Computer Assisted Telephone Interview Centres (CATI)

One of the important methods of data collection in the CLSA design is through telephone interviews.  In total, 20,000 participants will take part in telephone interviews conducted at one of four Computer-Assisted Telephone Interview (CATI) sites throughout the country. The CATI sites are located at the University of Victoria, Dalhousie University, Université de Sherbrooke and the University of Manitoba.  

CATI sites consist of trained interviewers who are responsible for contacting participants and conducting telephone surveys that ask questions about biological, medical, psychological, social and lifestyle factors. Each CATI site has specific protocols to assure data accuracy, integrity and security. The sites are managed locally by team leaders and oversight is provided by the CATI coordinator and research team at the National Coordinating Centre (NCC) at McMaster University. The NCC CATI team is responsible for overseeing the entire process of recruitment, consenting and surveying of the participants.

All four CATI sites have been active since 2010 and will continue for the full duration of the study. Data collection at the CATI sites uses secure hardware and software systems that store participant data in a de-identified manner.  The CATI software schedules interviews, tracks their status and reports on their progress until completion of the study.