Coffee Break

back to Coffee Break Index

A COFFEE BREAK ANNOUNCEMENT:

This year it rained projects, just in time for Thanksgiving.

November, 2003

Some of them were run-of-the-mill, but some were definitely worth writing home about. So here’s one of them: We’ll call the client Amy. She’s the Director of Market Research at a very large pharmaceutical company, and we’ve enjoyed working with her for the last five years. Her problem was a brand new Product Manager who expected a goldplated study for a tinplated price. The project was international (US, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain) and a fairly large sample of general surgeons was required from each country. The deadline was just short of four weeks.

We recommended our TwinTrack International service. Amy was pleased to be reminded of it: the service being relatively new, she said it wasn’t yet top-of-mind. Her Product Manager agreed that TwinTrack International would solve the problem (even though he considered it merely silverplated) and that, the price being reasonable, he wanted the broadest possible sample within his timeline. We told Amy that we could complete 10 domestic in-depth telephone discussions, plus 5 per European country (total: 35); and 25 domestic Internet surveys, plus 15 per European country (total: 100). We reiterated that all international work – telephone and Internet – is conducted in the native language by Rood’s team of bilingual consultants. We translate the discussion guide and Internet questionnaire and deliver the report in English. There is no duplication of surgeons between tracks; moreover, recruiting criteria and screeners are identical for the telephone and Internet tracks, so that the tracks are compatible when merged into a single final report. Agreement was quickly reached on the study parameters. Rood developed the qualitative discussion guide and the quantitative Internet questionnaire within 24 hours. In a nutshell, Amy wanted to know how surgeons in different markets handled specific complications common to a specific abdominal procedure, and to obtain their feedback on a new product in the early planning stages.

Within 3 weeks the results of the qualitative and quantitative tracks were received and integrated into a single report. The data were analyzed and, because the tracks were compatible, the qualitative opinions and underlying decision making processes were applicable to the larger quantitative sample as well. Amy told us that the report was well received by the product manager, who presented it to top management. Perhaps we’ll find out next week what action was taken.

Meanwhile, we hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!