What is CATI (Computer-Assisted Telephone Interviewing)?
CATI (Computer-Assisted Telephone Interviewing) is a survey method where an interviewer uses software on a computer to guide phone interviews and record responses. It combines human interviewing with digital scripts, routing and real-time data capture.
In CATI, a trained interviewer calls a respondent and follows a questionnaire displayed by a computer application. The software presents each question, enforces skip logic (showing or hiding follow-ups based on answers), validates responses, and stores data directly into a central system. CATI systems often support call scheduling, callbacks, quota management and basic respondent disposition tracking. Because a person is asking the questions, CATI works well for respondents who prefer spoken interaction or who have limited internet access.
Usage example
A council runs a resident satisfaction study using CATI: interviewers call a random sample of households, use the CATI script to ask standard questions, mark answers on the computer, and the system automatically applies follow-up questions and quotas.
Practical application
CATI matters because it lets organisations reach people who are less likely to respond online—older residents, people without reliable internet, or individuals who prefer speaking to a person. It produces higher completion rates for complex or sensitive questionnaires that benefit from an interviewer, and gives supervisors visibility into fieldwork progress. However, CATI is more resource-intensive than self-completed online surveys: it requires interviewers, call management, and quality control. For multilingual outreach, CATI can work if interviewers speak the target languages or if the system supports multilingual scripts, but managing many languages increases operational cost. Platforms like Hearo aim to reduce that friction for multilingual projects by automating translation for self-complete surveys and making review and translation of responses simpler; CATI remains a complementary option when voice contact is required.
FAQ
How is CATI different from an online survey?
CATI involves a live interviewer reading questions over the phone and entering answers into software, while online surveys are completed directly by respondents via web or mobile. CATI can reach people without internet and usually achieves higher response rates, but it costs more and needs trained staff.
Can CATI handle multiple languages?
Yes, but it requires interviewers who speak each language or pre-recorded multilingual scripts. Managing many languages increases complexity and cost. Using automated translation for written surveys reduces the need for multilingual interview teams, though voice-based interaction may still be preferable for some groups.
Are CATI responses reliable for open-text answers?
Open-text responses collected by CATI depend on the interviewer’s note-taking and the respondent’s spoken answers. They can be high-quality for clarifying questions, but may require careful transcription and translation when respondents speak different languages. Digital recording and standardized prompts help improve consistency.
When should I choose CATI over other data-collection modes?
Choose CATI when you need to reach people who lack internet access, want to improve response rates for complex questionnaires, need to probe answers in real time, or require controlled sampling via phone. For broad multilingual reach at lower cost, automated multilingual self-complete surveys can be a better first option.