Medical Device & Diagnostic Industry
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INTO THE INTERNET
Originally Published June 2000
MARKET RESEARCH
Using the Internet to Support Market Research
The Internet is providing useful tools for performing primary and secondary market research and conducting virtual focus groups.
Dana A. Leff
Although today's Internet technology and applications are affecting many aspects of the medical device development process, some of the most notable changes are taking place in traditionally low-technology areas. One such area is market research—which encompasses many activities that can be improved through the use of new technology. Conducting market research traditionally has been painfully slow and labor intensive, requiring a significant investment by manufacturers. According to Lisa Pedersen, of the market research department at Medtronic Inc. (Minneapolis), "Because of the time and money necessary to complete a market research project, it is used for only the most important or high-risk decisions. These are typically large-scale studies, and they reinforce the perception that it takes a long time to get results, and that market research is expensive. For other decisions, it hasn't been worth it to get quantitative data."
By using the Internet as a research delivery mechanism and data collection tool, manufacturers can expedite the market research process and reduce costs (see sidebar below for firms involved in Internet-based market research). Innovations offered by the Internet may give device manufacturers greater reason to consider market research as an integral part of the product development process.
INTERNET TOOLS STRENGTHEN MARKET RESEARCH METHODS
Although the market research process has many steps, they can be categorized into four basic task areas: survey and focus group design, recruitment of subjects, data collection, and data analysis.
Technology-based tools, such as the Internet, can provide benefits at each stage of the market research process. For example, the full-time accessibility of the Internet facilitates effective communication between market research organizations and survey panels or focus groups—participation can be maximized, and the time required to complete research can be minimized. By increasing accessibility, greater efficiency can be brought to both primary and secondary market research programs. Such potential benefits have prompted research firms in a number of industries, including medical device manufacturing, to incorporate these tools into their operating procedures. Table I compares conventional medical market research methods with the way such activities can be performed using Internet tools.
| Task | Conventional Method | With Internet Tools |
| Survey design and printing | Survey is developed by professionals. When completed, the survey is printed out and sent to the participants by mail or fax, or a survey is given over the phone by a staff person. Mailed surveys include postage costs, faxed surveys include phone charges. | Survey is developed by professionals. When completed, the questions can be converted into a form that can be accessed on-line by participants. |
| Recruitment | Physicians are contacted by mail, phone, or fax, and asked to complete the survey. Multiple contacts may be required to speak directly to a participant or get a fax to the desk of the participant. | Cooperative physician panels are assembled and alerted by e-mail when studies are available on-line. Only eligible physicians are contacted for any particular study. |
| Data collection | When surveys are completed, they must be returned by mail or fax. Phone survey results are available immediately. All results must be entered into a database, which can be used for analysis. | When physicians complete a survey, the data are automatically entered into a database that can be used for analysis. |
| Analysis | Customer receives tabulated results that have been analyzed by consultants to make recommendations. | The database automatically generates aggregate data (bar graphs, pie charts, cross-tabs) in addition to a full raw-data set that can be used for regression analysis. |
Table I. Comparison of conventional and Internet-assisted tasks associated with market research.
An advantage of using the Internet to collect research data is that certain problems can be controlled more effectively by Internet-based systems than with conventional paper-based survey methods. For example, respondents to Internet-based surveys are allowed to select only from the given responses to each question. Survey participants cannot write in another answer or select more than one answer. Furthermore, respondents are not able to skip ahead—as is possible with a printed survey. Use of an Internet-based format yields surveys that are more complete and eliminates biases that can develop if participants are able to look ahead at question topics.
The Internet also provides a foundation for conducting focus groups on-line using a virtual facility that all participants can access from their own personal computers. This can reduce costs because a considerable part of the expense of conducting focus groups is the compensation that must be paid to participants who travel to a particular location for the session. Participants in an on-line focus group are compensated only for the time that they are participating; there is no travel associated with taking part in a focus group on-line.
Merrill Shugoll, of Shugoll Research (Bethesda, MD), sees numerous advantages to using Internet-based market research. "Researchers will not have to rely on the postal delivery service or on scheduling telephone interviews to coincide with the availability of physicians and interviewers. Also, the data can be immediately tabulated because they are gathered electronically, and this will save time in the analysis phase of the project."
INCREASING PHYSICIAN PARTICIPATION
Getting participation from the respondents is critical to the success of any market research project. Says Pedersen of Medtronic, "Respondent cooperation has been a big stumbling block for medical market research because the relevant universe is limited and overresearched. Some physicians receive so many requests to take part in market research that they refuse to participate in any." The challenge to researchers is to create a convenient and comfortable environment that serves to encourage participation by a diverse physician population.
The tools being used are intended to take advantage of the strengths offered by the Internet-based survey format and to address the needs of physicians. Physicians have been generally positive regarding the use of the Internet as a market research delivery tool. The ability to take part in surveys at any time of the day is a convenience that physicians appreciate. "With a direct e-mail, I can complete a questionnaire in the comfort, convenience, and privacy of my office. This way, I don't have to block out any particular time during the day to speak with a phone interviewer," comments Alan Hoffman, MD, an internist in Texas.
By communicating with physicians over the Internet rather than by mail or phone, an international population of physicians can participate in research surveys or focus groups. Time differences and slow mail systems pose no impediment to conducting surveys of international medical populations. This allows manufacturers to research the global market for a new product rather than developing the research foundation needed to roll out a product in one country at a time. Significant amounts of time and money can be saved by using more-efficient research methods that speed new products to market.
CONTROLLING FOR BIAS
Using the Internet as a tool to conduct market research with physicians could pose certain limitations with regard to sampling. There is always the possibility that physicians participating in the Internet survey are not going to be a representative sample of the overall physician population. Recent data from Healtheon (Atlanta) suggest that 85% of U.S. doctors currently have Internet access. Moreover, evidence from the American Medical Association indicates that there is no significant difference between the populations of doctors who are on-line compared with those who are not using the Internet.
Of the physicians who are on-line, 74% are over the age of 40; 83% of off-line doctors (those who do not use the Internet) are over the age of 40. In terms of practice areas, 44% of on-line physicians are involved in primary care; 50% of off-line physicians provide primary care. The geographic mix between urban, suburban, and rural is also the same for on-line and off-line physicians, according to data from T. A. Miller Co. Inc. (Clifton, NJ).
The "cheaters and repeaters" problem, in which unqualified persons participate in research or qualified persons participate more than once, can also affect the quality of market research. This problem can be overcome by requiring all participating physicians to provide their Medical Education or DEA registration numbers. This practice ensures that all participants have the necessary credentials to take part in the research. Furthermore, current survey technology allows multiple surveys completed by the same individual to be weeded out before the data set is analyzed. This reduces or eliminates the influence of repeaters who might damage the validity of the data. Although traditional paper-based market research can also provide protection against cheaters and repeaters, such safeguards can be more expensive and time-consuming to implement.
Overall, on-line medical market research provides increased research opportunities with little added risk in terms of data quality. Says Pedersen, "We recently completed an on-line study with a very large quota, and we could not have reached the necessary sample size using any other methodology without costs being prohibitive."
CONCLUSION
The ability to rapidly convert strategic marketing issues into survey questions, submit the queries to qualified participants and elicit timely responses, and automatically generate aggregate data provides a powerful tool for product marketing. Replacing paper-based survey forms with Internet-based systems can offer market researchers an effective method for significantly reducing the time to market for new medical products.
Dana A. Leff is founder of AbC.R.O. (Washington, DC), a contract research organization, and a marketing consultant to several start-up companies in the Washington, D.C. area.
Illustration by BRIAN PETERSON/Laughing Stock
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As access to the Internet becomes commonplace and Web users become more representative of the U.S. population, on-line surveys and focus groups are being viewed as effective tools for market research. Companies that have relied on conventional research methods, such as telephone or mail-in responses and in-depth personal interviews, are turning increasingly to the Internet as a viable data collection method. In addition, new companies have recognized the potential of the new research medium and are introducing their clients to the advantages of Internet-based market research. JSTREETDATA.COM One firm that is developing Internet tools specifically for the medical market research community is JstreetData.com Inc. (Washington, DC). Rather than providing the full spectrum of medical market research services, the firm is developing state-of-the-art Internet tools to address the subject recruitment and data collection stages of the market research process. The company is constructing an on-line infrastructure offering a number of proprietary tools to assist in developing and delivering market research products, including Survey Wizard, Focus Wizard, and Recruitment Wizard. These Internet tools can be accessed by either device manufacturers conducting in-house research or by medical market research firms. The tools are not intended to replace the value-added services that market research agencies provide to medical device manufacturers. "We don't design studies, moderate focus groups, or analyze data," says Jonathan B. Kay, the firm's cofounder and president. "But we do supply Internet tools to assist our clients with these primary research tasks." Survey Wizard walks customers through a simple process of converting conventional survey questions into an on-line instrument for data collection. This tool can be used either by market research firms or by manufacturers who are conducting their research in-house. Focus Wizard gives customers the opportunity to conduct focus groups on-line using a virtual facility that all participants can access from their own personal computers. The Recruitment Wizard pulls from a proprietary database of cooperative respondents, including providers, payers, and other medical decision makers who affect the market success of new life science products. Physicians can register for survey participation by going to the firm's Web site, located at http://www.jstreetdata.com. BIOINFORMATICS INC. The 5000 on-line panelists of The Science Advisory Board, which was formed in 1997 by BioInformatics Inc. (Bethesda, MD), represent an array of specialties, including biomedical researchers, physicians, and others. The panelists take part in two different types of on-line surveys—open and proprietary. Open surveys are designed to focus on specific topics relevant to panel members. Results of the survey form the basis of reports published by Bioinformatics and are made available generally to industry. Proprietary surveys are sponsored by a single vendor, which retains exclusive rights to all results yielded by the survey. The Bioinformatics Web site is located at http://www.bioinfoinc.com. DECISION ANALYST INC. Decision Analyst Inc. (Arlington, TX) conducts marketing research for medical device, diagnostic product, pharmaceutical, and biotechnology firms through its Medical Research Group. Research is also conducted through its American Consumer Opinion Online panel, consisting of more than 1,000,000 consumers in the United States, Canada, Western Europe, Latin America, and Asia. The firm's Physician Advisory Council is composed of more than 10,000 physicians and specialists in the United States, Canada, and Western Europe. The firm states that nearly every medical specialty and board-certified group is represented in this group, which is one of the largest Internet healthcare panels in the world. Since it began building its Internet systems in 1996, Decision Analyst has found that Internet surveys have generated results similar to those from telephone or mail sampling. The company's Web site address is http://www.decisionanalyst.com. CHALFONT HEALTHCARE RESEARCH In addition to conducting on-line marketing research for medical device companies, Chalfont Healthcare Research Inc. (Chalfont, PA) has conducted a series of lectures and prepared an audio tape series regarding the firm's Internet experiences. The series addresses a variety of topics, including:
The company's lecture and tape series are described on its Web site, which is located at http://chalfonthealth.com. GUIDELINES FOR ON-LINE MARKETING RESEARCH ESOMAR, the World Association of Opinion and Marketing Research Professionals, issued its first guideline on market research using the Internet in 1998. An updated version, "Conducting Marketing and Opinion Research Using the Internet" addresses methods for protecting the interests of the general public and upholding performance standards in market research. The guideline spells out the principles that marketing and opinion researchers must respect, in accordance with national and international self-regulation. Specifically, the guideline sets out ethical and professional standards to be observed by all those conducting on-line research. The updated guideline can be downloaded from the ESOMAR Web site at http://www.esomar.nl/codes_and_guidelines.html.—MD&DI |
