Public Research
I've Been Called
Paid Research Opportunity
Competitive Edge conducts in-person paid research. San Diego County residents only, please complete our Potential Respondent form if you would like to be contacted.
Quality Control
Hiring and Training
The hiring process begins either by a potential interviewer responding to a help wanted advertisement in the local newspaper or by contact from a current CERC employee. Many of CERC’s interviewing personnel are drawn from local colleges. All applicants are interviewed by either the office manager or floor support personnel specifically trained to conduct a job interview. It is during this time that prospective employees are first exposed to CERC’s rules, regulations and emphasis on making quality calls. Those deemed fit to continue to the training process are first shown a corporate video which introduces them to the team at CERC and further explains the nature of the job and the service we provide to our clients.
In addition to specializing in conducting telephone survey research, CERC also conducts voter contact programs. All new hires are trained for voter contact and must work at least 40 hours of those types of projects before training for polling work. This allows interviewers to become familiar with the interviewing system, methods and respondent interaction before actually fielding a single survey. Interviewers are continually evaluated for promotion to polling. All promoted interviewers must go through separate training regarding polling techniques, cooperation enhancement techniques and dealing with special circumstances.
This separate training involves role-playing various scenarios interviewers are likely to encounter. Trainers confront interviewers with difficult situations. They coach interviewers to quickly respond to an objection voiced by a potential respondent and teach them further techniques for successful interviewing.
After initial training for polling, interviewers are consistently monitored. Individual performance scores based on completion rate, refusal conversion techniques, and other factors are computed. The score allows management to impartially rank each interviewer. Should an interviewer fall below more than one standard deviation from the mean, that interviewer will immediately be removed from polling projects. The interviewer is required to take a polling retraining class in order to again be eligible to poll. If an interviewer is flagged for retraining more than once, they are no longer eligible for polling. Conversely, interviewers who perform so well that they rise to above the first standard deviation are rewarded with monetary bonuses and other compensation.
Response Verification (Supervision)
CERC has dedicated supervisors who monitor each interviewer during the entire shift. The supervisors are able to listen to both the interviewer and the respondent while following their work on a separate terminal. The supervisor is able to break into the call if necessary, but generally takes notes for several calls, then gives feedback to both the interviewer in question and other supervisors/managers.
Remote Monitoring
After an initial training period – usually an hour – the client can dial-in to the phonecenter using a toll-free number at any time to monitor, unsupervised, for as long as they want. Disclaimers at the outset of the interview will briefly alert potential respondents that calls may be monitored for quality assurance.
No Sub-contracting of Interviewing
None of the interviewing will be sub-contracted to other vendors. All interviewing will be conducted by CERC using CERC personnel, facilities and equipment.
Overcoming Language and Ethnic Barriers
CERC’s CATI system is designed for multilingual data collection with the ability to switch on the fly between numerous languages. In addition, CERC has a team of on-site bilingual interviewers that poll in both Spanish and English. CERC has also conducted interviews in Tagalog and has the ability to conduct interviews in any language on a contract basis. With the diverse make up of CERC’s interviewing crew, we are able to minimize ethnic barriers.
