Research Methodology

Live Agent Interviewers

Our facility features a call center with a front-line Computer-Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI) system featuring a predictive dialler and in-house sampling database. The CATI system enables data to be entered directly into a computerized database as interviews are conducted, making this advanced computer system and supporting software the premier interviewing tool for accurate, cost-effective, and reliable sampling. Another advantage of the CATI system is that it can be used to play audio clips for respondents such as music or advertising clips.

Below are some of the common types of studies Forum Research has conducted:

  • Customer/Client sat
  • Gen pop
  • B2B
  • Tracking
  • Day-after-recall
  • Executive in-depth interviewing
  • Multilingual – English, French, Cantonese, Mandarin, Punjabi, Urdu, Hindi, Italian, Spanish
  • Members
  • Polling

Online Automation

Forum Research offers advanced market research tools over the Web. Our online surveys are an inexpensive and fast method for obtaining consumer and business research feedback. These surveys allow for quick and easy changes with minimum cost. What is more, they ensure a fast turnaround of responses. In fact, the turnaround is so quick that these responses are available only 20 minutes after the survey is completed by the respondent.

Online surveys enable you to make fast decisions and permit online respondents to participate when it's convenient for them. Since 60-70% of North Americans are now online, there is a tremendous opportunity to tap into a new and cost-efficient way of collecting information from your target group.

Companies use us for a variety of reasons:

  • New Product Development Testing, Concept and Copy Testing and Awareness, Trial and Usage Tracks.
  • Conjoint and Trade-off Analysis; very popular today with New Product Development Testing.
  • Key Customer and Needs and Wants Surveys — Reaching B2B groups that are costly to interview via telephone; these include wireless, high-tech, and other important key business sector groups as well as hard to reach professional groups such as Lawyers, Teachers, Doctors, Nurses, and Engineers.
  • Web Usability Surveys — Targeting groups that will provide very fast feedback regarding website usability.
  • Customer Satisfaction Surveys — Offering customers another channel in addition to telephone and mail surveys.
  • Lastly, as a substitute for mail surveys — Offering timely responses and cost savings compared to the mail option.

Qualitative Research

Many of our programs require in-depth research concerning the subtle aspects of stakeholder relationships. For this purpose, we recommend several qualitative research methods, depending upon the project. All our qualitative analysis is conducted in-house without any sub-contracting.

Our qualitative methods include:

  • Focus groups
  • Mini groups
  • Dyads and triads
  • In-depth reflective interviews

Our experience with each of these qualitative methods lets us recommend the method which is most appropriate for each client.

We employ skilled Focus Group Facilitators across a broad range of industries. Our facilitators specialize in eliciting the full range of ideas, attitudes, experiences, and opinions held by the selected sample of respondents and deliver independent, honest, and unbiased feedback.

Forum Research ensures you are obtaining quality outcomes from a Focus Group whether it is a regular or annual off-site team meeting, select group of customers, or general respondents.

Intercept and Face to Face

We offer a variety of face-to-face data collection techniques such as 1-on-1, Mall Intercept, and Door-to-Door interviewing, which allow you to accurately gauge consumers' likes/dislikes, preferences, purchase intent, pricing, and many other factors. Interviewers are trained for in-depth interviewing and probing to give our customers the most detailed information possible. Interviewers are also routinely monitored by experienced field supervisors for Quality Assurance. We have at our disposal approximately 8,000 trained interviewers across the country ready to meet all your intercept and face-to-face data collection needs.

Electronic: Mail/Fax/Email

Forum Research uses a multi-response means of data collection thereby drastically increasing the response rate and the response demographic. Forum Research can also provide surveys in multiple languages. We have extensive experience and consistently provide accurate results in all forms of survey methods according to your customer's preferences - including mail, fax, and email.

Interactive Voice Response(Outbound)

The IVR (Interactive Voice Recognition)data collection tool is a cost-effective, fast, and flexible system that Forum Research has used for over a decade. These automated surveys are an excellent alternative to online panel surveys with the ability to state statistical tolerance since calls are made using a RDD sampling methodology. Unlike Omnibus services where fieldwork is conducted only during certain weeks of the year and your questions are combined with many others potentially biasing your sample, our IVR tool allows you to conduct your surveys when you want and respondents are asked only questions that you are interested in. IVR can be used to conduct a standalone survey or used to target low-incidence groups for follow-up interviews. Multi-language surveys can also be conducted with relative ease using our professional voice recording service.

This tried and tested methodology has garnered strong reviews within the market research community and Forum Research is at the forefront as we have used this methodology to most accurately predict the recent provincial and federal elections, including seat projections and the popular vote.