In-depth quantitative research

In-depth quantitative research: detailed and insightful information from individual respondents in large sample surveys

by Lisa Heideman, Senior Project Manager, SKIM Analytical Healthcare

Market research should deliver insightful and actionable results that provide you and your internal clients with the understanding and confidence to take strategic business decisions. In-depth quantitative research (combining advanced qualitative and quantitative technique) enables a deeper and more holistic understanding about the way customers react to the changing market situation.

A typical application of in-depth quantitative techniques: segmentation
Obtaining quantified, qualitative information from large samples is important not only in providing a far deeper level of insight into the choices and motivations of individuals, it is also helpful in achieving meaningful market segmentations. Segmentation can be difficult and too often either no meaningful segmentation is achieved, or the basis of the segmentation is not useful. To overcome this it is necessary to explain rather than simply report the choice behaviour of the key market players.

Discrete choice modelling
Discrete choice modelling enables us to measure physicians' (or patients') sensitivities towards product characteristics. Traditional discrete choice modelling permits only aggregated results and so does not enable us to cope with heterogeneity among the target population; we do not see how each individual reacts but rather the proportion of customers who would choose each product in different situations.
Latent class analysis

Latent class analysis extends the discrete choice modelling technique by allowing us to distinguish groups of customers who are driven by the same product benefits. These groups are not based on other data captured elsewhere in the survey (for example type of speciality or current prescribing) but rather on the actual choice process of the individual.

This takes us a step further towards our goal of understanding the drivers of choice of each individual customer.

Understanding the individual customer
By using Individual Choice Estimation (ICE) or Hierarchical Bayes (HB) we can extract data for each individual respondent; thus enabling us to predict that particular customer's (future) choice behaviour. This is the starting point for in-depth quantitative research: analysing in detail each individual respondent.

Combining qualitative and quantitative data
Depending on the particular needs and scope of the survey it is possible to take this essential understanding one step further by matching truly qualitative techniques, such as laddering, with quantitative techniques such as ICE or latent class.
Laddering

Put simply, laddering is a qualitative interviewing technique that is used to reveal the underlying reasons people choose a certain product. Physicians are certainly not always rational in their prescribing decisions and brand managers in particular seek to trigger emotional responses that will improve the likelihood of a physician choosing their product. The goal of laddering is to gain insight into customers' preferences as far as product attributes are concerned by identifying direct benefits and deeply held values behind those preferences.

What do we get from combining qualitative and quantitative data?
When qualitative information, such as that obtained from laddering, is matched with the same individual's latent class or ICE data, a more holistic picture is obtained: we not only know what choice the individual will make, but we understand what clinical and emotional factors are driving those choices – we truly know the customer.

Put together all these individual pictures, as in the example to the right, and you achieve a better understanding of how the different perceptions and motivations of your customers (will) affect their prescribing behaviour. When there is a high degree of concurrence between the predicted future prescribing obtained from the quantitative analysis and the more intuitive reading of the qualitative analyses we can be very confident not only about the reliability of those choice predictions but also about the fundamental factors driving the choice behaviour. Such insightful information about the emerging market segments can, for example, play a pivotal role in product positioning and in providing information for the development of marketing messages.

SKIM Analytical Healthcare uses technical expertise and market understanding to get in-depth quantitative information from large samples, thus giving our clients a deeper level of understanding about the way physicians and patients react to the changing market situation and providing the actionable results necessary to take strategic business decisions.

For more information about SKIM Analytical Healthcare please contact:

Lisa Heideman
Senior Project Manager
SKIM Analytical healthcare
+31 (0)10 282 3535
healthcare@skim.nl