Global growth of Online Market Research.

For the third year in a row, Internet- based market research — once viewed with skepticism by some in the pharmaceutical industry — has leapt ahead of face-to-face and phone interviews to become the world’s number one method of data collection for quantitative physician studies.

The rapid gain in acceptance, particularly in the European Union, is one of the most significant findings in the newly released 2006 Medefield Pharmaceutical Market Research Trends Study, which has been conducted annually since 2004. The latest study confirms the dramatic change that is taking place in the industry — where 43 percent of all quantitative market research globally, and 75 percent in the US, is conducted online — and cites the growing pool of physicians, especially those on European panels, who have access to the Internet as the principal factor in reversing long-held attitudes.

According to Elys Roberts, President of Medefield America, the study was based on online interviews with 122 market research and business intelligence professionals. More than 20 global pharmaceutical and biotech companies were represented, including Novartis, BMS, Roche and Pfizer. “By undertaking this study year after year,” he explained, “Medefield has been able to track the increase in Internet-based data collection and thus gain a deeper understanding of the methodology and its impact.”

The year-to-year increases are particularly important, Roberts added, as they tell us that the growth trends for Internet-based research — conspicuous in the US for the past few years — are now being played out on a global stage. In Europe, according to the study, the level of online pharmaceutical research has jumped 27 percent in the last year alone.

“We are seeing a rapid increase in the number of market research professionals who are choosing to conduct large global studies online. What’s driving this is increased access to physicians and the increasing comfort level among researchers with global online data collection” he explained.

Although the Internet’s time-saving and cost effective benefits are obvious, the study cites convenience and accessibility as major reasons for conducting research online. “The fact that the Internet is convenient can easily translate into higher response rates and more robust data,” Roberts said. “Increased access to the Internet — on the part of the physicians —
means that it is possible for market researchers to capture feedback from a broader cross-section of physicians, located in different regions and reflecting different professional backgrounds and practices. It is interesting to see that researchers are choosing the online approach not just if they want fast results, but because they perceive that it will
provide a better sample distribution and higher quality quantitative data.”

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