Some audiences don't sit behind a screen all day. Some research topics demand a human voice to guide respondents through nuanced questions. And some projects require the kind of real-time quality control that only telephone interviews can provide. When your research calls for direct, interviewer-administered data collection, a CATI survey — Computer-Assisted Telephone Interviewing — remains one of the most reliable methods in the field.
Meraki Research operates a fully managed CATI survey service built for organizations that need high-quality data from targeted audiences. Our trained interviewers, advanced dialing technology, and rigorous quality protocols ensure that every telephone conversation produces usable, trustworthy results. We don't outsource the hard parts — our team handles interviewer training, call management, and data processing under one roof.
Over the past decade, we've completed more than 500,000 CATI interviews across consumer, B2B, healthcare, and public-sector projects. That experience has taught us exactly how to design telephone surveys that keep respondents engaged while capturing the data points your decisions depend on.
Our Approach: The Meraki CATI Methodology
Our CATI methodology integrates interviewer expertise with modern research tools and technology to deliver the best possible data quality. Every project follows our structured five-phase process, which we've refined through thousands of telephone research engagements across dozens of industries.
Phase 1: Research Design and Instrument Development
We begin by aligning the study objectives with the strengths of telephone interviewing. Our research directors work with your team to determine sample specifications, quota structures, and the specific questions that require verbal administration.
Questionnaire design for CATI surveys differs meaningfully from online instruments. We craft scripts that sound natural when read aloud, build interviewer prompts for open-ended questions, and structure response options so they can be easily communicated verbally. Response scales that work visually on a screen often fail when read over the phone — we redesign these using best practices specific to aural presentation.
This phase also includes logic programming within our CATI software suite, which guides interviewers through skip patterns and routing in real time — ensuring everyone who participates receives the correct questions based on their prior answers. Our programming team tests every logic path before interviewers see the script, eliminating the routing errors that plague poorly prepared telephone studies.
Phase 2: Interviewer Selection and Training
Not everyone can conduct effective research interviews. We select interviewers based on language proficiency, subject-matter familiarity, and demonstrated ability to build rapport over the phone. For specialized projects — healthcare studies, executive-level B2B research, or culturally sensitive topics — we assign interviewers with relevant background experience.
Training is project-specific and thorough. We never rely on generic orientation sessions. Each project receives a dedicated training program that includes:
- Full questionnaire walkthrough with practise administrations and role-playing scenarios
- Probing and clarification techniques for open-ended questions, including neutral follow-up phrasing
- Protocol review covering callbacks, refusal handling, and escalation procedures
- Quality expectations briefing including scoring criteria and monitoring frequency
- Compliance training for projects governed by industry regulations or data-protection requirements
- Subject-matter background so interviewers can answer basic respondent questions without introducing bias
Our interviewers understand that they represent both Meraki Research and your organisation during every call. That dual accountability shapes how we train, monitor, and evaluate performance.
Phase 3: Sample Management and Dialing Operations
Our dialing operations use predictive and preview dialing modes depending on the project's needs. Predictive dialing maximizes efficiency for large consumer surveys using computers to manage call flow, while preview dialing gives interviewers time to prepare before each call — essential for B2B and executive interviews where personalization matters.
We manage sample across multiple time zones, schedule callbacks based on respondent preferences, and track disposition codes to optimise contact rates. Real-time dashboards show your project's progress at a glance, including completions by quota cell, contact rates, and average interview length.
Sample management for CATI projects is more complex than most clients realize. We rotate through sample systematically to ensure every record receives adequate call attempts before being classified as non-contact. We track refusal rates by time of day and day of week to identify optimal calling windows. And we maintain separate sample queues for fresh numbers, scheduled callbacks, and re-engagement attempts so interviewers always have productive work in front of them.
Phase 4: Live Monitoring and Quality Assurance
Quality control is where CATI truly differentiates itself from self-administered methods. Our supervisors monitor live telephone interviews throughout fieldwork — not just spot-checks, but systematic silent monitoring of a minimum 10% of all interviews.
We evaluate interviewers on question delivery accuracy, probing technique, neutrality, and data entry precision. Underperforming interviewers receive same-day coaching; persistent issues result in reassignment. This continuous feedback loop ensures data quality stays consistently high from the first interview to the last.
We also conduct interim data reviews at pre-agreed checkpoints, examining response distributions, open-end quality, and inter-interviewer consistency. If something looks off — an unusual pattern in a specific question, or one interviewer producing markedly different results — we address it before it affects the larger dataset. This is the kind of in-flight quality management that makes CATI uniquely valuable for projects where data integrity is paramount.
Additional quality controls include recording a subset of interviews for post-hoc review, conducting back-check calls to verify interview completion, and running statistical tests for interviewer effects.
Phase 5: Data Processing and Delivery
After fieldwork closes, our data processing team cleans, codes, and validates the full dataset. Open-ended responses are coded using a collaboratively developed code frame, and verbatim responses are reviewed for accuracy. Our coders have access to the audio recordings when needed, ensuring that unclear or abbreviated responses are accurately captured.
Final deliverables include cleaned data files, a comprehensive fieldwork report with outcome statistics, cross-tabulated results, and an executive summary connecting findings to your research objectives. The fieldwork report provides full transparency into contact rates, disposition outcomes, quality metrics, and interviewer performance — giving you confidence in the data that underpins your decisions.
When CATI Surveys Are the Right Method
Telephone interviewing is the best choice when:
- Your audience has limited internet access — older demographics, rural populations, or certain professional segments respond better by phone
- The topic requires interviewer guidance — complex question structures, sensitive subjects, or studies where probing adds significant value
- You need real-time quality control — live monitoring catches problems that post-field cleaning cannot fix
- Response rates matter more than cost per complete — CATI surveys consistently achieve higher response rates than online methods for many populations
- Compliance or regulatory requirements mandate interviewer-administered data collection
- Open-ended responses are critical — trained interviewers elicit richer, more detailed answers than self-administered text boxes
When Another Method May Serve You Better
If your audience is highly digital and the questionnaire is straightforward, online surveys will likely deliver faster results at lower cost. For audiences best reached on their personal devices, consider our mobile and SMS survey services. And if you need the depth of in-person interaction — body language, product handling, visual stimuli — our face-to-face survey research team is equipped for that.
What We Deliver
| Deliverable | Format | Timeline |
|---|---|---|
| CATI script and programming | Scripted instrument within CATI software suite | 5-8 business days |
| Interviewer training materials | Project-specific training guide | Included in script development |
| Fieldwork progress reports | Daily or weekly email updates + dashboard | Throughout fieldwork |
| Cleaned dataset | SPSS, CSV, or Excel | 3-5 business days after field close |
| Open-end coding | Coded data file + code frame | 5-7 business days after field close |
| Fieldwork report | PDF with contact rates, dispositions, quality metrics | 3-5 business days after field close |
| Executive summary | PowerPoint or PDF | 7-10 business days after field close |
Project timelines depend on sample size, interview length, and audience accessibility. A typical 400-complete CATI project with a 15-minute interview runs four to six weeks from design through final delivery. Larger projects or those targeting hard-to-reach segments may require additional time.
Industry Applications
- Healthcare: Patient satisfaction research, post-discharge follow-ups, and physician practise pattern studies where the customer experience requires a sensitive, interviewer-led approach. CATI is especially effective for reaching older patients and caregivers who prefer phone communication.
- Government and Public Sector: Citizen satisfaction surveys, program evaluation research, and needs assessments — particularly for populations with lower digital engagement. Many government agencies require interviewer-administered methods for methodological consistency.
- Financial Services: Wealth management client feedback, insurance claims experience studies, and regulatory compliance surveys where documentation of informed consent is required.
- B2B and Professional Services: Executive-level B2B survey research where phone pre-recruitment and scheduling dramatically improve participation from senior professionals.
- Utilities and Energy: Residential and commercial customer satisfaction tracking, rate case research, and service reliability studies. Utility regulators often require telephone methodology for official customer perception data.
- Education: Parent and community engagement surveys, alumni giving research, and employee experience studies among faculty and staff — audiences who are often best reached through a direct call.