Nfield’s Voice Over feature is a very useful tool for both Online and CAPI surveys, which can be used to overcome visual impairments (Online), interviewer bias (CAPI) and local dialect differences (CAPI and Online).

By voicing survey questions and the various response options, Voice Over broadens the scope of people who can contribute to answering surveys.

In particular, it provides the following benefits:

• Enables respondents with reading difficulties, due to blindness, part-sightedness, dyslexia and other cognitive and learning disabilities, to participate. These people usually already have voice-over-text programs to assist them in using the internet. However, some of these programs are not compatible with Nfield Online surveys, so it is far better to have Voice Over functionality embedded in the survey itself.

• Reading out questionnaires in the appropriate local dialect. This is especially handy in countries where there are multiple dialects. CAPI interviewers can still perform their work, even when deployed in a region where they don’t speak the local dialect. Online respondents can play audio in their own dialect, even if the written language is in another.

• Ensures CAPI interviewers don’t (consciously or subconsciously) influence responses through the way they read out questions and answer options.

Enhanced functionality

Nfield has recently enhanced its Voice Over functionality by making it possible to play audio for questions and answers separately. So users can repeat-play specific answers for clarification, without having to listen to the entire question with all its answers over again.

How Voice Over works

Go to the page produced by our NfieldChicago team for a simple demonstration of Voice Over in action and instructions for implementation. You’ll also find this in the NIPO Academy video #19.

Setting up Voice Over isn’t difficult. It simply needs some patience for the time taken to link each separate audio file with each part of the question.

Implementation tips

• To save time making audio clips, use a downloadable mp3 text-to-speech conversion tool.
• Use the same gender voice for different languages within the same survey to avoid responses being influenced by gender bias.
• Ensure audio clip file sizes are as small as possible, with a 128 kbps bitrate, for fast loading speed.

If there’s anything else you’d like to know about using Nfield’s Voice Over feature, don’t hesitate to contact us!

Having achieved gold status for the Application Integration competency for the Microsoft Partner Network at the end of last year, we are proud to share the news of NIPO’s success in achieving an additional Silver status for the much desired Security competency.

The competencies Microsoft awards are a strong confirmation that these partners have demonstrated the highest, most consistent capability and commitment to the adoption and implementation of the latest Microsoft technology. Securing a competency is highly dependent on successful certification of technical staff, which implies a deep and continuous investment from both the organization and the individual software developers.

Our Nfield users can benefit directly from NIPOs status within the Microsoft Partner Network. Next to our annual ISO 27001-2013 (Information Security) certification, this is another proof of leading external recognition for the NIPO team and our Nfield platform. This information can be used in client pitches for those projects where Nfield, as Kantar’s destination platform, is used and where the customer would like to understand how, for example, security is addressed.

Securing the Silver status for the Security competency was one of our goals for 2021. Now the NIPO team will continue her efforts to upgrade the Security competency to Gold status.

The Nfield CAPI app, used by interviewers to conduct surveys, has recently undergone an extensive makeover to make it more intuitive and, with that, faster to work with. This has resulted in a new version (2.11) which users are now invited to switch to.

To switch to version 2.11, go to the diagnostics tab in the Nfield CAPI app’s settings. For now, these settings allow you to switch between the old and new versions as you prefer. Over time, the old version will be phased out.

What’s changed

Instantly identified by its teal coloring (instead of blue), the new version Nfield CAPI app has been completely redesigned in terms of navigation and how the various screens look and work. From the very start, you’ll see how all the high-level information is shown together on one screen, with the ability to expand any section in one tap. Users thereby have instant access to latest status details without going to a different screen, so can quickly switch between various functional elements.

This simplified navigation provides the shortest path to starting an interview. Throughout the course of a day’s work, interviewers spend less time navigating around the app and enjoy faster access to what they need to know and do. With fewer distractions, work is easier to focus on.

The thinking behind the update

The person behind our new version Nfield CAPI app is our UX (user experience) designer, Deniz. Having worked at NIPO for more than 12 years, including time on our helpdesk, Deniz has a deep understanding of what Nfield CAPI users need. In his UX work, he uses various tools and techniques to generate insights into user behaviors. Putting these two things together, combined with the fact that user interaction technology has evolved a long way since Nfield was first launched in 2013, Deniz realized it was high time to give the Nfield CAPI app a major overhaul. The result is our customers and their interviewers all get to benefit from a more streamlined way of working.

Standardized familiarity

The Nfield CAPI app’s new look is based on the Material (https://material.io/) interface guideline that standardizes how elements in a screen should be designed for intuitive interaction. This determines the look and behavior of navigation bars and how cards are used.

Following standardized principles is advantageous because users more quickly feel comfortable with using an app that’s new to them, due to already being familiar with the process via other apps. In psychology, this is known as the Mere-Exposure Effect. So we have a very solid reasoning for adopting design standardization!

Below are the components used in building the new Nfield CAPI app. All of which should be familiar to everyone used to using apps.

No time to waste

Market research interviewers often only work part-time or for short-term periods. The ability to quickly get up-to-speed on how to do the job is very important. Preconditioned familiarity for how to use their tools, in this case the Nfield CAPI app, is therefore very valuable. We believe it only takes two or three uses of the new Nfield CAPI app to feel fully comfortable with it. And, of course, because the new navigation is more streamlined, work can be done more quickly too.

What do you think?

The new version Nfield CAPI app is all about making interviewers’ work easier and faster. Deniz will continue to update it as necessary to improve the user experience even more. The more feedback he gets from you, the better he can make it!

We therefore invite you to tell us what you think about the new version Nfield CAPI app. What do you like about it and what do you feel should be done differently? What new functionality would you like to have?

Contact us at info@nipo.com.

Nfield surpassed a significant milestone on 20 May 2021, smashing through the 100K completed interviews per 24 hours barrier. More importantly, the Nfield platform handled the 104,758 successful completes without showing the slightest level of stress.

The record completion rate was comprised of 86,949 Online surveys and 17,809 CAPI surveys. Of these, 49K were performed on the APAC server, an incredibly high figure which was driven by a single survey in Japan which produced 37,226 completes.

Assisted by isolation

This Japanese survey is, itself, significant for the fact that it ran as an isolated survey using dedicated Azure resources (containers). Using this solution means that the load it generated did not have any impact on other domains and/or surveys. The ability to run isolated interviewing is facilitated via Nfield’s Function app, which has been made possible following intensive collaboration between our team and Microsoft architects. The Function app itself was hit more than 2 million times in 24 hours in relation to this Japanese survey.

But not an isolated event

Having confirmed Nfield’s ability to comfortably handle this level of traffic, we are looking forward to it becoming a daily norm. It’s good to know that isolation can be a very positive thing! 😊

Sampling Points enable researchers to obtain quota-proportioned responses across all individual settings within a CAPI survey. They can be embedded in Quota Target surveys to ensure consistent representation within every different location. As well as providing overall balance, the use of Sampling Points means fieldwork progress can be examined on a setting-by-setting basis.

How Sampling Points work

Sampling Points are the various locations where interviews are carried out within a CAPI survey. They might be exhibition halls, shopping malls, districts, cities, cinemas, hospitals, places of worship, etc. When Sampling Points are applied within a survey, every fieldwork location must be designated as or to a Sampling Point. There cannot be any non-designated interview locations.

Because different sampling points might be different sizes, with access to more or fewer respondents, each one requires its own Quota Target.

For example, a CAPI survey examining behavior of hotel guests would involve face-to-face interviews in variously-sized hotels. To ensure respondents from each key gender and age group segment are proportionately represented at each individual location, the Quota Targets are adjusted according to hotel size. The smaller the hotel, the smaller the quota targets, and vice versa. But the ratios per segment always stay the same. Larger hotels may thereby also call for more interviewers to be assigned.

Sampling Points in the Nfield Manager

Sampling Points are easy and intuitive to set up in the Nfield Manager. If you already have any CAPI Sampling Point with Quota surveys in CAPI Manager, you can easily migrate these to the Nfield manager for an improved experience, with just one click.

Sampling Points can be set up in the Nfield Manager either by manual entry or by uploading an excel sheet (complete with Quota Targets). These can also easily be individually updated as necessary.

Note that you have to calculate and enter the different Quota Targets for each Sampling Point. Nfield doesn’t have a facility for automatically adjusting these.

Sampling Points set up process in Nfield Manager

If you have any questions or comments about setting up and using CAPI surveys with Sampling Points in the Nfield Manager, please do not hesitate to contact us.

In our efforts to move CAPI features from the Classic Manager to the new Nfield Manager, we have made another step. We have already migrated the basic CAPI surveys into the Nfield Manager and we are now ready to move the CAPI surveys with sampling points too. In this series of NIPO Academy sessions we will show how to create, assign and monitor CAPI surveys with sampling points in the Nfield Manager.

App-in-the-Middle is a feature developed for Nfield, in which control of a survey is temporarily handed over to an external application, so that functionalities not offered within Nfield can be incorporated into survey execution. This is useful, for example, if you want to make use of a Sawtooth module for implementing a complex conjoint.

How it works

All you have to do is instruct your Nfield survey when to switch to the external app, and instruct the external app when to switch back to your survey. Making sure, of course, that all the relevant data is handed over during both switching processes.

Within Nfield, this is handled in the sense of pausing and resuming interviews. We’ve accommodated the App-in-the-Middle feature by making it possible to resume paused interviews from an “as is” status, in addition to the usual “as was” status.

“as was” vs “as is”

Under normal circumstances which don’t involve App-in-the-Middle, a paused Nfield Online or CAWI interview simply returns to its last-known state upon resuming, with all variables and routing restored to the point they were at when paused. This is known as resuming from the “as was”.

Incorporating App-in-the-Middle requires Nfield to accept changes made during the external app’s time in control and resume from this updated situation. This means resuming from the “as is” instead of the “as was”. We’ve introduced this option into Nfield, so you can now incorporate extra functionality via App-in-the-Middle whenever you need to.

How to implement App-in-the-Middle in your surveys

This short video shows the basic principles without going into too much detail.

Switching control between Nfield and an external app

Control over conducting the interview is handed over from Nfield to the external app by using the ODIN command: *ENDST 107. This pauses the interview in Nfield and redirects to the relocation link defined for response code 107. The external app hands back to Nfield by redirecting to the survey URL with its corresponding respondent key and other information.

For the interview to continue in Nfield, some special script constructs must be used to prevent the interview executing *ENDST 107 again. This is done by using either the *INIT block or information that is handed over from the external app. You can find out more about using *INIT blocks in our Academy session video on pausing and resuming surveys.

Handing information over to an external app

The relevant information can be handed over to an external app by adding it as query string parameters to the exit link configured for the HandedOver response code (107).

For example:
https://aitm.com?respondent={respondentKey}&extra={extraInfo}

This shows the names of ODIN variables between the {}. The variable names are replaced by the variable values before redirection to the external app’s URL.

Handing information back to the Nfield survey

The external app hands back to Nfield by redirecting to the survey URL. The survey URL must contain the respondentKey. Extra information can be added as query string parameters. The interview will then be resumed (from “as is”) with the ODIN variables having the values now shown in the query string parameters.

For example:
https://{startlink}/{respondentKey}?aitmResult=199

This will resume the interview and if an ODIN variable with the name aitmResult is defined it will get the value 199.

Here to help!

Let us know if you want to integrate a specific app via App-in-the-Middle into your surveys. We’ll be happy to help you set up your project.

Recently NIPO launched a new DA course. This course concentrates on the responsibilities of the DA and the tools NIPO has built to help you meet these responsibilities. We would like to use this series of NIPO academy sessions to introduce this course. We will concentrate especially on the new features for survey groups and domain access that we have introduced over the last months.

The market research industry’s three main channels – Online, CATI and CAPI – each have distinct advantages in different situations. Online is fast, cheap and far-reaching. But better quality responses can sometimes be assured via CATI and CAPI channels, which can be backed up with visual, audio and GPS location evidence.

Circumstantial, cultural, demographic and geographic factors also come into play when it comes to which channel is most effective for delivering response. But these can vary within an individual survey and even within an individual sample.

To offer a comprehensive service that keeps all the options open, market research companies ideally need the ability to deploy all three channels, switching between them as necessary in a mixed-mode project.

Benefits Of multi-mode flexibility

While a particular survey type is often a preferred choice for a specific market research project, there are often circumstances when the ability to switch modes is beneficial.

• CAPI and CATI surveys are sometimes preferential when quality control via a human interviewer is important. But if a target group cannot be reached face-to-face or by phone, then an Online sample can be used to fill in the gaps.
• CAPI interviewers sometimes encounter respondents for whom on-the-spot participation isn’t convenient, but are happy to take the survey online at a time of their choosing.
• Some respondents are not comfortable with completing Online surveys and prefer to provide answers over the phone.
• India, with 370 million internet users, is the second largest online market after China. Yet this figure only represents 30% of the population. So while Online can be a great channel here, it’s not enough on its own.
• Online is the predominant channel in Europe and North America, there’s a preference for face-to-face in Asia and Africa.

Incompatible systems limit market research capability

Because Online, CAPI and CATI channels are driven by different technical systems, switching between them is often not as simple as it needs to be. Making a survey available by all three systems typically requires duplication of set-up work and additional effort to consolidate the results. For some market research companies, this is a burden to far. For the sake of efficiency, they dedicate themselves to a single channel. Thereby cutting off the many opportunities which come with multi-channel capability.

Nfield consolidates Online (CAWI), CATI And CAPI to boost productivity and open up possibilities

Here at NIPO, we are all about empowering market research companies to perform better. So we decided to get a grip on the situation by developing Online, CATI and CAPI systems which are fully compatible with each other.

Using our Nfield Online, CATI and CAPI survey solutions, you only have to set up a survey once for it to automatically translate across all three channels. Each respondent’s answers can be accepted via any channel and results are automatically consolidated.

New to Nfield?

If you’re currently burdened with incompatible systems for multi-mode surveys, switching to Nfield will noticeably boost your productivity.

And if you’ve been limiting yourself to just one or two channels, Nfield provides an easy way to explore the opportunities multi-mode survey capability could bring to your business.

What’s more, because Nfield survey solutions are specifically designed to meet the needs of market research professionals, they’re sully equipped with everything from stunning survey design and advanced scripting options to elaborate sampling, quota handling and much more.

Want to find out more?

Feel free to contact us to discuss your requirements and ask anything you need to know about Nfield Online, CAPI and CATI.

Our article Your Nfield login’s value on the dark web explains why access to your Nfield account is such a tempting prize for hackers. The good news is you can make it almost impossible for them to get in by deploying two-factor authentication. Adding this extra security layer to your username and password login makes your Nfield account more than 99.9% less likely to be compromised, according to research by Alex Weinert, Group Program Manager for Identity Security and Protection at Microsoft¹.

This article explains the concept of two-factor authentication (2FA) and its benefits, as well as giving instructions for setting it up and rolling it out in your organization.

¹ https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/azure-active-directory-identity/your-pa-word-doesn-t-matter/ba-p/731984

How two-factor authentication (2FA) works

You’re probably already familiar with using two-factor authentication to access things such as bank, social media (Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram) and email accounts. 2FA adds to the first factor – your email address/username and password combination – by asking for a code which can only be obtained via a physical object you have in your possession. This might be a key-like token, an office access card or an SMS message received on your mobile phone. Very highly secured systems may even require a third factor, such as a fingerprint or iris scan.

Nfield accounts secured with two-factor authentication require users to enter a code (a token) generated by a standard authenticator app on a mobile phone. This has the effect of complementing something you know (your username and password) with a code obtained through something you have (your phone). It effectively blocks any hackers who have obtained your username and password from getting into your Nfield account, as they would not be able to retrieve the second factor code from the phone. Your valuable Nfield fieldwork and respondent data is thereby protected from prying eyes.

Data security compliance

Different companies have different policies for protecting different types of data. Even if your organization doesn’t require two-factor authentication, your client’s organization might. Having it set up on your Nfield account means you’ll be compliant with every policy or project requirement.

Two-factor authentication in relation to GDPR, ISO 27001 and ISO 27002

• The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) states appropriate data security as being a mandatory requirement. However, it is up to individual organizations to determine how they should achieve this. As an example, the Dutch Data Protection Authority (Dutch DPA) is responsible for a hospital patient portal in which medical data is stored. GDPR² considers this as sensitive personal data. The Dutch DPA has opted to deploy two-factor authentication to satisfy the requirement for appropriate data security.
• ISO 27001 only states that access control should require secret information, such as a password, as a means of authentication³. However, ISO 27002 advises a tighter level of control and recommends using two-factor authentication for a number of scenarios. These scenarios include Nfield, as it falls within the categories A.9.4.2 (secure log-on procedures) and A9.4.4 (use of privileged utility program).

With compliance and IT policies regularly being updated to fend off new security threats, it’s probably only a matter of time before two-factor authentication becomes a standard requirement.

² https://www.zivver.com/blog/which-type-of-2fa-do-i-need-to-use-under-the-gdpr
³ https://advisera.com/27001academy/blog/2017/01/16/how-two-factor-authentication-enables-compliance-with-iso-27001-access-controls/

Enabling two-factor authentication in Nfield

Enabling this feature across an Nfield domain can only be done by domain administrators or local domain managers. The instruction to enable is located in the password policy page in the domain settings.

After enabling two-factor authentication, follow the on-screen instructions for setting up two-factor configuration. You’ll need to start by selecting and setting up an authenticator app, such as Microsoft Authenticator, Google Authenticator or others. Next, use the app to scan the QR code provided by Nfield. Once all is correctly configured, the app will provide a code which needs to be entered into Nfield to complete the two-factor authentication. It is as simple as that! Every time you log in to Nfield, you go through the same process, getting a new code each time.

Two-factor authentication will become effective across your Nfield domain within 30 minutes of being enabled. Any logged-in users will get the same prompt asked them to complete their configuration setup. Other users will get this prompt when they try to log in. Using public API (https://www.nipo.com/api-what-researchers-need-to-know) is excepted from using two-factor authentication.

Timing your 2FA roll-out

To minimize disruption to your team, please plan this carefully. We recommend you consider the following:

• read and share this article.
• communicate with your team about why 2FA is necessary and what to expect.
• best practice is to use the authenticator via a phone, not via a PC. The second factor is far more secure when coming from a different source. A two-factor authenticator installed on a PC browser is vulnerable to hackers, as they can get hold of it when hacking into your PC.
• find a good time to enable your 2FA. Doing this at the start or end of the day may be best, so setting up the two-factor configuration doesn’t disrupt other tasks. Also, try to avoid days on which your users are likely to be especially busy. It’s a very good idea to plan it for during our Amsterdam helpdesk office hour 9 AM – 6 PM (GMT+1), so we can help you out of necessary. If necessary, our team can also disable the two-factor authentication on your domain.
• Enabling 2FA in Nfield won’t apply it to Single-Sign-On login. You should consult your IT department about adding 2FA to Single-Sign-On accounts.
• Set the password of the system default login “DA” to very strong and keep it in a secured place.

Whether or not you feel you need it right now, we highly recommend enabling two-factor authentication for your Nfield domain, to enjoy better security protection and gain more benefits from Nfield. If you have any questions, please contact our helpdesk. And, of course, we’re always curious to get your feedback via your account manager.

Invisible to standard internet browsers and search engines, the Dark Web is a place where users anonymously access content which is either illegal or related to illegal activities. This includes the lucrative marketplace for stolen login details, which are bought by criminals who are able to monetize the data and permissions they unlock. Among these, your Nfield login is a desirable prize, as it opens the door to a large pool of personal information.

How desirable? This can be worked out by taking a look at trading prices for the items your Nfield data helps unlock.

Dark Web Price Index

The illustration below shows the process a hacker would go through to harvest your survey participants’ login details from Nfield and make them saleable. If we work backwards from the end prize, we get an idea of the financial temptation.

According to Dark Web Price Index 2020, a stolen Gmail login (email address/username + password) sells for $155.73. A hacker who obtains your Nfield Manager login name and password gains access to all the sample information in all your surveys. That’s likely to include a high percentage of valid Gmail addresses. To make these saleable on the dark web, all the hacker now has to do is get the corresponding passwords.

Stealing passwords

Hackers commonly obtain passwords via phishing emails and database matching. Both of which are automated processes that easily deliver the goods.

Phishing Emails

Because login to Google accounts is protected by limitation on incorrect password attempts, there’s no point in trying to obtain passwords by endless guessing. Phishing, whereby a hacker approaches you via fake emails pretending to be from a trusted source and asks you to sign in to a related account – thereby revealing your password – is a far more successful method.

Every successful attempt can reap multiple payouts for the hacker. According to LastPass, 65% of people re-use passwords. A lucky hacker could net themselves an additional $74.50 if the same login details give access to a Facebook account and $50 each for Twitter and Instagram accounts¹.

¹ Dark Web Price Index 2020

Database matching

Another popular commodity traded on the dark web is credit card details, which sell for between $12 and $20 each.

Credit card details are composed of two parts. The first part is the info displayed on the card itself – credit card number, expiry date, CVV number (on the back) and holder name. These are plentifully available in a nicely formatted database, obtained through skimming devices planted in ATM machines, train ticket machines and are even sold by unscrupulous retailers who’ve been paid via card swipe machines.

The second part is the card owner zip code (derived from address), city, address, email and phone. Details which are commonly held in survey sample data! Armed with this information, a hacker can easily run a database matching tool between a purchased credit card database and your sample data to obtain complete sets of credit card details, ready to sell.

If you think this seems a lot of work for relatively modest returns, think again. Phishing and database matching are automated processes which take no more effort than a few clicks. Easy money.

How your Nfield account could get hacked

Hackers have all the tools they need to crack your password, take over your browser session and use malware to get hold of your Nfield login.

Cracking passwords using software is a basic skill in the hacking world. It’s simply a matter of time. Did you know 90% of passwords can be cracked in less than six hours².

Using shared computers in public spaces, such as cafés, airport lounges or even client meeting rooms, can lay out the welcome mat for hackers. You never know who’s hanging around waiting to inspect your activity in the event of you rushing off without logging out, or through having installed password capture software.

At the time of writing, a great many of us are working from home due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In this situation, the companies we work for usually have very limited control over the equipment we’re using for both work and recreation. It’s a vulnerability that makes it easier to implant malware that records your key strokes and can hack into your Nfield account.

² https://www.servalsystems.co.uk/6-facts-about-passwords-that-will-make-you-think/

Protect your gold mine

Although the sales values for individual login details and credit cards aren’t particularly high, they easily add up. How much do you think all the sample data held in your Nfield account is potentially worth to a criminal? Selling just one Gmail login per day would net a hacker over $56,000 a year. That’s too tempting to ignore. Which is why Nfield is now equipped with two-factor authentication, to keep hackers out of your account, even if they have cracked your password.

Learn how to implement two-factor authentication in Nfield.

At the very end of 2020, NIPO further enhanced its status within the Microsoft Partner Network by adding a third Gold Competency. Complementing already-held Gold competencies for Application Development and Cloud Platform, the addition of Gold status for Application Integration means NIPO’s team has now received the highest possible recognition from Microsoft for its proficiency in three separate areas.

This achievement underscores NIPO’s ability to provide its customers with a cutting-edge SaaS Azure Cloud based platform, leveraging the latest Microsoft technologies and fully meeting Microsoft’s standards. NIPO has earned its Gold competencies by demonstrating “best-in-class” ability and commitment to meeting Microsoft customers’ evolving needs in today’s mobile-first, cloud-first world.

Jeroen Noordman, Managing Director of NIPO: “The Application Integration competency is highly relevant to NIPO. Our Nfield platform is open by nature, so we have been very eager to demonstrate our comprehensive understanding of all the opportunities and challenges this topic presents. Attaining this third Gold Competency is also proof of our ongoing commitment to continuous investment in keeping our NIPO team members’ knowledge fully up-to-date. This recognition from the Microsoft Partner Network ecosystem benefits both NIPO and our customers. We are very proud to announce this latest achievement and look forward to having more exciting news to share relating to our MPN involvement during 2021”.

Gavriella Schuster, corporate vice president at One Commercial Partner (OCP) at Microsoft Corp.: “Achieving Gold Competency confirms that partners have demonstrated the highest, most consistent capability and commitment to the latest Microsoft technology. These partners have deep expertise that positions them at the top of our partner ecosystem, with a proficiency which can help customers drive innovative solutions”.

NIPO has been working for some time on merging CAPI into the new Nfield Manager. We are now ready to move all the basic surveys (these are projects without sample points or addresses) to the new Nfield Manager. In this series of NIPO Academy sessions we will walk you once more through the process of creating and managing a basic CAPI survey in the Nfield Manager.

To uphold the quality of your CAPI and Online research, you need to ensure survey results aren’t contaminated by ‘bad’ interviews. This calls for identifying and disqualifying responses which show evidence of being falsified.

Keeping it real

Simple pointers to unreal answers and/or respondents include short interview duration, short time spent on each question, short or meaningless open-ended answers and lack of cohesion between answers to related questions. Another giveaway in CAPI fieldwork could be when a particular interviewer’s work is completed via the shortest-possible route.

Methods for identifying these pointers in Nfield CAPI interviews are explained in CAPI Quality Control: Audit Trail helps you eliminate falsified fieldwork and Nfield’s Quality Control Options for Rock-Solid CAPI Data.

In addition to identifying suspicious interviews from interview completion data, you can also adopt a practice of contacting certain respondents to verify their input.

Setting your threshold

Every company or survey project has its own criteria for whether an interview should be classed as ‘bad’ and therefore disqualified from results.

Samples from panel providers are generally trustworthy, as panel providers deploy their own mechanisms for maintaining an honest and active respondent pool. But if your survey is conducted outside the confines of a panel, there is a higher chance of contribution from respondents who are just making mischief, possibly to get promised rewards, whose answers are not genuine.

To determine where to set your tolerance, you need to get to know your own typical response patterns for the criteria described above (under “Keeping it Real). When answers fall outside of these, it’s time to raise a red flag.

Throwing out bad apples to purify results

Just as bad apples need to be disposed of to avoid the whole crop becoming unusable, ‘bad’ interviews need to be disqualified from survey results in order to come away with genuinely useful insights.

This is easily done in via the Nfield Manager for Nfield Online and Nfield CAPI.

Once you reject an interview, it is automatically removed from all counts related to successful completes and corresponding quota cells. So disqualification of ‘bad’ interviews may mean continuing your survey a bit longer to reach all the required targets.

Disqualification process

In Nfield Manager, go to the Quality Control tab. Here you’ll find a Qualification Control overview, as well as each individual interview’s validation status.

To disqualify an untrusted interview from survey results, simply select the interview ID and click Reject.

As an alternative to rejection, you can carry out positive selection by approving individual interviews. And if you aren’t sure whether to approve or reject an interview, you can un-verify it, indicating a requirement to conduct further checking.

Clicking “Reset” will restore all validation states to “Not checked”. This will include any interviews which had been set to “Rejected”, thereby re-including them in corresponding quota counts as successful completes.

Automated disqualification

If you want to automate identification and disqualification of untrusted interviews, this can be achieved by integrating appropriate tools with Nfield via an API. See API – Developer’s guide to learn more about Nfield API.

Downloading Rejected Answers

You can download a record of all rejected interviews in the same way as you do for other interview records.

If you have any questions or comments, please do not hesitate to contact us.

It is estimated that half of the world’s population uses two or more languages in daily life. This is no surprise to us, as 91.6% companies of our customers live in countries where the primary language is not their native one. With so many people having multilingual backgrounds, it’s a good idea to offer survey respondents a choice of languages, with the option to switch part way through.

This is because respondents sometimes choose to begin answering a survey in the local language, even when it’s not their native one, but start to struggle if terminology gets more specific. This could happen if questioning goes into detail about things such as medical issues.

Respondents can often deal with this using Google Translate, but that’s not ideal. Enabling language switching within the survey itself provides a far easier and more reliable experience, as you can control terminology and phrasing by embedding approved translations.

Switchable multi-language surveys In Nfield

Nfield supports multiple languages with ease, allowing respondents to choose their preferred language at the start of the questionnaire. In the case of known individual preferences, these are automatically offered.
Thanks to a recently introduced feature, Nfield also now lets respondents switch language at any point during the survey. It’s as easy as turning a dial!

To create a multi-language survey in Nfield, you simply have to append the translations with the main script. The language switching feature is enabled by specifying the language codes. So, if the questionnaire is offered in English (“eng”) and Chinese (“chi”), the command should be added like this.

*UIOPTIONS "languages=eng,chi"

When you have more translations, their language names should be added in the above with a comma separator.

The Nfield survey will automatically add a drop-down box on each page, allowing respondents to switch at any time without disrupting their completion of the survey.

If you have any questions about Nfield’s support of multiple languages within a survey, please feel free to drop us a line.