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With our field force of 3,100 interviewers, we offer nationwide data collection
services. Our portfolio includes quantitative and qualitative services ranging from
exploratory research to fully standardized interviews.
- Home-Use-Tests (Product Tests), especially in the area of food, drink, washing powder / home care products and cosmetic care products.
- Research with large sample sizes (Random Route, Address-Random, and Quota-
Studies (on paper or via CAPI).More information >Nationwide, more than 400 of our interviewers have been trained to handle classical Random-Route-Approaches as well as Address-Random projects.
- Point-of-Sale Surveys (also conducted via CAPI). More information >In 2009 our team of over 700 trained POS-Interviewers continuously conducted surveys in supermarkets, department stores, petrol stations, train stations, trains and buses themselves, as well as at exhibitions and congresses. Our custom built training and quality control program warrants optimal validity and reliability of the data collected.
- Telephone Interviews (Our Bochum CATI centre comprises 85 CATI stations).More information >In our CATI centre we conduct high quality and cost effective interviews for large insurers and financial services, pharmaceutical companies, retail chains, radio stations, media organizations, and others. Our CATI field force of 300 trained interviewers (at our Bochum head office) can be deployed for both B2B and B2C projects. This interviewer capacity can be significantly augmented within the F+T Group.
- Mystery Shopping-Surveys. More information >More than 800 of our interviewers have been trained in particular for conducting Mystery Shopping Surveys using a F2F or telephone approach. They are experienced in a wide area of business segments such as car dealerships, exhibitions, restaurants, real estate, retail (e.g. IT, opticians, supermarkets, apparel etc.).
- Data Collection in the Retail Sector by means of handheld Scanning Devices More information >Our Promotions Measurement Department weekly conducts measurements in the retail sectors by means of manual scanning devices. The saved data is transmitted to Foerster & Thelen by remote-data-transmission. Currently, 370 strongly trained "Promotions Measurers" have been assigned with covering 1,200 retail outlets.
- Nationwide Central Location Tests through Foerster & Thelen Teststudio
GmbH and Dr. Haspel & Partner Teststudio GmbH
- Panel creation and management - including online panels through webfrager
GmbH
- Conduction and coordination of Multi Country data collection through the F+T Group
Foerster & Thelen's internal training department is responsible for the standard of our interviewers (currently we have 3,100 interviewers).
Our training is based on a model consisting of 3 phases (application-phase, introduction-phase and building-phase). This model allows a step by step introduction of new interviewers into the interviewer-role and into the company's processes.
As part of the training program continuous personal training sessions and project briefings are being conducted to expand the interviewers' knowledge, expertise and abilities in a practice oriented manner. The activities above are supported by written and multi media teaching materials.
Deployment
Foerster & Thelen's custom built administration software allows a project-specific selection of the most adequate interviewers for each individual type of project by considering the inclinations and abilities of each individual interviewer. Foerster & Thelen's continuous evaluation of interviewing quality is warranted by our internal evaluation system "F&T Grade" and represents an additional criterion of selection in terms of interviewer deployment.
Quality Control and Quality Control Department
All of the interviews conducted are gathered in our central Quality Control Department on a daily basis. The interviews are scrutinized according to the following criteria:
- Quantity
- Structure (cities/towns/villages, sample points, sample list, quotas, random selection)
- Quality (formal and logic aspects of the data)
- Grading (F&T Grade)
Validations and Validations Department
Base Control (written format):
- Interviewers to be checked are selected by computer
- 25 % of the interviewers having worked on a particular survey have 100% of their interviews validated (full validation)
Follow Up Validation (telephonically):
- If less than 40% return in the context of the Base Control above
- 100 % in the context of suspicious circumstances
Request - Validation (telephonically):
- 100% if requested so by the Quality Control Department
In - Field Validation for POS Surveys:
- In person on location control of 100% of each new interviewer's completes
Our experienced, efficient and high quality data collection services are supported by
the following technical equipment:
- Custom built software for managing interviewers and projects
- 350 laptops for field work
- 450 barcode-scanners (used for promotion measurements)
- 85 CATI stations in our Bochum Headquarter (hooked to our Predictive Dialing-System)
- 100 digital cameras
- 250 PDAs
Foerster&Thelen offers a large spectrum of data collection services in terms of
method and content. This includes pre-field work and post-field work related
services.
If the client requests Full Service, Foerster & Thelen joins forces with freelance market researchers for the conception and presentation stages of such projects. All of the freelancers associated with Foerster & Thelen have ample experience in their field and have been cooperating with us for many years. The same applies to the area of data processing (in terms of data matching, tabulation etc.) where we have been working with the same professional companies for more than two decades (e.g. Ergo Data GmbH; Promit-Marktforschung). It is understood that the project coordination and invoicing is handled by Foerster & Thelen.
