Wednesday 2nd December 2020, 10:30–10:45 (Australia/Sydney), Zoom Breakout Room 1
We present an overview of the state of the telephone survey landscape in Australia in 2020. Telephone surveys have been challenged on myriad fronts, with increases in scam calls and telemarketing, the rise of call blocking/spam flagging software, rising cord-cutting and the ongoing roll-out of the NBN and its concomitant impact on landline usage. We document the falls in contact rates, cooperation rates and response rates and the rise in refusal rates on multiple time-series of Australian telephone surveys, as well as the increased level of effort for even these relatively meagre returns.
Ben Phillips is a survey researcher and methodologist with 18 years of experience in academic and private sector positions working with government and non-profit clients. He is Chief Survey Methodologist at the Social Research Centre, where he applies best practices and develop new methods to reduce survey errors and costs. Prior to joining the Social Research Centre, he was a Senior Associate/Scientist at Abt Associates, Cambridge, MA, USA and previously worked for Abt SRBI and Brandeis University, both in the U.S.
Darren has worked in social research and survey methodology since 1984 and is the Founder and past CEO of the Social Research Centre, 2000-2019. From 2010 to 2015 Darren played a leading role in the introduction of dual-frame telephone surveys to Australia and he was also the driving force behind the establishment of Australia's first probability-based online panel – Life in Australia™ in 2016. Darren is a Research Society Fellow. In 2014 he was awarded the Research Industry Council of Australia’s Research Effectiveness Award for Innovation and Methodology. In 2019 Darren was awarded the inaugural AMSRO Jayne Van Souwe Research Industry Leadership Award.