Working with physicians or doctors on qualitative research campaigns can be challenging, as they are a difficult audience with which to communicate and solicit feedback. Doctors spend much of their time assisting and directing patients and medical teams, leading to excruciatingly busy schedules. That is why it can be quite challenging for them to fit into your qualitative research methodology. In this blog, we will share golden research tips to ensure success when working with doctors.
How to get started with healthcare market research
If you have conducted qualitative market research before, you may be aware of the process involved. For those who are new to the market research methodology, the step-by-step approach to a successful qualitative healthcare research procedure is as follows:
- Proposal: This is a formal request to propose the scope of your market research plan.
- Workplan: This phase outlines your market research approach with potential timelines, responsible participants, and tasks.
- Instrument design: This involves the structuring of the survey.
- Testing: It always makes sense to test the instrument internally or with live respondents.
- Fieldwork: Once tested, you are ready to begin full fieldwork for the interviews or surveys.
- Analysis: This begins once responses begin rolling in and after data collection is complete.
- Reporting: This includes a summary of themes and a question-by-question breakdown.
- Debrief: Your healthcare market research partner meets with your team to discuss findings.
- Action items: These are the recommendations and strategies suggested based on the type of data or findings you wish to accumulate post-survey.
Tips to follow when conducting market research with doctors
Here are some important tips you must follow while conducting market research involving doctors and healthcare professionals:
1. Keep the study as precise and direct as possible
There is no doubt that doctors are a busy bunch of professionals who deal with life and death issues on a daily basis. Their primary concern, therefore, isn’t assisting companies in conducting research in nursing and healthcare. This is why it is always wise to keep your engagement as short as possible. Also, you should be ready to face rejections depending on the time of year you are about to conduct the research. It is quite natural for doctors to remain busy during specific times of the year (such as year-end) and you should respect their decision of whether they want to participate.
2. Work with the doctors’ schedules
It’s important to target doctors who have adequate time to participate in your medical market research project. Any future misunderstandings can be avoided by outlining all expectations in advance. Be specific about the results you require from the study. It’s critical to accept the fact that a doctor’s schedule might be different from yours, and that you may need to make arrangements according to their schedule.
3. Leverage the sharing of opinions & insights between doctors
Most pharmaceutical organizations want to effectively develop and maintain external relationships, building credibility and partnerships with critical healthcare decision-makers. While that should be on their to-do list, in today’s complex environment, organizations should also aim to develop more strategic approaches to generate actionable scientific insights which can translate into future opportunities. When involving doctors in your research initiatives, make sure that you grasp and gather as much information and insights as you can. Since doctors’ scientific expertise is a gold mine for pharma companies, organizations have the unique opportunity to engage the most critical decision makers in meaningful peer exchange. This scientific exchange, if utilized wisely and strategically, can lead healthcare organizations stay abreast of the latest trends, while also creating a platform to highlight the current unmet needs and their expectations from the pharmaceutical manufacturers or other providers.
4. Conduct individual research instead of groups
Finding a window when several doctors are available can be challenging, if not impossible, given how busy they are. If a doctor is available for a focus group at 2:00 p.m., it is likely that the other participants won’t be. If only two physicians are available for a focus group at 7:00 p.m., it is likely that the rest are not. It’s incredibly challenging to get numerous doctors to agree to show up at the same time. However, that doesn’t mean your survey should wait. Instead, you can conduct individual research instead of groups.
Also Read- Importance Of Qualitative Research in Healthcare
Final word
There are numerous benefits to involving healthcare professionals and doctors during qualitative healthcare research efforts. At the same time, however, you should be prepared to meet the needs of these specialist participants. Working with a proven healthcare research firm like Unimrkt Healthcare can help make the whole experience a breeze. Over the years, we have continuously employed scientifically proven quantitative market research methods to provide actionable data through precise targeting of respondents. To learn more about how we can help you with your qualitative healthcare research, call +91-124-424-5210, +91-9870-377-557 or email sales@unimrkthealth.com. You may also fill out our contact form and our experts will contact you at the earliest.
