Abstract:

It is a well known fact that children enjoy using computer equipment even more than adults. London Weekend Television has exploited this fact by interviewing interactively a sample of children in the London area using a direct computer interviewing (DCI) technique, developed together with Screen Research Limited. Under the project name IWT SUPPORT (Supplementary Ifenel Of Rotating Thrgets), Alcatel videotex terminals are placed in a selected number of homes for a period of four weeks and used to conduct intense daily studies on groups such as children who may be especially difficult to reach by conventional methods. This paper will address three specific issues. They are as follows: 1. Ocnveuticnal Methods Versus Direct computer Interviewing 2. The Way IMF Uses Direct Occputer Interviewing to Research Children 3. Results Fran the Children's Panel. Co-operation is also withheld because of the suspicion of sugging - selling under the guise of market research. Increasingly, survey data particularly for sales people and marketers is needed "yesterday". Most traditional survey techniques suffer from requiring both long lead times to organise and administer, and also from relatively slow turnaround of results. Our aim is to eliminate or minimize some of these problems through direct computer interviewing technique.