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Detroit area market research experts, Market Facts Motoresearch, needed a way to conduct secure Internet market research, but was unsure exactly how to proceed due to the requirements of this particular project. They needed to provide detailed, high-quality, secure video during an Internet survey. This seemed an impossible task unless you forced the survey takers to install/upgrade web browser plug-ins and also required them to have DSL or cable modem connections. These were not acceptable requirements. Small stuttering video wasn't going to cut it. The video was also 22 minutes in length. When Chronasoft was first contacted, the question came out more like "I don't think this is possible, but I thought I'd ask anyway." Before the conversation was over initial designs were complete and the project was on it's way.
Al Bogdan of Chronasoft proposed a solution that delivered the survey on a CD that would communicate over the Internet for both security and data collection. The secure CD was encoded and communicated using high level encryption. There were no image or video files available on the CD that could be opened. There were no common data types besides a program and a help file. The CD could not be started without going through the software program. The users were given a user code and passcode to type in, and the software handled the complex security handshakes behind the scenes.
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The survey was also setup to restart if it was exited for any reason before the survey was completed, or if Internet access was lost during the survey. This was sometimes an issue with AOL, for which some special processes were incorporated to make restarting AOL easier if it timed out and tossed the user off the Internet early.
To aid in the survey a remote management program was also written that allowed generating reports as the survey was in progress. Details about the general survey status were available along with details about an individual survey taker's status and logs. A survey taker could also be reset if there was a problem - like they typed in the passcode wrong three times.
While we are experts in software and media, we do not pretend to be total experts in market research. If you are interested in conducting a Secure CD Internet Survey you should contact Market Facts Motoresearch for information and access to their respondent databases.