AFS 'Smart Askers' offers an extensive range of data collection solutions (methodologies) to address the needs of researchers seeking to reach different populations.
This full range of modes means that when clients approach our company for a quotation to provide fieldwork services (data collection) we can provide an expert view of the best, and most cost efficient method, to locate the respondents required based on the demographic profile provided.
The attributes of what works well in data collection changes overtime and the only way to ensure you have obtained the best method is to rely on an organisation that has the breadth and daily experience to measure what is working right now.
Our vision is to be the fieldwork company of "first choice" operating within the Australian market research industry. Whereas our aim is to provide our clients within meaningful data upon which intelligent decisions can be made.
> Panel Creation & Management
Research which is "bespoke" and designed to solve a single issue only often proves to be a signicant cost or investment for the end user.
Accordingly, we suggest to our clients consider creating an ongoing reference sample which can be continuously engaged to assist in future research questions.
AFS 'Smart Askers' capabilities include the ability to recruit to a data base “panel”, survey and provide incentives for participation. AFS 'Smart Askers' has invested in advanced data storage, retrieval and security.
> Longitudinal Tracking
The attributes of what works well in data collection changes over time and the only way to ensure you have obtained the best method is to rely on an organisation which has the breadth and daily experience to measure what is working right now.
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Business and Government to Farmers
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Business to Executives by Title
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Business to Medical
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Shopping and Consumer Tracking
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Business to Customers and Industry
> Face to Face / Observation / Mystery Shopping
Researchers who's projects require observations and mystery shopping know that this mode of data collection is more often than not, the most expensive of all methodologies.
We fully appreciate that with F2F data collection there is no second chance to get it right.
Consequently, our approach to F2F data collection is to work closely with our clients at every stage, but most importantly at the "front end" of each new project so as to ensure that each member of our team fully understand the client's needs completely, and the client also understands what we will provide in terms of deliverables "output".
AFS has a specialist team who share a wealth of project management experience who personally supervise field operations. They know data quality is the result of professional planning, interviewer presentation and following selection protocols accurately.
Coverage is important. With a national face to face field team our company is able to service regional and rural areas, airports, festivals, clubs and shopping venues. There are more than 400 registered interviewers we engage – all trained and quality assured.
Client's return to AFS 'Smart Askers' for reliability – the team are recognised experts in putting together complex operations which are normally posed a high risk. AFS 'Smart Askers' has created unique processes that ensure projects are fully resourced and organised.
> CASE: Intercept and In Person Data Collection - Experience and Capabilities
> Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing
The telephone is fundamental to researching customers lists and business decision makers and it is at the heart of any large scale quantitative project. AFS 'Smart Askers' leads the market by utilising an advanced CATI (Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing) platform that provides:
* Reductions in interviewer errors through automatic routing and navigation
* The ability for clients to access data immediately and monitor projects in "real time” from anywhere
* Improved productivity resulting in lower project costs
* Shorter field times and therefore faster turnaround of projects
* Greater accuracy in managing quotas and multiple language projects
> Web Surveys
AFS 'Smart Askers' uses on-line methods to broaden the ability of researchers to connect with respondents.
This includes;
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Web enabled telephone interviews for live reporting.
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E-mail, panel and phone recruitment to web studies
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Mobile research including live hand held in person interviewing
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Mail, Fax, and SMS prompting to encourage higher responses
AFS 'Smart Askers' can deploy a mix of methods to reach “difficult samples” and to arrange responses to suit a tight research schedule.
> Recruitment
Recruiting participants for focus groups, panels and in-depth interviews can be a fairly involved process and requires adequate time for planning the right approach, experience helps AFS 'Smart Askers' to understand what is possible by when and we're able to provide guarantees on that basis.
AFS 'Smart Askers' has refreshed the traditional methods of recruitment to develop a reliable system of screening and recruiting qualified participants to attend focus groups – that are not “groupies” (professional focus group attendees) that other firms frequently provide!
> CASE: Focus Group and Panel Recruitment - Experiences and Capabilities
> Facilitators
AFS can tap into a network of qualified research and psychology professionals who choose to work casually on research projects when the demand for their skills exist.
During peek research periods, particularly around the end of the financial year and toward the end of the calendar year, our company is able to link into these professionals to assist you in completing overflow work and ensuring that projects are completed on time.
Importantly, we will not undertake work that we cannot deliver, and we will not commit to time scales that cannot be met.
> Data Processing and Validation
The foundation of strong research is perfect data entry and processing – in this area we excel, with some of the industry's most experienced and dedicated personnel.
AFS 'Smart Askers' has a team of data analysts working on data presentation and data entry. These skills have widened due to client demand into for data interrogation, mining and the ability to standardise data sets across projects.
This is time saving and value adding work which can extend the life of a project's data and ensure that sample set's are not duplicated and errors not repeated.
For example a single client may have a approached more than 10,000 prospects on multiple research projects. Abiding the appropriate Codes of Practice and permissions client's can re-examine with AFS, the ability to leverage projects and create a rigid institutional research memory.
Validation is undertaken on each project in accordance with ISO20252 requirements.
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