Large Scale Telephonic Polls

for Real Time Data Collection

by

Thejesh GN

Heads Up

This is an experience-sharing session. It's a many-to-many kind of discussion oriented presentation. So ask questions or add to the conversation at any point.

Be Nice

Who am I?

I am Thejesh GN, Technologist from Bangalore.

Co-founder of DataMeet and Architect at Mavrix.

At some point I have worked for NextDrop, A Political Campaign, IWP, Infosys etc

  

Why Real Time Polls?

Let's see some examples

Media house

Budget session is on and you want to know the reaction of people.

Political Entity

You want to talk to your supporters for an exit poll.

Not for Profit

You want to talk to every school in Karnataka to find out if the midday meal was hot or not.

Activism

To gather support and data for your campaign during a major bill presentation in Parliament.

Methods

Let's see some examples

Door to door

Not Real Time.

Call them

Call center have scaling up/down issue.

Social Media

Limited. Targetting is difficult. Also cleaning the data.

Internet Polls

Limited. Targetting is difficult.

But our method needs to be?

  • Scalable - Reach thousands in matter of minutes
  • Realtime - Should be able to use as it comes in
  • Accurate - Clean Data
  • Targetted - Reach our audience

So we need

We need a computer to call all our contacts in short time and conduct poll. Database needs to be updated in Real-Time, which allows us to control and play with it.

It's possible

But before jumping into implementation details. Let's explore what this ideal system can do for us and also what we need to consider before building one.

It can

Just like human beings

Call and ask questions

Send and receive SMSes

Respond to missed calls

Considerations

What we need to be careful of

Demography

      

Gender, Age, Education, Social/Economic, Single/Family, Resident/Migrant, Landline/Mobile

Location

Urban or Rural, Locality, Ward, Pincode, Even Road

Language

ভাৰত, ভারত, India, ભારત, भारत, ಭಾರತ, "بًارت, ഭാരതം, ଭାରତ ਭਾਰਤ, भारतम्, भारत, ڀارت، இந்தியா, భారత దేశము, بھارت 

Talking/listening is easier than reading/writing.

Voice Type

Stars are a special category.

Questions

Binary or multiple choice questions work well. Though you can record much bigger messages as an answer.

Length of call

Shorter the better. 15 to 25 seconds works well. Cost/call matters.

No. of Questions

One or two questions work well.

Legality

TRAI, DND and Just common sense.

Implementation

Try something small before going big.

Demo

Send a message to my spare number :-

  1. Android phone with sim and internet
  2. Install SMSSync SMS Gateway App
  3. Google doc with script
  4. Setup

SMS

  1. Use SMSSync App
  2. Use SMSGupShup API or KooKoo API for bulk usage

Missed Call

  1. Use ZipDial, easy to setup and use
  2. Use SMSGupShup API or KooKoo API for flexibility. Need a developer.
  3. KooKoo gives free developer account to try

Call/IVR

  1. Use KooKoo API. Needs a developer.
  2. Adventurous? Try Asterisk. Needs an experienced developer.
  3. KooKoo gives free developer account to try

Attributions

Thank You

BY Thejesh GN / thejeshgn.com

Watch this movie when you find time. Thank you.