New dialing system designed specifically for research
Marketing Systems Group, Fort Washington, Pa., has introduced PROT-S (Proactive Telephony Systems), a dialing manager developed specifically for market research data collection. The system is based on a call management and auto-dispositioning module designed for the survey research environment. This system is designed to maximize production rates without the call abandonment and respondent harassment associated with predictive dialers. A point-and-click Windows interface provides beginners and experts alike with access to the underlying database management system. The initial release supports CfMC’s Survent CATI software. Close integration with CfMC’s sample manager enables sample requests and dispositions (i.e., busies, no answers, non-working numbers) to be automatically transferred to the Survent sample manager, while delivering contacts directly to interviewers. Features of the outbound telephone research module include capabilities for interviewer/ shift management, production management and project management.
Socratic intros new questionnaire design software
Socratic Software, Inc., San Francisco, is offering VISUAL Q, a Windows-compliant market research questionnaire designer which allows running of graphical surveys for CATI, CAPI and disk-by-mail interactive formats, as well as E-mail, fax and paper-and-pencil methods. The product’s pre-loaded library of research questions and context-sensitive on-line help function are designed to assist the inexperienced researcher in designing a professional questionnaire. A freely distributable Player Module allows VISUAL Q surveys to run on a respondent’s or field service’s PC. The product also provides automatic data entry and tracking statistics. Basic descriptive statistics, crosstabulations and data export features are integral to the core product.
Burke develops Web measurement tools
Burke, Inc., Cincinnati, has developed a series of Intemet research tools designed to provide companies with information about their Web sites and about visitors to their sites that was previously difficult to obtain or considered unreliable. The tools include an approach for measuring the impact of a company’s Internet activities on its overall brand image and positioning; and an application that resides in a company’s Web site, randomly selecting every Nth visitor and routing them to participate in research surveys.
Cardiff updates TELEform
Cardiff Software, San Marcos, Calif., has upgraded its TELEform family of products. The upgraded product line, Version 5.2, is optimized to create, distribute and read information from paper-based and electronic forms. TELEform Standard Version 5.2 is a single user, Windows 95/NT data collection application. TELEform Elite Version 5.2 is a production-level forms processing system. New features in TELEform 5.2 include TELEform Stats, support for Optika and Watermark document management solutions, Castelle FaxPress fax server support, enhanced NCS recognition and Thumbnail Scan Display. The company has also introduced the TELEform Internet Solution as an add-on to TELEform Elite. Optimized for Windows 95 and Windows NT, the product automates the process of creating, distributing and reading information from HTML-based forms.
Updated county projections from W&P
Woods & Poole Economics, Inc., Washington, D.C., has released its updated county economic and demographic projections through the year 2000. The new database contains historical data from 1969 and projections to 2020 of more than 500 variables for every county, state, metropolitan area (MSA/PMSA), and designated market area (DMA) in the U.S. The variables include population by race, sex and single year of age, employment and earnings by industry, personal income, households by income, and retail sales by kind of business. The new projections are based on historical county data through 1994. The projections include the regional impact of the current economic expansion. The regional economic impact of current cuts in military spending is also included in the new projections. The projections are available in printed reports as well as on disk or CDROM. The data on disk or CD-ROM can be used in GIS software, desktop marketing systems and in Lotus, Excel, dBASE, Paradox, ArcView and other software on IBM-compatible and Macintosh computers.
Web site guide from FIND/SVP
FIND/SVP, New York, is now offering a new report, "Competing in Cyberspace: Guidelines for Market-Driven Web Site Planning and Design," that offers Web site planners criteria for analyzing, evaluating and designing a site. The report identifies four criteria for analyzing and planning a Web site: substance, navigation, activity and presentation, or SNAP. SNAP was designed jointly by the company’s Emerging Technologies Research Group (ETRG). The report offers case studies of some 25 different Web sites, from MTV to Microsoft, using the SNAP method to rate how well each site achieves its objectives.