F.A.Q

Why did you contact me?

We are one of the largest Market Research Agencies in Greece, conducting every year a large number of studies on behalf of local and international businesses. Through our studies we record consumption trends, preferences and habits among the Greeks in relation to a wide variety of consumer products and services.

Through our surveys, which we design and implement with absolute professionalism, responsibility and respect to participating respondents, we then give our customers valuable guidelines as to the creation or improvement of their products and services offered to you. In fact, we are the “connecting platform”, bridging communication between consumers and manufacturers. Thus, our studies are an opportunity for the “consumers’ voice” to be heard!

In order to conduct our surveys, we contact daily thousands of households all over Greece, either via telephone, or face-to-face, or online, asking for their members to participate in our surveys if they are willing and available. As members of both local SEDEA-AGMORC and international research organisations (ESOMAR , we strictly adhere to all Codes of Ethics and Conduct of our profession, for which we are systematically surveyed and certified.

If you wish to learn more about the surveys conducted by Focus Bari, you can navigate through our pages on this site, while if you wish to have more information particularly on our online surveys, you may visit www.focusonline.gr

What are our obligations towards you?

Our obligations towards all respondents participating in our surveys are regulated by the Greek legislation and the Codes of Conduct and Market Research Practice of SEDEA/AGMORC Association of Greek Market and Opinion Research Companies and the respective European Organisation with which we strictly operate. Within this context, we ensure and certify the following:

• Respect to your time and contribution/participation: we design all our surveys in such a way as to limit the length of our questionnaires to the absolute minimum, based on the subjects of each survey, and we always give you the alternative to participate in any survey on a date and time of your choice, based on your availability.

• We always operate with respect towards you: at Focus Bari we take all necessary measures so that your experience when participating in our surveys is as pleasant as possible and fruitful for you, we always approach you giving our name and all possible contact details so that you can come in touch with us if you need more information, we are honest with you regarding your own right to chose whether you will participate or not in our surveys, we let you know the time you will need to devote in order to complete an interview, and through our recruitment procedures and our trained staff we ensure that all our interviewers have an excellent attitude and behavior towards you.

• We are always listening to your views and requests: you can find a large number of published results of our surveys, which give you the opportunity to have a more complete view of our activities, and we offer you all possible ways to contact us, if you need more details. Also, we give you a full explanation of how our interviewers have come to select you with an invitation to participate in a survey, what is the subject of each particular survey, how the results of the survey are going to be used/presented, and we always give you the opportunity to express your views and comment on each survey that you participate.

• We keep your opinions and personal data strictly confidential: we fully understand that every time you participate in a survey, you are sharing your views and personal data with us, and for this reason we use this information only for statistical purposes and never publish any information that allows your personal data to be disclosed to any third party, whether this concerns you as a person, your household, or your business. We ensure that all our staff and interviewers are aware and accept these conditions of confidentiality regarding your personal data, while our technical systems and infra-structure fully support maximum private data security.

Frequent questions regarding our surveys

Where can I see the results of a survey that I participated?

We frequently upload presentations of our surveys results which you can find in our site (link gia parousiaseis, kathos den vazoyme pia ta focusongreektrendz). Also, many of our surveys results are published in the Media, either directly from us, or through our customers. However, many of the surveys we conduct cannot be published, since their results are confidential to the customers who have commissioned them.
If, however, you wish to have more information regarding a survey that you participated, you can contact us directly.

I was willing to participate in a survey but finally I did not. Why?

Frequently our surveys have some limitations regarding the different population subgroups that we have to cover in our sample design, in terms of age, gender, area, etc. Consequently, the only reason that you have not participated in a specific survey although you were willing to, most probably we had completed the target sample of your demographics. We thank you very much for your eagerness to cooperate with us, and we hope that in the future we will have the opportunity to contact you for one of our surveys; your opinion is always valuable to us!

Why does the interview last longer than you suggested in your introduction?

The duration of a questionnaire is a very important factor in the smooth conduct of an interview, therefore, when designing a questionnaire we do our best to estimate its completion duration. However, no matter how hard we try to estimate the interview duration with accuracy, the actual interview duration may be affected by a number of parameters, such as the habits or experiences of each respondent, which affect the number of questions that have to be administered, or the varying expression modes between people, or circumstances.

Do you have the right to conduct interviews with children?

If we have to conduct interviews with children under 15 years of age in one of our surveys, we should first have his/her parents permission. In case they are not at home at the time of the interview, we are obliged to get permission from any other person over 15 years of age who is with the child at home at the specific time. Opinions and views of children and young ages are extremely valuable in our surveys, and usually these young ages are difficult to find at home. Consequently, whenever we have the opportunity to take an interview from a child under 15 years of age, we will do it, under the above conditions and according to our Codes of Ethics and Conduct of Professional Market Research. Also, we strictly adhere to our Codes in the specific cases as described in the relevant Esomar.
We understand that some parents may believe that the same should hold for children over … years of age. If you have any hesitation regarding an interview that we have conducted with a child of this age, please contact us.

How can I feel sure that the information I share with you are safe?

At Focus Bari, we handle the matter of data security with absolute responsibility and professionalism. All our staff and interviewers are by contract committed to maintain all Codes of Ethics and Standards of Professional Market Research, both the international (ESOMAR) and those of our local organization (AGMORC)
Our interviewers inform you about the subject of each survey and you can rest assured that all information you share with us will remain strictly confidential. Your personal data are filed separately from the content of your interview, so that nobody can match your opinions with your personal data. Your opinions are accumulated together with the opinions of all respondents participating in each survey, and are presented in the form of percentages in statistical tables.
Με την ολοκλήρωση των ελέγχων ποιότητας που απαιτείται να γίνονται, τα προσωπικά σας στοιχεία (δηλαδή το όνομα, η διεύθυνση και το τηλέφωνο) καταστρέφονται.
After completion of all quality controls that we are obliged to have in each survey, your personal data (ie. name, address, telephone number) are destroyed.

Also see: “What are our obligations towards you?”

Why do you ask for so many of my personal data?

There are two reasons why we need your personal data:
• general demographics(data such as your age, education, area of residence, number of members in your household etc.) help us analyze our results in the various demographic groups and lead us to more detailed conclusions that complete our surveys analyses.
• Personal data (such as your telephone number) allow us to ensure that each interview is real, and that all information recorded by our interviewers are correct and valid, exactly as you have provided them to us (also see a FAQ “why do you ask for my telephone number at the end of the interview?”).

FAQ specially for telephone surveys

Why did I find so many calls on my phone from your company’s number?

Every survey has to have a representative sample of households coming from different areas, as well as households whose members are most frequently at home, and those whose members are usually out of home. When our telephone calling systems dial the number of a household whose members are not at home, and there is no reply at that moment, then the system is programmed to call this same number again on the next few days at different hours of the day, and this may happen from 5 to 14 times, depending on the survey. In this way, we increase the probability of participation of households whose members are usually out of home, in order for our survey samples to be as representative and correct as possible.

You have called my telephone number and I don’t want you to call me again. What should I do?

Your participation in our surveys is voluntary and you have every right to refuse to participate, and ask us not to contact you again. If you wish so, please let us know by filling out your message in the relative contact form. Instead, you can contact us by telephone at +30 210 7238122 Monday to Friday between 10 am and 18 pm. If you send us such a request to exclude your telephone number from our dialing systems, this will be effected within one, or maximum two working days. No matter the way you may choose to contact us, you will need to let us know the telephone number that you want us to exclude from our lists and not call again. Since the numbers we dial are randomly formed (see more on how our telephone numbers are formed at “where did you find my telephone number?”) we are not in a position to know which one is the telephone number that you want us to exclude and not call again. Please bear in mind that in order for us to exclude your telephone number from all our surveys, we need to include it in a data base with telephone numbers that should be excluded from all our surveys. Consequently, whenever we select random numbers for a new survey, we “clear” it from the numbers to be excluded by comparing the two bases. This base of “telephone numbers that should be excluded from all surveys” is protected with a security code, is never given to any third party, is not used for any other purpose than the one mentioned above, and does not include any other piece of information, apart from the telephone numbers we should never call again.

Why do you call me when I have registered a private number?

The relative Greek Law (3471/2006) forbids any telephone contact that has the purpose to promote or sell a product or a service without prior consent of the telephone subscriber/owner. There are no other legal or regulatory rules regarding telephone calls that are administered for market research purposes. The call you have received from our company does not include promotion of any products or services, therefore does not fall into the above legal restrictions. On the contrary, our calls are conducted in order to ask for your participation in one of our surveys, which, in order to be representative, requires the participation of people from all demographic subgroups. This is the reason why we call at random digit telephone numbers (see more at “where did you find my telephone number?”) thus we cannot be aware if your telephone number is private. However, you have the right to ask us not to dial your telephone again in any of our surveys, and we fully respect your choice. In such a case, please inform us accordingly, filling out the relative form. Or else, you can contact us by telephone at +30 210 7238122 Monday to Friday between 10 am and 18 pm. Please also see “You have called my telephone number and I don’t want you to call me again. What should I do?”

Where did you find my telephone number?

In most telephone surveys, the telephone numbers used are selected randomly, with a method known as “Radom Digit Dialing”. For all valid geographic telephone codes (for example 2310 in the Salonica area), the rest of the digits are completed in a random method, so as to have a total of 10 digits for each telephone number we dial. For all these telephone numbers, we do not have any other information, apart from the geographical area to which they are located. Consequently, a number belonging to a residence, or a business, or a fax number may be formed, not corresponding to a subscriber. We strictly adhere to this random digit dialing method for all our telephone surveys in order to ensure that we have a fully representative sample of all the geographic areas that should be covered in every survey.

Frequently asked questions regarding face-to-face interviews

At Focus Bari we conduct a large variety of surveys on behalf of local and multinational organizations every year. Through these surveys we record information regarding consumers habits, trends, preferences on the usage of various products and services.
It may have occurred that one of our interviewers has knocked on your door at home, or has approached you at some central point in a street, outside a shop, or in some other place and has asked you to participate in one of our surveys. Both here and in other parts of our site you can find all the answers to the questions that we frequently receive regarding our face-to-face surveys. However, if you wish to contact us directly so you can speak with a member of our staff for more information or a personal discussion, please press here .

Why did your interviewer asked for my telephone number at the end of the interview?

We ask for this information so that we have the opportunity to verify that our interviewers have recorded your opinions with accuracy. We need to be sure that they operate as the best possible ambassadors of Focus Bari. So within the next few days from the interview, you might receive a telephone call from our offices asking you to verify some key details regarding your interview.

How can I be sure that the person contacting me is actually a Focus Bari interviewer?

All Focus Bari interviewers, and all interviewers of any market research agency-member of the Association of Greek Market and Opinion (Research Companies), are obliged to carry a special identity card at which you can see their name, their company’s name and their photograph. If you wish to certify that a person who has contacted you with a Focus Bari interviewer identity is actually one of our interviewers, please contact us directly for more information at link “contact us” or call us at +30 210 7238122 from Monday to Friday between 10 am and 18 pm.

How have you selected me to participate in your survey?

In each survey we cannot conduct an interview with every member of the population, so we take an interview from a sample of different people, whose opinions reflect those of a larger social milieu. We usually select random building blocks in different locations of the areas we cover in a survey, and our interviewers are instructed to work in these building blocks, following a pre-defined route, knocking on all household doors, the one after the other. Your participation in any of our surveys is absolutely voluntary and we fully understand that the success of each survey depends on the good will of the people whose participation we wish to have. If you do not wish to participate in a survey—as you have every right to choose—you can simply say so to our interviewer. . However, if you wish to contact us directly so you can speak with a member of our staff for more information or a personal discussion, please press here.