Jill Austin

jaustin@mtsu.edu

Jill Austin

Management and Marketing

Discipline specific equipment

BAS S302 and COMM 108/110

New Technology

Part of this proposal is for replacement. Printers are 6 years old and the current CATI software license needs to be upgraded to add Rapid Dial and Supervise software. The majority of the request is for additional computers so the lab can be expanded to better serve students for training and provide for more efficient completion of the polls. Modems must be added to the existing computers because the server based auto-dial software requires that the telephone be connected by modem. NOTE: COMM 108/110 currently has 10 computers so 20 new computers are needed and there will be a need for 30 telephone lines.

The Management and Marketing Department and the Office of Communication Research (College of Mass Communications) currently have a joint telephone survey laboratory in BAS S302 that has 26 computer student stations. We currently have WinCATI interviewing software and telephone headsets for S302. These items were funded by TAF in the 2000-01 year. Student computers in S302 were upgraded last year. Students enrolled in Marketing Research (MKT 3930), Applied Marketing Research (MKT 4880), and MKT Research (MKT 6860 will use the lab for conducting market research projects and telephone surveys to develop 4 Middle Tennessee Consumer Confidence Reports each year. Approximately 250 students from these courses will be exposed to the Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI) technology and will conduct surveys each year. The results of the MidTenn Consumer Confidence Index (CCI) are widely distributed and provide valuable positive exposure to MTSU. The Office of Communications Research currently uses students to conduct a semi-annual poll of Tennessee residents measuring their attitudes toward various topics (MTPoll). The results of the MTPoll are widely distributed to local and state media, and provide valuable positive exposure for MTSU. Each year, 350 students are exposed to the computer interviewing technology when they participate as survey interviewers. Both the MTPoll and the MidTenn CCI provide valuable hands-on learning opportunities for students. We need to upgrade the software in the polling lab for auto-dialing (modems and Rapid Dial software), add a license for Supervise software (instructor supervison of student work station), add new printers for S302, and add additional work stations (COMM 108 and 110) so we can be more efficient and effective in gather the needed data for the MTPoll and the MidTenn CCI software. Increasing the number of stations allows students to use the CATI system in COMM when the BAS S302 room is being used for classes--additional space will also increase the efficiency of data collection and provide for more hands-on student use of the CATI equipment. (A server in BAS will operate both lab rooms and the CATI software on this server can be used in both COMM and BAS.)