Within the basket of our qualitative competencies are the following techniques: Bulletin Boards/online communities Focus Groups Indepth … Read more > about Qualitative
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Qualitative
Quantitative
Fieldwork is the foundation of every market research. For us fieldwork in Africa is a great fun. Though reliable statistics are hard to come by, and … Read more > about Quantitative
Data Management & Analytics
We use modern data management and reporting tools to track consumer behaviour across variegated segments, benchmark our clients with their … Read more > about Data Management and Analytics
Quality Strategy
All our data collection staff are trained and regularly appraised for the tasks they undertake. Our data validation process is in-built. Field team … Read more... > about Quality Strategy
Our Reach
We have explored most urban and rural communities across the Sub Saharan Africa with diverse local languages and rich cultures: we make use of local … Read more... > about Our Reach
Latest News
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The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) was "a well-intentioned law passed by Congress in 1991 to combat commercial telemarketing calls at a time when cell phone usage was much more expensive" but it hasn't "kept up with the times and changing technologies," according to Insights Association member John Couvillon, president of JMC Enterprises of Louisiana/JMC Analytics and Polling. He recently shared comments with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on the post-court-decision broad TCPA rewrite coming up, following up after a call with both FCC Commissioner Michael O'Reilly and Rep. Garrett Graves (R-LA-06).
Couvillon noted that the FCC seems to not appreciate "the difference between legitimate public opinion research and commercial telemarketing calls, when in fact the genesis of the 1991 TCPA legislation was commercial telemarketing calls."
"While cell phone calls are still permissable," Couvillon continued, the 2015 TCPA rules require calls to cell phones "be handed dialed (due to an overly strict definition of what an autodialer is). The only 'benefit' of this ruling is to needlessly increase the cost of public opinion research (beacause live dialed calls are much more expensive than automated calls), thus putting it further out of reach for interested citizens of leser means -- given the ballooning costs of political campaigns which everyone loves to bemoan, shouldn't there be cheaper options available to the public, thanks to relatively recent technology?"
Couvillon also noted the inconsistent FCC rules, including carveouts for government calls while establishing "preferential classes of protected speech" which put the FCC "in the ridiculous business of policiing speech." Unless the FCC carves out survey calls, "since these carve outs are an implicit admission by this Commission that there are reasons cell phone needs to be called through automated means," then there shouldn't be carveouts for any group and the playing field can be level.
Rather than pursuing the proposed database of reassigned numbers, Couvilon recommended clarifying "consent" with a "reasonable and cost-effective way for phone vendoers to obtain consent (for example, an opt-in/opt-out question)."
He also points to the attempt by Rep. Lee Terry (R-NE) back in 2011 to exempt non-telemarketing calls from the TCPA, which would have remained "consistent with the original intent of the TCPA as passed in 1991. Even though a public outcry thwarted this reasonable compromise, the fact remains that survey calls are still being made, just (to comply with the 2015 ruling) with more expensive live operators who must hand dial each number."
News
John Couvillon's comments submitted to the FCCGovernment AffairsHoward Fienberg, CAETags
couvillon_fcc_ex_parte_02-278.pdf
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While visiting Mexico City as part of his ongoing research on the accuracy and credibility [...]
The post WAPOR Past-Presidents Meet in Mexico City appeared first on World Association for Public Opinion Research.
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The International Workshop on Comparative Survey Design and Implementation (CSDI) was founded in 2002 in [...]
The post WAPOR and CSDI appeared first on World Association for Public Opinion Research.
