The Foerster + Thelen Group can access the entire face-to-face interviewer field. In the social sciences, however, many projects are only processed by interviewers who have been specially trained (about 300). The training period for this type of study can be up to three days (basic training + project-specific training).
The range of available methods is diverse: The classic random-route method, in which an interview is requested in a given sequence, in representatively selected locations and starting streets, is used in the same way as the address-random procedure, a survey by means of sample surveys through demographic registers. Within the target household selected in one or the other way, the target person is determined by chance, through the so-called Sweden key. This means that representativeness is preserved, and every household member has the same chance of being selected for the survey.
Individuals are also consulted according to fixed addresses, which either come from the records of the clients or are part of a panel database. In the course of an initial survey, the latter target persons have declared their readiness to be interviewed again. It is thus possible to determine the change of settings, views or behaviour patterns. In any case, advance notification of the target persons, for example by means of a postal cover letter, has a positive effect on the participation rate.
The selection of the collection medium is left to the client: Whether technically supported, i.e. via laptop, tablet PC or smartphone, whether online or offline, or also by paper questionnaire: We have the equipment, the capacity and the know-how to carry out and monitor the projects according to client specifications.
