MedeConnect launches next generation of online doctor surveys
pharmafile | May 21, 2009 | News story | Medical Communications |Â Â MedConnectÂ
The market research arm of online doctors' community Doctors.net.uk has launched a new qualitative market research service which expands the possibilities of online surveys.
The company, medeConnect Healthcare Insight, is now adding qualitative market research service to augment its quantitative online research of medical professionals.
The qualitative research service aims to overcome the increasing difficulty of getting information from a hard-to-reach, geographically diverse and time constrained medical community.
It says the capabilities will add a new dimension to its services, which it provides to public sector bodies and the pharmaceutical industry.
MedeConnect is among a number of well-established online doctor community operators in the UK who offer online surveying, which is playing a growing role in how the industry conducts its market research.
Other players in the UK market are Medix and OnMedica, while the US' biggest online community of doctors is Sermo.
Online questionnaires have until now been relatively limited in their scope, usually being pre-coded (i.e. answers selected from a list of choices). But the new medeConnect service includes real time interactive probing of open questions, online group discussions and visuals or videos.
Iain Findlay, managing director of medeConnect, said: "Research recruiters are finding it increasingly difficult to persuade respondents to attend qualitative research sessions, especially from outside of the major cities.
"While face-to-face meetings and time-intensive telephone interviews may still have their place, we have developed a great alternative. This is thanks to some clever technology and is made possible through the relationship we have with the 50,000 doctors a week who use the Doctors.net.uk network."
Findlay says the online survey can attract doctors who would not take part in traditional research due to their distance from a central research location, thereby opening up a potentially 'wider and fresher' sample of medical professionals.
"With all research taking place online, we also eliminate the need for venue hire and the transcribing of tapes. The reduction in time taken for both fieldwork and the preparation of transcripts and reports is startling. For our pharmaceutical customers, it means that they can also view all of our groups from their office or home – especially handy when meetings take place in the evening."
The company's clients include nine out of ten of the UK's largest pharmaceutical companies and public sector organisations such as the Department of Health and the National Audit Office.
