Fast Busy

A fast busy is a survey disposition that is specific to telephone surveys. It occurs when an interviewer dials a number in the sampling pool and hears a very rapid busy signal. Fast busy signals are sometimes used by telephone companies to identify nonworking telephone numbers, but they occasionally occur when heavy call volumes fill all of the local telephone circuits. Telephone numbers in the sampling pool that result in a fast busy disposition usually are considered ineligible. As a result, fast busy case dispositions are considered final dispositions and typically are not redialed by an interviewer, although in some cases they may be dialed again in case the fast busy condition is only temporary.

From a telephone interviewing standpoint, the practical difference between a fast ...