Abstract:

This paper is about Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI) and in particular looks at one technology - the pen computer - and its application and use in the largest market research company in the United Kingdom. The purpose of this paper is to give an overview of the use of CAPI in market research, to discuss the benefits and potential drawbacks of CAPI and to highlight the key-stages of implementing such a system in a major research organisation. Some comparisons are given from a series of parallel runs of paper and PEN CAPI based surveys. It concludes by looking at some of the issues that the growth of CAPI will bring over the next few years.