Research participants
WELCOME TO OUR HEALTHCARE COMMUNITY
By taking part in our online and telephone surveys, physicians and other healthcare professionals of all nationalities get an opportunity to share their expertise and invaluable insights, and thus contribute to the essential field research in pharmacy and healthcare.
If you choose to join our community, you will be invited to take part in pharmaceutical and healthcare studies relevant to your specialty, professional experience and /or interests. Your participation in each study will be rewarded with monetary incentives after the study conclusion.
To register, please click HERE and fill your details in the form.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
For more detailed explanation of our operating techniques and procedures, please read on to find the answers to some of the most frequent queries. We hope that these answers will shed light on any uncertainties on your part, but if you still have questions after reading, please do not hesitate to ask us through e-mail and we will happily assist you.
WHY AM I BEING SCREENED?
To be able to maintain the highest quality of service, we need to be sure that we always make the best selection of qualified respondents for the surveys we conduct. This is necessary to ensure the relevance of the research results.
Hence, as frustrating as it may be, the screening process is an essential tool for achieving credibility, and your answers to the preliminary questions help us assess whether you meet the specific set of requirements for a particular survey or not. Making an assumption that you would be a suitable respondent based just on your broad information, such as your job title or medical speciality, could subject you to a survey that is not relevant to you. This will have a negative impact on both your experience and our research results.
HOW MUCH TIME WILL IT TAKE ME TO COMPLETE THE SCREENING PROCESS?
Since we understand that we are asking for your valuable time, we tried to make the screening process as expeditious as possible. All questions are carefully designed to assess your eligibility in a minimum amount of needed time.
You will first receive the basic information about the survey (e.g. the length, the topic and the incentive value) in the invitation e-mail we send you, and if you agree to participate in our survey we will then screen you to determine whether you qualify for the research. The moment you give an answer that will rule you out, the screening process will stop.
THIS IS NOT MY FIRST SURVEY, WHY AM I REPEATEDLY ASKED THE SAME PRELIMINARY QUESTIONS?
We understand that having to answer repetitive or similar questions over and over again may be uninspiring or exhausting. However, we find this to be of our mutual interest.
We want to make sure that we have the most current and accurate information on you, as this helps us confirm your eligibility for a study at the time of participation. Your job title, number of patients, and other important factors change over time, and thus it is necessary for us to regularly update your information.
Vice versa, we aim to supply all the information you need to give your informed consent to the research.
Also, our clients cannot be expected to rely on information that we assume is accurate without getting you to provide it again. They need to be able to confirm your eligibility for the research directly from you.
WHO USES MY INFORMATION AND FOR WHAT PURPOSE?
As we conduct market research for a vast array of clients, there is no uniform answer to the question of who handles your information, it will vary depending on the project.
Our clients may be pharmaceutical companies, medical institutions, government agencies or other establishments, whom we help find qualified respondents. Also some of the research projects we do are carried out on behalf of other market research agencies commissioned by larger end-clients.
Your data will never be used for any other purpose than market research.
THE SURVEY WAS LONGER THAN ADVERTISED. WHY?
We immensely appreciate the time you give us, and correspondingly, we strive to provide you with the most current and most accurate assessment of the research length. Therefore, we always time our surveys in order to estimate the average span for their completion and rely to a large extent on the feedback from our respondents for regular updates.
Nevertheless, our efforts may often be of little avail, as the actual length of a survey depends on the responses each participant provides (depending on the given answers, some respondents may get asked more follow-up questions). Also, different people will spend a different amount of time answering the same questions.
Though the above stated reasons tend to make the research length evaluation an ungrateful task, we will continue investing efforts in finding more ways to keep you informed as accurately as possible.
WHY DOES THE VALUE OF THE INCENTIVE FREQUENTLY CHANGE?
Incentive values are standardised by research companies and regulatory bodies, who calculate the adequate incentive value for each study factoring in the length of the interview, the complexity of the study and the average honorarium in your field. For example, if you are a healthcare professional, the value of your incentive should be consistent with FMV (Fair Market Value) in healthcare transactions.
Every pharmaceutical company sets payment caps for the time and experience healthcare professionals invest in research projects. These caps need to be a fair reward for the time you spend, but kept to a reasonable amount, as otherwise they may be perceived as bribery. Every pharmaceutical company will take into account multiple considerations and set their own payment caps. It is our legal obligation to abide by the caps they set and also to disclose these transfers of value where relevant.