The Internet Revolution in Realtime Reporting

1
The Internet Revolution in Real-time Reporting

• Donna Humphreys
• Pulse Train Ltd

2
A short introduction to Pulse Train

• Founded in 1976
• Supplies integrated software solutions for survey
  research
• Key products
• Bellview CATI
• STAR
• Bellview WEB
• Pulsar

3
Presentation outline

• The Internet on business and survey research
• Data analysis past, present and future
• Real-time reporting what exactly is it
• How could it work for you
• Pros and Cons of real-time reporting

4
Impact of the Internet

• Business is going to change more in the next ten
  years than it has in the last fifty
• If the 1980s were about quality and the 1990s
  were about reengineering, then the 2000s will be
  about velocity. (Bill Gates, Business _at_ the
  Speed of Thought)

5
Statistics and predictions

• 304 million Internet users - March 2000 (NUA
  Internet Surveys)
• 765 million users world wide by 2005
• 213 million users in Europe by 2005 (Computer
  Industry Almanac)

6
Impact of the Internet in business

• Communication via the Internet
• Business transactions over the Internet
• Delivery of documents at click of a button
• Global - the world is getting smaller
• Speed! - culture change. People wont wait

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The Internet in survey research

• Data collection
• Lots of interest and hype
• Settling into niche markets
• Not suitable for all surveys - telephone and face
  to face still remains strong
• New issues - sample bias, response rates,
  respondent data

8
Trends for analysis and reporting

• Printed tables - 70s 80s
• Specialist packages - STAR, Merlin, Quantum
• Specialist users - limited to specwriters
• Desk-top analysis - 80s 90s
• advent of personal computers
• empowered researchers and clients

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Delivering the data to the end-user

• Interactive desk-top analysis
• data supplied on disk
• login to data stored elsewhere
• Ability to tabulate and interrogate data
• Downside was loss of control by supplier -
  misinterpretation of data

10
Table publishing

• Electronic publishing of tables
• led by ISPC with ITE-Fiche (now E-tabs)
• Internet allowed development of this type of
  product
• Output in HTML format
• Easier links to other documents
• Global access to tables

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2000s - real-time reporting

• Assumption that everything is possible via the
  Internet
• Greater need for results while survey
  progressing, not waiting until its completed
• If its possible to do, lets do it!!

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What is real-time reporting?

• On-line access via the Web to electronically
  published tables
• HTML output from standard tabs packages
• e.g. E-tabs

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What is real-time reporting?

• Interactive
• access to a data file or files
• create and save tables and charts
• produce a project personal to the user
• Working with data in real-time
• data stored in relational database, so constantly
  changing

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Reporting in real-time of how data collected

• Monitoring of data during collection -
  particularly on the Internet
• Not cross-tabs or charts
• Respondent behaviour
• Response rates
• Abandonment of interviews
• Who is responding and when

15
Bellview WEB

• Internet interviewing package
• Questionnaire developed in QSL
• Uploaded to the Web server
• Respondents presented with questionnaire via
• specific URL
• banners or pop-up windows

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Pulsar WEB

• Generates tables and charts
• Reads different data types and formats
• Creation of user variables on the fly
• With Bellview WEB data, tables are incremented as
  survey progresses

17
Internet Management Kit

• Remote management of surveys via the Internet
• Allows monitoring of
• quotas
• response rates to questions
• filtering of completed interviews
• Allows decisions to be made regarding possible
  modifications of survey

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Real-time reporting in action
Lets take a look.
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Real-time reporting - the pros

• Instant results, whenever you want them
• Access to the data itself
• Results up to date
• World-wide accessibility
• Survey process much quicker

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Real-time reporting - the pros

• Empowers people
• Able to produce own reports and interrogate data
• Good for monitoring surveys as they progress
• Adds value to your research results

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Real-time reporting - cons

• CPU intensive
• Not necessarily fast - modem speeds etc
• Security issues
• Not suitable for all surveys

22
Real-time reporting - cons

• Do you want your clients to have access to the
  data?
• Control over interpretation of data is lost
• Sampling imbalances

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How does the future look?

• Will the technical issues be resolved?
• As with data collection will it remain in a niche
  area?
• How suitable is it for surveys, especially large
  studies?
• Will it really save time?

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Conclusion is there an Internet revolution?

• The Internet has an impact on business and
  therefore survey research
• Progression of reporting tools has been driven by
  advances in technology
• Needs of users demands how reporting develops
• The power and technology of the Internet gives us
  the ability to report in real-time, on-line

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The Internet Revolution in Real-time Reporting

• Donna Humphreys
• Pulse Train Ltd