Study reveals live phone calls effective than pre-recorded public messages during Covid-19

A research by Good Business Lab, a not-for-profit labour innovation lab on the government’s public information campaign during crises like Covid, has revealed that live phone calls made to the people to spread information are far more effective than pre-recorded messages.

The lab that conducts research on the well-being of workers and productivity of firms in labour incentive industries surveyed 914 women migrant workers in Bengaluru's garment factories on the mental health consequences of risk communication during the pandemic last year.

With rampant misinformation, the group had no reliable source of information on Covid-19 -- how it spreads, symptoms, precautions etc -- in their local language. “Among other things, one third of participants were unaware that cough was a symptom of Covid-19 or believed that consuming turmeric could prevent it and 13% of participants recommended drinking cow urine, '' GBL said in a press release.


The study was published in the Journal of Development Economics, a peer-reviewed academic journal published by Elsevier. Authors Sadish D, Achyuta Adhvaryu, and Anant Nyshadham recommend governments to reconsider their dependence on automated information broadcasts during crises like pre-recorded Covid awareness messages. They found that making live phone calls to convey the same information was a better alternative.

Separately, the team studied an information campaign to directly deliver medically-approved information about Covid-19 on their phones. The same message was shared with three groups of participants through three different media: SMS, recorded voice message and live phone calls. It was found that phone calls were as good at informing recipients as other modes and reduced their anxiety by 28%.

“We have demonstrated that phone calls, which cost under $ 0.25 per message in our context, can broadcast information at least as effectively as conventional methods, yet with better consequences for mental health,” according to the study.