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Interactive Voice Response (IVR)
Interactive Voice Response (IVR) refers to surveys that are administered using telephones. These questionnaires are relayed to the respondents directly and their responses are captured via the numbers dialled when prompted by a question.
Advantages:

1. 
   Potentially higher reach: As these surveys are driven by voice response, IVR systems have the potential to reach even the sections with poor literacy rates.
   
2. 
   Lower cost: Using IVR can drive down the cost significantly when the target population incidence is low and spread across a vast geography.
   
3. 
   Effective in engaging respondents unfamiliar with technology: IVR has also been found to be particularly effective in engaging the older demographic and are more suitable than digital tools for respondents who are not comfortable using such internet enabled devices.
   

Disadvantages:

1. 
   Requires in-depth research: IVR requires significant research for accurate and complete data collection; the survey needs to be thought out to the minutest of details.
   
2. 
   Dependence on external factors: The effectiveness of this approach can vary depending on the demography and complexity of the application; the survey must be designed for efficient delivery over telephone.
   
3. 
   Requires contact information: Having a database of the telephone contact information of the respondents is imperative for proceeding with this approach.
   
4. 
   Works best for short surveys only: Voice based techniques would work best only for short surveys; holding the attention of respondents over phone beyond a certain time limit will be difficult.
   

IVR can be a viable alternative for short surveys such as customer engagement feedback, where the target population’s incidence is low, a large section of the population is not accustomed to using digital devices and when the phone contact information is readily available.
Keeping these factors in mind would go a long way in helping you decide upon the right methodology for data collection. Finding a representative section of the population for your survey is the next challenge that many researchers face. Read on to know more about survey sampling techniques and how you can use them to optimize your resources in the most effective manner.