>>>>> "CS" == Craig Sanders <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
CS> On Fri, Oct 01, 1999 at 11:22:11PM -0500, Chris Lawrence
CS> wrote:
>> For the unfamiliar, CATI programs are used to to conduct
>> surveys over the telephone (although they can also be used in
>> other contexts). Think of an "installation wizard" with a
>> modem dialer and database backend, and you've got the idea.
>> The concept here is basically to make it possible to turn
>> mothballed 486es (or eMachines ;-) into interviewing stations
>> running Linux for the cost of a network card, a good USR modem
>> and a noise-cancelling headset (i.e. well under $200).
CS> IMO, this is morally akin to writing free software
CS> specifically to make spamming cheaper and easier.
CS> if you must write such obnoxious and evil software then please
CS> make sure that it maintains a list of phone numbers NOT to
CS> call, so that those who are sick and tired of market research
CS> jerks calling them just as they get home from work or sit down
CS> to dinner can say "PUT ME ON YOUR DO-NOT-CALL LIST
CS> IMMEDIATELY!". write the software so that it is trivially easy
CS> for the telemarketer to add numbers to that list.
Just for the record, some of us use CATI to get information from
subjects (voluntary participation) who can not come to a research site
for various reasons . This is incredibly different from
telemarketing; in fact, one could argue that not using CATI in such a
situation is unethical (discrimination in clinical/intervention trials
participation against those too sick to travel...).
best,
-tony
--
A.J. Rossini Research Assistant Professor of Biostatistics
Center for AIDS Research/HMC Biostatistics/Univ. of Washington
Box 359931 Box 357232
206-731-3647 (3693=fax) 206-543-1044 (3286=fax)
[EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.biostat.washington.edu/~rossini/
