Western Wats (from 801-437-3150) has been calling the last couple days. I finally answered the phone, it was a political survey. They asked the typical screener disqualification questions “Do you work for a political party, the government, a newspaper…” Surprisingly this time they didn’t include “a market research company”. I always tell my clients this question is a waste of time/space, as almost everyone knows it’s a screener question and therefore anyone who feels like participating is likely to answer no.
What was interesting about this call though was the accent. I swear, it almost sounded like a computer generated (IVR) technology but with a strong accent. But I soon realized that it was probably someone with a heavy, probably east or southeast Asian accent reading a CATI monitor verbatim with no natural pausing at a very remote location (probably VOIP telephone tech). I’m rather good with accents so I was able to follow most of what she said. But doubt that would be the case with most respondents.
A couple of the key questions involved reading a statement about a proposed Bill and asking if I would support it or not. I felt I didn’t have enough information to take a stance either way at this time. This caused a lot of frustration on the poor interviewer who didn’t seem to know how to proceed and needed an answer. Finally we were able to move on.
At the end of the interview I was dieing to know from what country this person was calling me from, so I asked “Just one question, where are you calling from?”
CATI Operator: “Western Watts”
ME: “Yes I know, but what location?”
CATI Operator: “We are headquartered In Utah”,
ME: “Yes, but where are you calling from”
CATI Operator: “We are headquartered in Western Utah”
ME: “Yes, but where are you personally calling from, I’m just curious”
CATI Operator: “I can’t answer that, I’m sure you understand”
ME: “No Not really” (laughing)
CATI Operator: “Thank you so much for understanding, have a nice day”
Another case of marketing research being off-shored. Perhaps as it was a political poll (I believe for Connecticut: Jim Himes D OR Chris Shays R, for Congress) it was especially important for her not to admit she was calling from across the globe. Answering questions about my opinions about our involvement in the Iraq war etc., imagining a young Southeast Asian student on the other side of the line seemed rather weird.
As I was answering I was also imagining the analysis that could/could not be done with the data we were generating. I’m in no way anti-globalization per-se, but I think you have to draw a line somewhere with what you off-shore.
I’m not sure if Western Watts had crossed that line with this particular study, but I believe so, as I’m much better with accents than the average person and have excellent hearing.
What I would like to see though at the very least is transparency. When I asked the question I deserved an answer. I’m sure the client has no idea about how this study is being fielded. Too bad. And people wonder why our industry reputation is declining and why we can’t accurately predict winners…
When does off-shoring market research cross the line?
Is it up to the client to find out what is being off-shored or should the supplier come clean?
Does it matter?
I’m curios to hear your opinion.
-Tom
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2 responses so far ↓
1 the.honest.one // Jan 8, 2009 at 2:32 pm
Well actually Tom you are absolutely right. I was once a call center agent at Western Wats and we are indeed asians. When I applied and during our training process, we were told that we are not allowed to inform American respondents that we are not calling within the states. Usually, we are clearly told to tell you guys that we are calling from Utah or Idaho whenever you ask us if where are we calling from but honestly, we are from asia. Well, I can’t blame you if you would not like other nations asking about American matters. But the thing is, who doesn’t need a job. They went here (Western Wats) and so we just applied. For me, it is even a bit way off because we are asking your opinions on things that even we don’t understand and eventually we would get to know of that certain topic if what it is all about. When we are calling you, we are doing it by reading the script from the monitors in front of us. But to tell you honestly Tom, we are not to be blamed for this kind of job because technically speaking, we are just doing what is ask for us to be done according to the assigned task that Western Wats had given us. My point is, blame Western Wats and if possible, try to check your constitution if they have violated any law that has something to do with bringing in national issues to accross your borders. Thanks.
2 Tom H C Anderson // Jan 8, 2009 at 5:29 pm
Thank you for your honesty Honest One!
I definitely don’t blame you, and I’m all for sharing the wealth. Just not at the expense of dishonesty and poor research. Thanks again for sharing and best of luck to you.
Tom
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