The caller tries to pose as a person representing the University of Nevada-Reno. But never mentions which department she is from or what project she is part of or what her name is. Dont know how she gets a hold of phone numbers, but her activity seems very suspicious, because if a university is conducting a survey the first thing they do is introduce themselves by way of their name, which department they represent & they usually never call students to conduct surveys.
Actually, we are a very legitimate research facility at UNR. We are located in the SFB, room 004. We are known as the Center for Research, Design, and Analysis, and our website is www.crda.unr.edu. We get our numbers in various ways, depending on the study we are calling you for.
BRFSS - this study is done for the Centers for Disease Control and State of Nevada Division of Health. We get our numbers through Random Digit Dialing, in which we are given Nevada area codes and known residential prefixes, and then our system randomly generates the last 4 digits of the numbers. We also do a Native American specific study that has many of the same questions. These studies are the source of any health statistic you see published in the news, and the health policy makers of today use this information to set current health policies (such as the age at which women should get breast exams, and men should get prostate cancer screenings). You can find out more information at www.cdc.gov.
Alumni Study- done for the Office of University Assessment (www.unr.edu/assess) we get the numbers from the UNR records where the alum registered it. Anyone who has ever graduated from UNR receives a call for this.
We also do other studies based on the clients we have at that time - one for the Nevada Department of Transportation, one for the Nevada Department of Employment, Training, and Rehabilitation, and any other client who may want statistical information collected. For any study that is not our Alumni study, we never search through any type of phone book for your numbers.
As far as the person not introducing themselves with first name and department right away, we find that depending on the areas we call (such as Vegas), if we introduce ourselves with UNR, we get an immediate negative reaction more often than not. Our interviewers are not required to provide their names (You are free to ask), but they should always inform you of the particular study's sponsor which they are calling for (e.g. "I'm calling on behalf of the Nevada Department of Health/NDOT/etc.").
Rest assured, we are not calling to ask you for any kind of donation, and we are not trying to get you to buy anything. We can be persistent, but that is what clients turn to us for.
"Rest assured, we are not calling to ask you for any kind of donation, and we are not trying to get you to buy anything. We can be persistent, but that is what clients turn to us for."
rest assured, it's still quite obnoxious that you are calling in the first place.