For these models, our outcome variable was based on real world buying behavior. How exactly human beings make the myriad of decisions we do on a daily basis can be a tricky thing to pin down. As a result, being able to fit a significant model in predicting even a small piece of this behavior was a huge win.

Note that previously I had stated that the R2 values for this study “wound up being lower than we typically see in market research.” Typically path models have been designed to predict a dependent measure which was based on responses using a similar scale as the independent measures – e.g.:

Dependent = Overall, how satisfied are you with Brand X, using a 10 point scale
Independent = Tell us how satisfied you are with each of these elements of Brand X, using a 10 point scale

The result of this approach was that our dependent measure was often times highly correlated with our independent measures, which resulted in R2 values of .7, .8, etc.

In the real world, if we currently have no idea how a decision making process works, being able to create order from what was a previously (seemingly) random event can provide us with HUGE gains, even if we are able to tease out only a small fraction of order from the data.

Though not specifically about path modeling, or R2 values, a recent article on Slate (see link at end of post) discussing the data made available as a result of the Wisconsin petition drive to recall Governor Scott Walker touched on a similar issue, and was what prompted this post. There is one point from the article in particular which is important to this discussion:

A voter who Grebner estimates as having a 50 percent probability of picking the Democratic candidate can jump to 62 percent based on the addition of a single new data point. “By itself, it’s not terribly powerful, but if you collect a few million of them,” Grebner says of the signatures, “you start to think of them as real data.”

There is a simple line of thinking to this statement which makes the findings of this research so valuable:

• There is a large block of voters on both the left and right who are unlikely to change their voting behavior.
• These blocks are of a relatively equal size, and ultimately cancel each other out when casting their votes.
• In the end, elections are decided by some “middle” group of voters. How exactly these people cast their vote is the random variable we are attempting to predict (and ultimately manipulate.)
• If currently, there is a 50% chance that someone from this group will cast their vote either way even if we now understand only a small piece of that decision making process, and are able to push those voters’ buttons as a result, we wind up winning the election.

Our take-away here is that, when dealing with large populations of seemingly random events, small changes DO matter, and being able to enforce any order onto voters’ or consumers’ decision making process can ultimately make the difference between winning and losing.

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/victory_lab/2012/05/scott_walker_recalling_the_wisconsin_governor_could_swing_the_2012_presidential_election_.html

These recent developments are on the heels of a very aggressive pricing war amongst the healthcare sample providers in 2011.   And, I suspect that we will see more of this in 2012.  Navigating through these changes as well as the posturing and positioning that comes with them can be complex.   But, having been through our fair share of M&A activity in a previous life, I believe we are well equipped to continue to make sure we are selecting the best sample solution for every project that we execute.    Not trivial decisions considering that selection of data collection methodology and sample source has a massive impact on the overall quality and accuracy of data delivered to our clients.

Here is our take…

Bigger doesn’t mean better.  Our experience working at large global companies is that it is not realistic to be the best in every market.   You might be strong in Germany and France but really weak in Japan.  The same goes for the healthcare sample providers.   While some are making progress in strengthening their offerings, nobody has the best sample in every market across every specialty group.  Educated buyers will play to the strengths of each provider.

Transparency is key and something that is lacking in our industry.   It would be a lot easier to manage sample quality if sample providers were transparent on where they are sourcing their sample.   What percentage is coming from their in-house sample sources and what percentage is being purchased from other sources?    Be wary of the companies that are hesitant to share this information.   I don’t see any good reason why that information cannot be shared.  The volume of brokering that is currently happening without the client’s knowledge is scary.

Local expertise.   If we are executing a pan-European or pan-Asian project amongst PCPs, it makes perfect sense to use one global sample supplier to execute that project on your behalf.   But, as we start interviewing hard to reach specialists in emerging markets, our view is that the input from local experts on the ground is invaluable particularly as it relates to identifying the respondent we should be targeting, designing the screener, selecting data collection methodology and validating the interviews.    For this reason, a significant portion of our data collection budget will continue to be spent with high quality, local partners worldwide.

Bundling sample purchasing and programming services.   Certainly, this one could sound a little self-fulfilling given our business model but we feel that there are a lot of benefits in having an independent company manage the sample delivery and programming services.   Having your sample provider program & host the survey as well as provide the sample, has the risk of creating a black box where it becomes almost impossible for the researcher  to understand what happened during the data collection process.    Using an independent party provides additional safeguards including utilizing digital fingerprinting and sniffing technology to identify where the sample truly came from, measuring response rates, measuring duplication, understanding what percentage of the data was replaced as a result of speeders, etc.

Sample Blending is a necessity for certain projects.   Bottom line, it is unrealistic for an individual sample provider to deliver all of the sample on every project and that is why they leverage partners.   This is the case in the consumer and b2b worlds and it is no different in healthcare.   But, you can’t just blend without any controls in place and unfortunately some of the sample providers don’t have the research backgrounds to understand the potential impact to data quality.

Sample Validation.   With the high honoraria’s being offered, there is no question that physician surveys are attracting their fair share of fraudsters attempting to work the system.   The percentage of suspect respondents that we are replacing has steadily increased over the past 24 months.  Some of these individuals are getting more and more sophisticated in their efforts.   Some panel providers don’t have the assets (technology and call centers) to validate their new panel recruits.   We need to consistently make sure that our sample providers are taking the necessary steps to validate that the respondents are who they say they are.

We all must play our part in helping to make sure that the data that we are providing to our clients is of high quality.   Ultimately, the sample providers play a significant role here and if we are all a little more diligent in selecting sample partners on additional criteria other than just price, we will be doing our industry and clients a big favor.

Our employee base is competitive in everything we do.   Check out this video on our recent Ping Pong tournament.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjFezsbqoFs

There are a couple of ways to collect more in-depth verbatim text responses from respondents.  First, ensuring an open-end text field is “required” will help.  Respondents are pretty savvy these days on how to bypass an open text box – i.e. entering a “space” as a valid response or simply typing “…”.  It’s our job as research suppliers to engage respondents in a way that guides them to provide us more.  So perhaps you include less open-ends but make some “required” and others “optional”.

Additionally, probing in an online quant study is not out of the question.  Here are a few examples:

-when a respondent provides their initial open text response and clicks “next”  to proceed we can dynamically display another text box to either probe or clarify based on the response given.  This can be slightly targeted or generic based on your project requirements.  If a respondent says “nothing” or “…” a probe might be “You mentioned nothing, in particular, stood out to you in this concept or ad.  Is there something you would suggest for making this concept or ad more appealing to you?”

-further adding the use of more targeted probing or clarification on key words can be done.  This requires a little more planning during the setup to account for “key-words” and derive more targeted probes around that.  For example, if a respondent mentions “price too high or expensive” vs. “packaging is bulky” your probe or clarification may be more specific to those issues.  “You mentioned the price was too high or expensive.  What price is more reasonable in that you would purchase this product?”  OR “What about the packaging would you improve?”

Respondent verbatims can provide another level of clarity behind a rating but there are a number of ways to show or summarize this information.  MRops can provide automated solutions to help.  Knowing what will work for your project can be overwhelming but here is a quick reference guide to help.

*Idea linkages show connections between multiple codes/nets and, further, can show how those codes/ nets relate to each other.  These types of reports are more visual and may include additional information such as frequencies by code and net.

• Setting goals & training to meet those goals
• The power of numbers
• Team work & cooperation

I set a personal goal to finish the ride with a better time than last year.  By focusing on that goal, setting some training milestones and being dedicated to completing my weekly training rides I was able to complete the course 40 minutes faster than last years’ time.

The power of numbers is what helped me and the team set some pretty impressive fundraising numbers.  In total we were able to raise over $4,500 as a team.  Individually, I collected donations from over 80 people totally $2,845.  This truly can show you what the contributions of many can do!

Finally, the team work you see along the ride route is something to appreciate.  You stick together as a team and help each other out if someone gets a cramp, a flat tire or has some other mechanical problem.  It’s particularly impressive when you see complete strangers stopping to help people they probably won’t know for more than the 15 minutes spent repairing a tire.  That really says something about the event and the participants.

There are also the times when you are cruising along in a “pace line” where the rider at the front of the pack is “pulling” a line of bikes riding close together.  This is done so the trailing bikers have to spend less effort yet ride at a faster pace.  In these lines everyone takes a turn leading the pack and sharing in a coordinated effort to meet the end goal of finishing the ride.

This was a great experience and the lessons that were learned and applied on the road can also be seen on a daily basis at MRops.

• By setting goals you map out the plan for success.  This can be for an individual project or personal growth.
• The power of numbers can be seen through the amount of talented employees working at MRops.  Each team within the company has tremendous depth and you are always working with a professional.
• The amount of cooperation and teamwork that goes on daily company-wide is something to see and even better to be a part of.  Like the pace line mentioned earlier people are always willing to take and share the lead in order to reach our goals.

All of the employees at MRops believe in the principles above.  These are just some of the many reasons why it is great to be a part of a company such as MRops.

A team comprises a group of people or animals linked in a common purpose. Teams are especially appropriate for conducting tasks that are high in complexity and have many interdependent subtasks.

A group in itself does not necessarily constitute a team. Teams normally have members with complementary skills and generate synergy through a coordinated effort which allows each member to maximize his/her strengths and minimize his/her weaknesses. Team members need to learn how to help one another, help other team members realize their true potential, and create an environment that allows everyone to go beyond their limitations

Based on the above definition, I have been lucky enough to be part of many good teams as well as part of what I would consider now groups.  The word/phrase that stands out to me from the above definition is “complementary skills” and this is what sets apart teams from groups.

At MRops, it is a true team to the definition.  Being here for 3 months already, and having done work from the client side for close to 3 years, I can truly say that.  Within each team there are those that are stronger operationally, stronger project management, stronger programming, stronger data processing and so on.  Rather than just hiring those that are strong in one area there is a nice mix of people.  Part of working at MRops is that you “fit-in” with the culture which is key to its success and team atmosphere.

This is clearly evident in the way things operate at MRops .  If a person needs help they can easily turn to someone in the office and find a co-worker that can help.  Even being new I’ve had no problem getting help in areas that I may be less familiar with, and at the same time I enjoy helping others in areas where I am stronger in.

I see people of different teams going to client meetings.  In past jobs, having members from different teams was frowned upon and in many cases viewed as stepping on someone’s turf.

When it comes to being covered while on vacation, you actually do have coverage.  There was a team that covered for me while on vacation from a project basis as well as a client basis.  In the past I did spend many vacation hours working and it was great to see the support and team that was there for me while away.

The people at MRops are not just colleagues, they are friends.  Many get together for drinks, sports and just to hang out.  This is critical to having a well-oiled machine.

The Phillies are one of the best teams in baseball, because they have a great combination of pitching, defense and hitting, but if you have seen them outside of playing baseball, you see they truly like being around each other.  For example, when they signed Hunter Pence, Chase Utley called him and picked him up to show him the ropes and how to prepare.  He also brought him a cup of coffee.

What makes  MRops unique, is not just the great people or wealth of knowledge, but it is the TEAM that is there to support projects and work with clients.

Internally, this was very exciting news for our employees worldwide.   It is nice to be recognized as a company that is growing and generating new jobs.

For our existing and potential clients, it really doesn’t mean anything.   All that matters to them is that we continue to deliver the highest level of service and provide them with additional value to grow their business that they have come to expect.   Thankfully, our team understands that bigger is not always better and we are very focused internally to continue to deliver the highest levels of service while at the same time maintaining the great company culture that is important to all of our employees.

Since the list was announced in the Inc 500 magazine and on their web site, the traffic to our web site has increased.   We have also seen a significant increase in the number of unsolicited resumes that we are receiving as a result of this exposure which is great news as we are always looking for great talent.

The VC and investment community use the Inc 500 list to identify potential companies to invest in and over the past week, we have been contacted by over 10 VC and equity firms that were interested in learning more about us.    In 2007, when we started the company, we attempted to raise capital from investors but the economic climate was not good and we were perceived as too big a risk so nobody was willing to invest.  It is funny how things change.

The twelve weeks I spent working with the project managers at the Doylestown office opened my eyes to this international, dynamic, and growing industry. I had the opportunity to learn the process from beginning to end and to take an interactive part in it. Throughout the summer, I experienced first hand the process of harvesting the important information companies use to make decisions.

I also had the pleasure of working with, and even meeting some of our team in India. The efficiency of communication with India, despite the time difference, and their willingness to go above and beyond was remarkable. I was excited to have a truly international experience.

MRops prides itself on quality and professionalism, but equally as much on its unique business culture. Even from the beginning, I was able to pick up on the vibe of teamwork and enthusiasm that exudes from all of the employees. I’d have to say I was very fortunate to have my first professional work experience with such helpful and kind coworkers. Right off the bat it was evident that each person here cares about one common goal: providing high quality and friendly service to our clients.

Each day I entered the office confident that I would not only be able to help someone with a study, but also that I would learn something new. It was a pleasure to be able to spend the summer working in such an upbeat and forward moving atmosphere.

What was otherwise an unremarkable conversation got me thinking about my chosen profession.  Why do I have to be boring and rigid because I have a strange proclivity toward analyzing numbers?   This then really got me thinking about some of the other number crunchers I know and I came to the conclusion that, perhaps, the boring accountant stereotype isn’t totally made up and that I am actually pretty fortunate to work with such fun people.

This finally brings me to the point of this article.  And that point is the importance of promoting a company culture at all levels of an organization.  When you ask what makes MRops special the first thing you are bound to hear is the people.  It’s not uncommon to find a company that has friendly, dynamic people on their sales team but when you walk into their actual office you can find a very different story.  What is truly different is having friendly, dynamic, and well rounded individuals in all functions of an organization, whether they are client facing or in an office crunching numbers all day.  The people are what truly differentiate MRops.