demand for lines, so many lists are rendered useless. These are all wrinkles in the sampling that have to be addressed during the design of the research and taken into account in the analysis.

List quality of course is key. In some countries it is possible to buy good telephone lists, while in others the best resource is residential pages, pulling numbers using a random method. Some countries even have cellular phone listings! In other countries, such as Colombia, it is difficult to conduct telephone interviews with those in higher socioeconomic strata, as these respondents are never listed. Although the sampling is more difficult than for a U.S. phone survey, in many cases it is possible to adapt the best sampling method available to match the objectives of the study without introducing any more biases than would be present in an in-person methodology.

Assuming the target audience for the region is middle-class and above (with the exception of Colombia), an additional significant advantage is the "representativeness" of the sample. This is due to the fact that personal interviews will always have a recruiter bias if respondents are recruited to a facility. Intercepts will have a geographical bias and an interviewer bias in the selection of candidates towards those that appear more approachable. Telephone interviewing, on the other hand, permits wider geographical coverage and a more random selection of candidates. The fact that unlisted phone subscribers will not be included in the sample must also be considered.

Significant benefits

The benefits of telephone surveys in Latin America are significant. The first of course is cost. It is possible to conduct a greater number of interviews across a wider geographical coverage. And as telephone rates decrease, the cost advantage will become more significant.

The second is time. It is much more efficient to conduct all interviews in a central telephone location. Questionnaires do not need to be painstakingly edited. They don’t get lost somewhere crossing the border into the U.S. or stuck in customs.

The third advantage is cooperation. Respondents tend to be very cooperative, given the relatively low level of telemarketing activity compared to the U.S. They are much less likely to hang up. Add to that the "surprise factor" of a native Brazilian calling São Paulo from California to ask a few questions regarding a local beer, and you have them hooked (for the most part!) for the next 20 minutes. Our results in previous studies have shown there is no apparent bias in responses if native-speaking interviewers are used in the research. The fact that we are calling from the U.S. acts simply as a hook to increase participation.

The fourth is accuracy of data. From a technical standpoint, by using CATI it is possible to implement sophisticated research instruments and obtain more reliable data. The quality and completeness of the data is also much better than if it were conducted without the assistance of a well-programmed questionnaire. From a quality standpoint, supervisors can monitor what the respondent is saying and how it is getting captured in the questionnaire responses. They can provide suggestions in progress, and check data and open-ends daily for quality. Especially when conducting a multi-country study, centralization is key to making changes efficiently and safely and to ensure consistency in data collection across all countries.

Lastly, what about the human contact dilemma? Yes, it is true that Latin cultures are centered on personal relationships. Human contact is an important element in Latin relationships of all types. This has long been a justification for conducting interviews in-person, especially with business-to-business. Nonetheless, the business pace in Latin America is fast and getting faster every year. We have found that executives are more accepting and appreciative of approaches that are less intrusive on their schedule. Using well trained executive interviewers, we have obtained higher participation rates than if we had conducted them in-person. And, once the time has been set aside, respondents willingly spend it with the interviewer to ponder their answers.

Yes, you can

Next time you’re considering research in Latin America and your needs don’t necessitate showing visuals or any other in-person interaction, consider telephone interviewing as an option. It is possible to design methodologically sound, cost-effective research with Latin American consumers and business people with telephone methodologies.

1 Latin Trade, October 1997