Connecting SurveyToGo with dialing solutions for CATI projects

Overview

This article explains how to use SurveyToGo as the interviewing platform for a CATI (Computer-Assisted Telephone Interviewing) project when you already have an in-house dialing solution.

Most dialing systems support launching an external survey when an interviewer connects with a respondent. This is typically done by opening a unique survey URL.

SurveyToGo's Online Surveys feature supports the generation of dynamic unique links, allowing a new interview to be initiated automatically when a call is established.

Dynamic unique links provide several benefits:

• Generate a unique survey link for each respondent using any unique identifier from your sample.

• Allow respondents to stop and later resume an interview from where they left off.

• Pass additional parameters in the survey URL so they can be used by the survey script during the interview.

After building your survey in SurveyToGo, the next step is to generate the dynamic respondent link and configure your dialing solution to launch that link when a call is connected.

This article explains how to generate and manage dynamic respondent links within SurveyToGo. The exact configuration on your dialing platform will depend on the telephony solution you are using.

Create Dynamic Respondent Links

In SurveyToGo Studio:

1. Open your survey.

2. Go to the CAWI tab.

3. Select Create Respondent Links.

• When creating the respondent links, configure the following options:

  • Name – Enter a descriptive name for the link group. For example, CATI Project A – Wave 1.

  • Unique Identifier Param Name – Specify the parameter name that will be used as the unique respondent identifier in the survey link. You can use the default value (uid) or enter a different name if required by your dialing solution.

  • Dynamic Link Generation – Enable this option to generate dynamic unique links for respondents.

After you click Add, SurveyToGo generates a dynamic respondent link.

This link serves as the base URL that your dialing solution uses to generate a unique survey link for each respondent by appending the appropriate identifier and any additional parameters required by your survey.

Here's a polished version:

As shown above, the generated link includes the unique identifier parameter without a value (for example, uid=). This is intentional, as the dialing solution will append the appropriate respondent identifier when it launches the survey.

Important: The generated link is incomplete until a value is provided for the unique identifier parameter. If you copy the link and open it in a browser without supplying a value after uid=, the survey will not be able to identify the respondent correctly.

an error will be prompt  as below

You can include additional parameters in the survey link after the unique identifier parameter. For example:

...&uid=12345&Gender=Male&Age=25

These additional parameters can be used to pass respondent information, such as demographic data or other values required by your survey.

Important: Any additional parameters must be appended after the unique identifier parameter that you configured.

Within your survey, these parameters can be used to populate variables, control survey logic, or customize the interview experience. For more information, see How to Use Parameters from Your CAWI Link in Your Survey.