Amtrak Telephone Survey

[Walt]

I just got a telephone call for a survey from a company called WB&A Market Research from 607-330-5304.

Usually, I politely but sternly say "no thanks" and hang up, but this one was for Amtrak. Being an Amtrak supporter, I figured I would play along.

Well, one of the first questions asked, was what station do I usually start my Amtrak travel. I answered "Philadelphia". The next question was "in what city and state is that located".

The survey went down from there. At first they wanted my opinion about a trip I took on the Vermonter which was like 9 months ago (and certainly wasn't my most recent Amtrak trip). The guy seemed totally surprised, and somewhat confused, that I took the Vermonter to Vermont.

The multiple choice questions were worded so complex, it took several minutes for him to read each choice. I mean, instead of simply asking if I made my reservations by calling Amtrak's "800" number, he went into excruciating details about it having a woman's voice and that the voice was called Julie.

The survey then diverted to non-Amtrak related questions like what is my favorite type of music. And yes, it was multiple choice and the guy had to read thru a long list of every single type of music that has ever existed.

Has anyone else gotten one of these calls?

IMHO, I can't believe that the results of this 30+ minute long survey could possibly be of any real use by Amtrak.

 

[yarrow]

maybe amtrak is trying out ideas to spend our stimulus funds on

 

[AlanB]

Thankfully, no, I haven't gotten one of those.

 

[the_traveler]

Well, one of the first questions asked, was what station do I usually start my Amtrak travel. I answered "Philadelphia". The next question was "in what city and state is that located".

While not excusing the dumbness, I could maybe understand the question (somewhat) of the state. (Now if the answer was New York and they asked what state that was in, then :huh: I know, I know, Amtrak has stations in Portland, Maine and Portland, Oregon.) But asking what city that's in, after you say the city's name! (If you said something like "Back Bay" or "30th St Station" I could see asking for the city, but not when you say "Philadelphia"! I'd hate to see what they do for "Washington" - where there is no state - DC is not a state! :lol: )

 

[Walt]

maybe amtrak is trying out ideas to spend our stimulus funds on

Oh, gosh, I sure hope not. :huh:

You got me thinking of a common theme amongst all the survey questions. That would be what stations I use, and what my favorite music is.

That would mean that Amtrak is seriously thinking of "blowing" their entire stimulus funds on installing background music in their stations!

 

[Walt]

While not excusing the dumbness, I could maybe understand the question (somewhat) of the state. (Now if the answer was New York and they asked what state that was in, then :huh: I know, I know, Amtrak has stations in Portland, Maine and Portland, Oregon.) But asking what city that's in, after you say the city's name! (If you said something like "Back Bay" or "30th St Station" I could see asking for the city, but not when you say "Philadelphia"! I'd hate to see what they do for "Washington" - where there is no state - DC is not a state! :lol: )

Actually, I had been thinking about this, and IMHO, Amtrak is at fault for not better supporting these people. Remember, this guy was also confused that the Vermonter stopped at a station in Vermont!

I mean, when I replied "Philadelphia", he should have been able to key that answer in, and been prompted to reply something like "That's the 30th Street station?". Or, possibly, I could have told him "PHL" and the system would have recognized it too.

While "Philadelphia" exchange was somewhat amusing to me, it got kind of tiring and dumb by the time we got around to my destination of White River Junction in Vermont. That's when I really wish I could have simply told him "WRJ" and the system would know what station I meant.

 

[Long Train Runnin']

That would mean that Amtrak is seriously thinking of "blowing" their entire stimulus funds on installing background music in their stations!

Thats what would draw more people "Amtrak Stations The Best Music The Best Times" so forget the desprate need for 15 new single level sleepers. They need to buy the rights to more music

 

[jackal]

The survey then diverted to non-Amtrak related questions like what is my favorite type of music. And yes, it was multiple choice and the guy had to read thru a long list of every single type of music that has ever existed.
Has anyone else gotten one of these calls?

IMHO, I can't believe that the results of this 30+ minute long survey could possibly be of any real use by Amtrak.

In order to properly conduct a survey, which attempts to gather the responses from a representative sample of the population, as opposed to a poll, which simply obtains answers from anyone who responds to the survey instrument, a number of demographic criteria must be obtained. The surveyor comes up with a list of demographic criteria (hopefully germane to the topic being researched) and then uses published demographic data to discover how many people fit the criteria in a given population. The surveyor then attempts to gather responses from an equivalent percentage of people fitting those criteria out of the total number of survey respondents.

In other words, if the surveyor feels that separating 46-year-old left-handed, blue-eyed females who like action movies, which constitute 1.2% of the total population, will add value and illumination to the subject matter, then he/she must then get responses from 12 46-year-old left-handed, blue-eyed females who like action movies if he/she is surveying 1,000 people. (These criteria also allow the surveyor to determine the margin of error in the survey results compared to the population at large: the more specific the criteria and the more people surveyed, the more representative the survey is.)

So while questions about music preferences seem out of place, perhaps Amtrak and the company it contracted for the survey are attepting to discover if people who like country music tend to ride trains more often than those who listen to hard rock. There very well could be a legitimate purpose for that demographic classification.

Also, while the scripts do sound rigid and annoyingly long, keep in mind that 1) this is a professional survey research company that may have little to no experience with Amtrak and 2) the survey has to be designed for the lowest common denominator--Billy Bob in Iowa, who ain't never been to that thar big city of Phil-ay-delfya or called that girl on the phone named Julie, who sounds purty cute and sweet, and who'd mebbe like ta meet her someday--and any variation in the way the questions are read could introduce errors in the data.

There are ways professional researchers can minimize the annoyance factor, but this is how research is done.

Oh, and with all the questions about the phone and Julie, it is entirely possible that they're looking to do something like revamp their hold music. My personal favorite is our business's merchant credit card service line, which used to have the Lord of the Rings theme as their hold music...

(Posted by a student trying to get through a class based solely on an empirical research paper...)

 

[amtrakwolverine]

but what does music have to do with amtrak. how does music reflect what kind of cars they get or the kind of passenger they get. the cars are made out of metal and there heavy so does that mean the cars are made out of heavy metal

 

[AAARGH!]

but what does music have to do with amtrak. how does music reflect what kind of cars they get or the kind of passenger they get. the cars are made out of metal and there heavy so does that mean the cars are made out of heavy metal

So if you like Rock & Roll, do they put a looser suspension on the cars? :huh:

 

[Long Train Runnin']

but what does music have to do with amtrak. how does music reflect what kind of cars they get or the kind of passenger they get. the cars are made out of metal and there heavy so does that mean the cars are made out of heavy metal

So if you like Rock & Roll, do they put a looser suspension on the cars? :huh:

No they just run the cars over CSX tracks :blink:

 

[jackal]

So if you like Rock & Roll, do they put a looser suspension on the cars? :huh:

If they run the train backwards while playing country music, maybe they figure the passengers will get their dogs, their wives, and their trucks back...

but what does music have to do with amtrak. how does music reflect what kind of cars they get or the kind of passenger they get. the cars are made out of metal and there heavy so does that mean the cars are made out of heavy metal

Let me quote from a book on food psychology, Mindless Eating by Brian Wansink, Ph.D., I'm reading now (I actually just read this passage this morning after my post):

While some people are drawn to a comfort food because of these past associations, others can be drawn toward the same food because they identify with it personally. One person identifies with a type of angel food cake because it is "sweet and petite." Another identifies with soup because it is "warm and nurturing." They begin seeing food as a comfort food because they subconsciously view it as consistent with their personality.
How do these insights assist us in helping people to eat better?

The notion of "personality identification" seemed pretty abstract and not very useful when we first came across it in 1996. A couple of years later, the light went on. The soy industry asked about our advice on developing and marketing a low-fat meat substitute for nonvegetarians. We soon discovered that personality identification explains why it's harder to get men to eat soy than women. To the strong, traditional, macho, biceps-flexing, all-American male, red meat is a strong, traditional, macho, biceps-flexing, all-American food. Soy is not. To eat it, they would have to give up a food they saw as strong and powerful, like themselves, for a food they saw as weak and wimpy. Soy had two strikes against it before it even got to their plate.

On the other hand, this notion of personality identification might also help to explain why it was easier to get some women to gradually switch over to eating more soy foods instead of beef. Some saw soy--largely through their view of tofu--as something soft, delicate, and natural. Just as they saw themselves. Eating it wouldn't be incompatible with their perception of themselves. As a result, soy didn't have two strikes against it.

(Brian Wansink, Mindless Eating, (New York: Bantam Dell, 2006), 148, 150. I claim this quote as fair use for "fair and reasonable discussion," and I believe it passes the four-factor balancing test.)

Great book, actually. Definitely worth a read.

Anyway, the point I drew from this is that sometimes normal people would think like you do, KISS_ALIVE, and wonder what on earth asking people whether they like to read books or watch football games has to do with whether they eat soy products. But without asking that question, the author of the book (or rather, his lab) would never have discovered that it's the association with manly red meat that is making it hard for the soy industry to increase its sales.

So there could be a great discovery out of this survey--that only people who like 1940s war tunes take trains because they remember taking them in their youth or something. Of course, it could also be a very poorly written survey administered by an incompetent research organization that will learn nothing and simply be a waste of money, but I'll wait to pass judgment on that until we know what the result is (if we ever do).

FWIW, I got a call a couple of years ago after taking the Pacific Surfliner. The survey was actually quite interesting--it was on how my experience with purchasing the tickets went and if I would use a fully electronic ticketing system, like with electronic boarding passes, etc. (of course I gave 10s to all the questions on that!). The survey was detailed and the questions were repetetive like the OP's (sorry, can't for the life of me remember who asked the original question!), but at least the guy administering the survey was halfway intelligent--these guys are usually only like $10-per-hour part-time workers or students--and when the questions got repetetive and I started answering them before he was finished asking, he was fine with that and simply moved on to the next.

Still haven't seen electronic ticketing...so I hope my efforts weren't in vain!

 

[AAARGH!]

So if you like Rock & Roll, do they put a looser suspension on the cars? :huh:

If you like Grunge, they won't clean the windows....

If you like Soul, they will put you on the Sooooooooul train.

If you like swing/big band, they will put you on the Chattanooga choo-choo.

If you like a one-hit wonder by Little Eva (1962), Amtrak may want you as an engineer. That way you can "Do The Locomotion".

If you like Disney music, you can wish upon a dining car... :blink:

Please, please make me stop. I can't help myself.......

 

[the_traveler]

If you like Grunge, they won't clean the windows....

So what does that "improve" over now? They don't clean the windows very well now! :lol:

 

[Walt]

Thankfully, no, I haven't gotten one of those.

You got me wondering now.

It has been a long time, but I think I filled out the website/online survey back when I first returned home from my trip on the Vermonter.

If my memory is correct, there was a question at the end asking if I would be willing to participate in a follow up survey from Amtrak. Has anyone else here taken that website survey, and remember a closing question something like that?

Though, if Amtrak really wanted accurate responses on that trip from me, it should not have waited 9 months. All I still remember was the warm soda ( ), and that the train traveled at like 2MPH on most of the VT track.

 

[nerd]

I just got a telephone call for a survey from a company called WB&A Market Research from 607-330-5304.

I just had a missed call from the same 607 number - I googled the number and of course it led me here.
I too took the Vermonter back in October. Maybe this is somehow related...

 

[ourlouisiana]

WOW

As many times our phone rings with some kind of survey, we can't wait for this one !!!!!