service bureau quality control
The CfMC Service Bureau strives to provide the best possible research experience for our clients. This commitment to quality is why the industry's top research companies rely on the CfMC Service Bureau for their programming, hosting, and study management tasks.
The Service Bureau ensures our clients' high standards of quality are met by applying the following quality control procedures. For more information about quality control for our tabulations services, please visit the tabulations page.
step 1: pre-project planning
instrument and instruction validation
Initial survey instruments are scrutinized by our experienced project managers who check the document for logical inconsistencies, incomplete programming instructions, and overall survey flow. The assigned project manager then reviews all other project related information such as sample size, incidence, quotas, final deliverables, etc.
resource allocation and project planning
Once the full scope of the project has been realized, a timeline is developed outlining the most efficient and cohesive allocation of resources. Project details are then recorded in a central database for team reference, resource cooperation, and a consistent flow of project information between our nationwide team.
respondent completion monitoring
CfMC's data collection tools (Survent & webSurvent) allow the Service Bureau to collect an array of information about the respondent, including start and end date/time and the length of interview.
Upon request, the CfMC Service Bureau will establish a minimum and average survey completion time for your study and assign a time-score for each survey respondent. This practice is great way to manage your data set so that your analysis and findings are based on respondents who actually participated in your study.
access to software architects
Throughout study programming and management, members of the Service Bureau staff benefit from a close relationship with the CfMC software programming and technical support staffs. This relationship brings experienced market research software specialists to your projects and promotes the general development of the software.
step 2: programming and testing
constant testing and client involvement
Early in the programming process, CfMC provides working examples of complicated and/or crucial sections of the survey for client approval. This allows for feedback and customization from the client before proceeding on to final programming.
When the initial phase of survey programming is complete, staff members test and evaluate the survey for the following:
- skip logic
- single punch vs. multi-punch responses
- exclusive responses in multi-punch response lists
- exception codes
- consistency in the onscreen presentation of the survey
- spelling/grammatical errors
- text substitution/back-referencing
- question and response rotations
- terminate points
- selection processes
- proper suspending and resuming
- quotas
- error messages
- interviewing/respondent instructions
data verification, before collecting data
Prior to a study's fielding, CfMC runs a Random Data Generator (RDG) that creates a sample data file against which marginals are generated and checked. Quota tallies, skips, and checks/limits are then verified by reviewing the data generated by the RDG process.
step 3: working the plan and project support
invitation creation and list validation (Web surveys only)
With testing completed, CfMC creates passwords for Web surveys through a unique password generator. Once a list of passwords has been created, Project Managers confirm unique IDs through a strict de-duplication script.
Next, the project manager loads e-mail addresses, passwords, and the remaining contents of the invitation letter into CfMC's eMailer tool. In addition to checking for structurally valid e-mail addresses, e-mailer provides for the scheduling of invitations over hours, days, or weeks.
nonstop project support and monitoring
Once a survey goes live, we provide comprehensive project support and monitoring. Your Service Bureau project manager will always be available while the study is in-field.
Using automated scripts, Service Bureau project managers monitor, in real-time, data being collected by the survey to ensure data integrity and consistency between data, quota, and the sample files.
respondent support
For Web surveys, your project manager will field e-mail inquiries from respondents. We believe that active and timely support results in positive survey experiences that preserve the quality of the total sample pool and the satisfaction of your respondents.
report and tabulation quality assurance
All tables and reports undergo a strict quality control testing and verication procedures. Using utilities developed specifically for CfMC data collection and reporting software (including FREQ, HOLE, and SCAN), we validate the data that was collected, entered, and reported before the results are presented to you or your client.
