Qualitative Research

Medix provides traditional qualitative research with face to face interviews and focus groups.

Questionnaires for qualitative projects are developed from project briefs in detailed discussion with clients. As well as questionnaires for traditional face-to-face in depth interviews, focus groups and semi-structured interviews, questionnaires can be designed for use with online qualitative research methodologies where the extensive experience of the Medix team ensures high quality questionnaires and research results.

Medix has also developed some exciting and innovative online techniques for undertaking qualitative research.

The Medix qualitative research division is led by Rupert Wallis whose experience in healthcare qualitative is wide and deep. Over the years he has undertaken research in practically all areas of clinical care and delivery of services.

The portfolio of projects utilising qualitative research is extremely wide ranging and covers a large, diverse selection of therapy areas including:

• Asthma
• Diabetes
• Pain control
• PPIs
• ED
• MS
• Mental Health

In addition, projects undertaken by Medix tackle a number of strategic issues such as:

• The brand lifecycle
  • Pre-launch
  • Launch
  • Maturity
  • Post patent and generic possibilities
• Tactical exploration of healthcare markets
  • Reactions to competitor marketing
  • Assessing opportunities arising from new directions in healthcare policies
    • The role of Practice Based Commissioning
    • Identifying key influencers and ‘payors’
    • Unlocking their opinions
• The relationship of the pharmaceutical industry with healthcare professionals
  • What relationship this should be
  • What is mutually beneficial for both sides
• New Product Development
• Detail aid and ad testing / e-detailing

Focus groups

Participants are carefully screened and recruited from the Medix Panel to ensure that they are part of the relevant target market. A group will usually consist of six to ten members, and the session lasts for approximately two hours. An experienced moderator guides the group probing for respondent attitudes to the relevant issues. The discussion is structured around an agreed discussion guide, but is loose and flexible enough to challenge, pursue and enlarge upon themes and opinions as they arise. One of the main aims of the moderator is to encourage the free flow of ideas. Focus groups are often used to garner reaction to specific stimuli such as concepts, prototypes and advertising.

Clients can observe a group either in person or through a viewing facility. The discussion is normally recorded on audio with the addition of video as required.

Following this, transcriptions of the discussion are then analysed for interpretation and report preparation.

In-depth interview (IDI, one-on-one)

Interview with a single individual, typically lasting from 45 to 90 minutes, depending on the subject matter and context. The purpose of in-depth interviews is to understand the underlying motivations, beliefs, attitudes and feelings of respondents on a particular subject. IDIs are conducted in person either at a research facility, the respondent’s home or workplace

Dyads, triads

In-depth interviews with two or three people who often represent members of the same professional team, who use a product or service and/or make purchase decisions together

Interviews are recorded and transcribed, with transcriptions then analysed for interpretation and report preparation.

Medix Online Qualitative Capabilities

Medix has developed its online qualitative capabilities to complement its traditional services. These online tools can either be used solely on their own for projects or used in combination with traditional qualitative techniques. This will enable Medix to offer a more comprehensive set of research tools ultimately allowing clients greater flexibility in choosing how to tackle a wide range of strategic questions in the most appropriate and cost effective manner.

Medix already incorporates qualitative elements into a large proportion of its online projects. Answering open-ended questions online in any survey allows respondents to express valuable insights and incorporate anecdotes that answer clients’ questions.

In addition to using written answers Medix also runs in-depth interviews online via internet cameras. Thus, traditional face-to-face interviews can be carried out much more cost efficiently than normal.

As the pharmaceutical industry requires an ever deeper and more intricate understanding of healthcare professionals, research companies need to be able to offer new and different ways that are effective in understanding these customers. This needs to be achieved as cost effectively as possible without sacrificing quality of results. Online research, with a variety of individual tools, offers a methodology that can certainly go some way towards achieving this.

Medix recognises that qualitative research requires a variety of strategies because of the varied nature of projects and the questions that they pose. It is hoped that by enhancing its qualitative online arm that we can be better prepared to offer the comprehensive answers that companies want.

Medix Online Groups are ready to use now. eRooms and Virtual Patients are being developed and piloted and will be ready soon.

Online Groups

Medix online focus group is created from a combination of Medix’ own panel of respondents and the company’s online capabilities. It is a modern alternative to the traditional focus group and works as a cost-effective qualitative research tool that can be used in a variety of ways:

• Stand-alone to explore issues in the same way as a traditional group
• Combined with other research tools (qualitative or quantitative) to create a bespoke cost effective methodology when required for any specific project
• Run as and when required to suit client needs in either of the above project situations and/or, potentially, as a subscription service that runs at intervals to allow companies to plug into issues quickly as they arise
• Targeted at local, regional, national or international groups of respondents to be able to address a variety of questions ranging from the micro (for example, exploring local decision making issues by a practice or collection of practices) to the universal (for example, assessing the impact of National Strategy frameworks and policy decisions; perceptions of companies and advertising campaigns; looking at issues across a particular therapy area)

How They Work

Medix has a number of options in how Online Groups can be run, and this will be agreed according to the specific requirements of each project so that results are optimal.

In all cases, Medix creates a specific discussion guide for each project and moderates the process continually. Certain respondents can be targeted on specific issues if and where clarification is required and clients can observe throughout.

Full details on the specific methodologies that Medix has developed are available upon enquiry.

Online groups, generally, have a number of advantages associated with them, namely:

• They avoid having to be run in traditional urban centres and thus can give a voice to ‘hard to reach’ respondents.
  • This results in a broader range of views being investigated
  • Avoids the problem of over-researched respondents in certain areas of the country
• Discussions cannot dominated by one or two voices
• Anonymity can help respondents ‘open up’ in their views and opinions

The last two points above are particularly important in relation to healthcare research where levels of seniority in the healthcare system can ‘muzzle’ respondents in a face to face group discussion. Such a situation can become exacerbated in a traditional group setting where the respondents might know each other because of the geographical limits associated with recruiting respondents to attend a central ‘venue’.

It is also worth bearing in mind there are some additional advantages of using Medix online groups specifically:

• Using the Medix in-house panel means that a variety of healthcare professionals can be easily used on their own or in combination with other professional groups.
• Where available, the right geographical spread of respondents can be picked to discuss local or national issues as applicable
• The groups can also be run internationally using ‘country’ specific panels
• Having worked with Medix already, respondents are used to working online and dealing with questions in this medium so the quality of response should be ensured and recruitment should not be compromised or limited to the ‘web-head’ doctor alone
• High quality respondents can be recruited quickly to get groups up and running

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