Just as medicine has various specialties, so does market research.
In today's post, we'll be covering how to survey gynecologists through the use of online healthcare market research.
Surveying obstetricians can reveal key data that will work to improve medical treatments, products and other important factors. This allows healthcare and wellness brands to perfect their services.
Keep reading to learn how to create a survey for gynecologists.
Benefits of Conducting Market Research with Gynecologists
Conducting an online survey with gynecologists allows for a better understanding of various protocols and patient care practices. It's a way for clients to measure the appeal and demand for new healthcare products and services.
When healthcare/wellness organizations and brands launch new products centered around women's health, having a doctor's perspective is crucial. This allows for medical insight that's actionable and reliable.
From there, the healthcare brand can create new and improved marketing strategies to advertise its product. What's more, they'll be basing that marketing strategy on feedback from their target audience.
💡 The Key Takeaway: Running a medical survey for doctors provides unique insight for healthcare companies. With this information, medical products and services can be perfected.
Recommended Reading: Healthcare Branding: How to Create the Best Medical Marketing Campaign
Kickoff Meeting
A kickoff meeting is a pivotal step in how to create a survey for medical professionals.
This is when the market research team meets with the healthcare company to determine the main objectives for the entire project. We believe it's an essential step, as these introductory meetings are a way for clients to become more knowledgable of the process, timeline, and expected results.
These are a few key items to cover in a market research kickoff meeting:
- Expectations of the research
- Key objectives
- Ideal questions in the survey
- Timeline of project
Discussing these topics (among others) will clear up any confusion prior to the survey launch. Conducting research with a specialized panel like gynecologists will require heightened attention to detail, making the kickoff meeting even more necessary.
💡 The Key Takeaway: Kickoff meetings are not to be skipped. They serve as a great way for both teams to come together and discuss the main objectives.
Recommended Reading: 5 Items to Cover in a Market Research Kickoff Meeting
Writing the Gynecologists' Survey
The less time it takes to complete a survey, the more responses from doctors you'll get!
Surveys for physicians of any kind should be short and sweet--no more than 10 minutes. This is especially true for gynecologists, as their schedules can change at the drop of a hat. They're far less likely to take a 20-minute survey than a five-minute one.
It's also important to consider the way in which the medical survey is written. Not only should it not take a long time to complete, but the medical survey questions should ensure the wording is correct and proper medical terms are used.
This will also contribute to more fully-completed surveys, as doctors don't want to read through long questions.
Here are some of our biggest tips to keep in mind when writing survey questions for obstetricians:
- Keep language consistent and brief
- Eliminate repetitive questions
- Combine topics when able
- Only include the most necessary topics
While we have plenty more tips for conducting market research with doctors and physicians, these four are of the utmost importance.
💡 The Key Takeaway: Part of learning how to survey gynecologists is understanding the art of writing a survey. Only the most critical topics should be covered in this case.
Programming the Survey for Gynecologists
After the survey for gynecologists is written, the wheels are really in motion.
When a survey is programmed, it's taken from an initial document and placed into the online survey platform. This step is often the longest in the research process, but it's 100% necessary. Because of that, it's a good idea to have a programming checklist for surveys.
Additionally, this step should follow a "linear" path.
When programming the medical survey for Ob/Gyn doctors, all the questions are connected. Meaning, that if one is tampered with, that can have a ripple effect on the other questions--this is why it's so important to program the questions in order.
Our healthcare market research company will review the survey after the initial programming, to ensure everything is running smoothly.
💡 The Key Takeaway: Programming a survey takes patience and precision. It's a time-consuming step, but it’s the most essential in the entire survey process, no matter the audience.
Surveying Ob/Gyn doctors
At this point, surveying is in full swing and the healthcare professionals will begin answering your questions.
This could be the most nerve-wracking step of all--actually sending off a project. What if something goes wrong? What if there's a technical glitch? These are common concerns, to which we have an answer: the soft launch.
Soft-launching a survey simply means sending it out to a smaller group of respondents. That way, any lurking glitches or errors can be detected prior to the full launch. Think of it as a pre-test.
Soft launches can help:
- Better question design and wording
- Locate skipped questions/routing errors
- Gain a better understanding of how many doctors will take the survey
Should any of these issues be found during a soft launch, the benefit is that it was only seen by a small pool of respondents, versus the entire panel.
After reviewing the initial feedback and everything checks out, our market research company sends the questionnaire to a larger group of respondents.
💡 The Key Takeaway: Soft-launching surveys will allow for errors to be discovered early on, and seen by a smaller panel.
Recommended Reading: 7 Reasons to Soft-Launch Email Surveys Before Jumping In
Cleaning the Survey Data
If you're learning how to survey gynecologists and think things are done when the survey is live, think again!
After fieldwork is wrapped up, the third-party research team then cleans the data that was gathered. And when we say "clean," we really mean it.
Any errors or botched answers will have to be eliminated from the results to truly get the highest quality feedback. Below, we'll cover a few key aspects of data cleaning.
- Pay attention to sequencing. This tip focuses on inconsistencies within answers. If one of the doctors contradicted themselves by answering a certain way, this can cause issues. More on how to eliminate sequence bias, here.
- Flag speedy survey takers. With the use of red herring questions, you can easily spot respondents that quickly select answers or choose option 'B' for every question just to finish the survey and get their reward.
- Beware of gibberish in open-ends. Literally. If answers within the survey have any kind of nonsensical response, it's typically a sign it wasn't taken seriously.
Watch our short video for more survey cleaning tips.
💡 The Key Takeaway: Cleaning a survey is hugely important when reviewing its results. Doing this allows for only the best data to come through.
Analyzing and Reporting Feedback from Obstetricians
Onto the last, but certainly not the least, step. Once the physician survey questions have been answered and the data has been cleaned, a research report will be made for the healthcare brand.
This allows them to carefully analyze the survey results to go forward with accurate information.
And by receiving the proper information, the brand can then:
- Take critical feedback to improve the product
- Analyze marketing strategies
- Understand how the product will impact consumers
But that's not where it ends.
In addition to creating a thorough report, our healthcare market research team also hosts a debrief meeting where we discuss the findings in-depth. That way, any lingering questions the client may have are answered accurately, and no one is left guessing.
💡 The Key Takeaway: By receiving a report and having a debrief meeting, healthcare brands can truly understand the data their medical survey gathered.
Survey Gynecologists and Obstetricians with Drive Research
And that's how to survey gynecologists or obstetricians -- the right way. We know it can seem daunting, especially when we're dealing with such a specialized group of physicians. However, the process we covered makes it a whole lot easier.
Drive Research is a market research company located in Syracuse, NY. Our team has years of combined industry experience and can work with your healthcare brand to create a detailed survey project.
Curious about the rest of our market research services? Reach out to us through any of the ways below.
- Message us on our website
- Email us at [email protected]
- Call us at 888-725-DATA
- Text us at 315-303-2040
Lark Allen
As a Content Marketing Specialist, Lark has a strong background and passion for creative, professional, and journalistic writing. She is also a self-proclaimed music freak and 90s enthusiast.
Learn more about Lark, here.
