Q  In an auditorium, you have, in a sense, a "controlled" environment... you can see the people taking the test. You can't see the people taking a Music-Tec test. How do you know they're not being distracted by things going on around them and are giving good answers as the songs come up?

A  First, keep in mind that the environment in an auditorium is not ideal. An auditorium setting sometimes does have distractions from noise coming from other parts of the hotel and people within the room distracting respondents. After all, participants are sitting in a room with lots of people around them.

In Music-Tec tests, those tested are not surrounded by strangers, but other types of distractions can come up. The difference is, Music-Tec's system is designed to handle them easily and effectively.

For any significant distraction, such as family coming into the room, someone turning the television or radio on loudly, a crying baby, someone at the door, etc., respondents can, and are repeatedly encouraged to, just hang up. When they call back at a later time, the test picks up right where they left off. If the distraction is just a brief one, the respondent can press "zero" and hear the last hook again to get re-oriented after the brief distraction has passed. The system is well designed to handle interruptions and distractions without affecting scores.



Q  What about someone who wants to get through the test quickly and votes a "5" for all the songs just to rush through it?

A  The system does not accept a vote for a song until the respondent has listened to the entire hook. And it will not move onto the next song until a legitimate vote has been logged. Therefore, it is impossible to rush through a test - a fact that anyone who didn't want to take the test conscientiously would quickly realize.



Q  What about when someone takes part of the test and then hands it over to another family member or friend to finish or take a portion of it?

A  Respondent integrity throughout 100% of the test is critical, and the Music-Tec system has a pretty ingenious way to catch any problem with it. Relatively few people (as little as 1% in an AC test and as much as 5% in a test among young males) try to "cheat" in this way. Most people who cheat do it because a friend or spouse is curious and wants to hear what it sounds like. Respondents are told very specifically that they will not receive payment for completing the test if anyone else takes any portion of it, so the vast majority of respondents take it.

Here's how the few "cheaters" in each test are caught. The system stops briefly at numerous points throughout the survey and says, "Please speak your full name and then push the pound sign," followed by a beep. Just before the beep hits, a digital recording of their voice starts instantly and there is literally nothing the respondent can do to stop it. They can only speak their name and push the pound sign. The result is a digital audio file being created all through the test for each respondent, a file that contains each person's PIN number followed by all the voice recordings they left through the test. Music-Tec staff listens to every one of these voice recordings carefully, and it is very easy to pick out a "cheater." If they cheat, their full voting record is immediately eliminated and a newly recruited respondent replaces the entire survey for the cheating PIN number.