Well, I didn't want to post beforehand that we would be an Arbitron household for a week just not to invalidate anything, but the diaries are in the mail & the dollar bills are spent. One each when the diaries arrived, then another each in a reminder piece of mail. This proved more profitable than the dollar machines at Foxwoods.
First of all I have to say the guy doing the callout for Arbitron was many cuts above the average telemarketing or survey caller I get. I'm pretty nice to callers even though I politely say I'm not interested & hang up before they can get many words in edgewise, especially since most have problems pronouncing the more difficult words like "mister", but this guy was good. Naturally the word "Arbitron" caught my ear anyway. A couple of days into the survey week I received a reminder call from a lady who was also very good.
The initial caller asked what radio stations I'd listened to that day & if I listen at all to satellite or internet radio. Also asked if there were any black or Spanish speaking members in the household. Also asked if there were any male household members in certain age groups which I forgot. I don't know why this would have made any difference or if I'd answered any of the questions differently if I wouldn't have been offered a diary.
One thing that surprised me is offering a diary to more than one member of the household, & I'm not sure I agree that this should be done. At-home listening time could be affected by this & a radio in the kitchen during meal times would definitely result in one person's choice getting multiple mentions. Also, I wake up first & control the clock radio. Since I lie in bed for about a half hour listening before I even crawl out, there's another case where a station can get mentioned in more than one diary even thought the wake-up station is my choice. Same could be said for in-car listening, not so much during drive time to work but on weekends where more than one person in the family is in the same car listening to the same station.
I did my diary entries in the evening, but was more cognizant of who I listened to in the car. I don't listen to the radio at work so that wasn't a factor. I'm not one of those impatient button-pushers but do scan around to see who's doing what. Still I went by the stations I actually spent time with, as opposed to those where I caught half a song I liked. I think it's inevitable that most will do this or diary completion would be a nightmare. It turned out they were my favorite stations anyway & I'm willing to bet that's what happens with most people. You may listen to various stations in the car, but remember the ones you're really fans of, & those are the ones you enter. Aside from the separate daypart entries, there is a question on the diary pertaining to what station I listened to the most.
The survey period is Thursday through Wednesday. Does anyone know if this is standard for everyone or the reasoning behind it? My thought is that if someone is surveyed for weeks beginning on Monday, a vacation week could throw the whole thing off in terms of regular listening habits. In my case I actually did have a vacation week so if this had been my diary week it definitely would not have been indicative of which station I listen to & when. At least entries for last Thursday & Friday were the norm. The stations I entered didn't change any for this week, but the dayparts did somewhat.
A few things that do come to mind: You get into this gung-ho at the outset, but it becomes tedious after about 3-4 days & I wonder how many just duplicate their entries once they complete a few days faithfully & accurately. Getting those at-work listeners has to be pretty important since with no opportunity for button-pushing or scanning, you end up with one station getting all the Xs in all those boxes & all those spots are getting heard too. Hence I can see how the "no repeat workdays" can be a big plus. I also wonder how many people lie about their age & income on the surveys. I think I once read that there's a tendency for people to do this even when taking anonymous surveys.
I still have to wonder about the theory behind multiple surveys in the same household though. This would have been easier for TV since other than the evening news, I don't watch it.
First of all I have to say the guy doing the callout for Arbitron was many cuts above the average telemarketing or survey caller I get. I'm pretty nice to callers even though I politely say I'm not interested & hang up before they can get many words in edgewise, especially since most have problems pronouncing the more difficult words like "mister", but this guy was good. Naturally the word "Arbitron" caught my ear anyway. A couple of days into the survey week I received a reminder call from a lady who was also very good.
The initial caller asked what radio stations I'd listened to that day & if I listen at all to satellite or internet radio. Also asked if there were any black or Spanish speaking members in the household. Also asked if there were any male household members in certain age groups which I forgot. I don't know why this would have made any difference or if I'd answered any of the questions differently if I wouldn't have been offered a diary.
One thing that surprised me is offering a diary to more than one member of the household, & I'm not sure I agree that this should be done. At-home listening time could be affected by this & a radio in the kitchen during meal times would definitely result in one person's choice getting multiple mentions. Also, I wake up first & control the clock radio. Since I lie in bed for about a half hour listening before I even crawl out, there's another case where a station can get mentioned in more than one diary even thought the wake-up station is my choice. Same could be said for in-car listening, not so much during drive time to work but on weekends where more than one person in the family is in the same car listening to the same station.
I did my diary entries in the evening, but was more cognizant of who I listened to in the car. I don't listen to the radio at work so that wasn't a factor. I'm not one of those impatient button-pushers but do scan around to see who's doing what. Still I went by the stations I actually spent time with, as opposed to those where I caught half a song I liked. I think it's inevitable that most will do this or diary completion would be a nightmare. It turned out they were my favorite stations anyway & I'm willing to bet that's what happens with most people. You may listen to various stations in the car, but remember the ones you're really fans of, & those are the ones you enter. Aside from the separate daypart entries, there is a question on the diary pertaining to what station I listened to the most.
The survey period is Thursday through Wednesday. Does anyone know if this is standard for everyone or the reasoning behind it? My thought is that if someone is surveyed for weeks beginning on Monday, a vacation week could throw the whole thing off in terms of regular listening habits. In my case I actually did have a vacation week so if this had been my diary week it definitely would not have been indicative of which station I listen to & when. At least entries for last Thursday & Friday were the norm. The stations I entered didn't change any for this week, but the dayparts did somewhat.
A few things that do come to mind: You get into this gung-ho at the outset, but it becomes tedious after about 3-4 days & I wonder how many just duplicate their entries once they complete a few days faithfully & accurately. Getting those at-work listeners has to be pretty important since with no opportunity for button-pushing or scanning, you end up with one station getting all the Xs in all those boxes & all those spots are getting heard too. Hence I can see how the "no repeat workdays" can be a big plus. I also wonder how many people lie about their age & income on the surveys. I think I once read that there's a tendency for people to do this even when taking anonymous surveys.
I still have to wonder about the theory behind multiple surveys in the same household though. This would have been easier for TV since other than the evening news, I don't watch it.
