Purdie Pascoe

Background

Purdie Pascoe is a global full-service market research agency based in the United Kingdom that specializes in conducting qualitative and quantitative research for medical device and diagnostics companies. Their regular clients include 7 of the top 10 global leaders in the industry and they typically run studies in support of various initiatives such as product and communications development, pricing and launch strategies and brand health checks.

Due to some of the limitations that come with a traditional in-person qualitative approach and a pandemic which meant in-person wasn’t possible, the Purdie Pascoe team wanted to expand their existing research offerings and explore how they could conduct their qualitative research differently as they move their organization forward. At the same time, Purdie Pascoe was expanding their team, which brought on a variety of new researchers with diverse backgrounds and experiences who were also looking to accompany traditional research methods.

Opportunity

With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Purdie Pascoe was in a position to explore alternative research options that could better suit their needs. One area that they identified as an opportunity to expand was running longer online studies with the same group of participants. At the core, they knew that whatever approach they adopted needed to provide a comprehensive solution which reaches their target audience, provides a safe and comfortable place to share previous experience and information, as well as something that is user friendly for participants.

After discussing potential options, the team decided to begin searching for online qualitative research platforms that would allow them to conduct a more iterative research process when collecting insights and to generate a feedback loop with participants. They knew that whatever technology they selected would also need to:

• Offer privacy settings that would allow their participants to share sensitive healthcare information in a safe online environment with confidence
• Keep the same group of participants engaged over a longer period of time
• Have a variety of unique ways to ask questions
• Offer an easy-to-use interface that was accessible to participants regardless of their location and the devices available to them

Solution

After evaluating a wide range of online qualitative platforms, Recollective was selected based on the privacy options available to researchers to design their study while keeping the participant experience in mind. Purdie Pascoe could now create an online environment where activities and questions could be asked in a private 1:1 format or allow participants to socialize with one another about healthcare topics. Furthermore, Recollective’s unique Task Types, such as the Image Review and the Fill the Blanks, would allow them to collect rich insights from their participants.

Before launching their newest research offering to their clients, Purdie Pascoe wanted to conduct a study that they would be able to use to showcase and experiment with the new tool they would have at their disposal. The team decided that they wanted to conduct a study to gain a thorough understanding of the emotional burden associated with COVID-19 and began preparing to field their project.

The Purdie Pascoe team was able to bring their research to life using the many features available on the platform. The COVID-19 project began fielding in December 2021, with the analysis and reporting process wrapping up in mid-February 2022. Topics such as vaccination dates and status, how participants discovered if they tested positive for the virus, timeline and severity of symptoms, as well as quarantine expectations versus the participant’s quarantine reality, were discussed in detail. Task Types such as the Image Review, allowed participants to pinpoint exactly how they were feeling.

For example, one of the participants marked up the image they were reviewing about how they felt while having COVID-19, providing additional details as to why they felt this way using the annotation feature.

Outcome

By conducting the study online using Recollective, Purdie Pascoe had a new opportunity to connect with an audience that they wouldn’t have otherwise been able to in-person during the pandemic. They were able to conduct a study over a longer duration, with the same set of participants and even hear from them firsthand when they were sick, contagious or just experiencing symptoms. This allowed for an iterative research process that provided even richer insights and the opportunity to develop rapport with participants which leads to a higher level of trust established over a longer period of time.

On the other hand, participants also had the opportunity to step back and take time to think about their answers before responding to the questions they were asked throughout the course of the community.

As a general rule, people typically do not want to openly communicate when they are feeling at their worst, especially when discussing topics that have an element of guilt or shame associated with them. Utilizing the anonymity and discussions features in Recollective allowed for:

• Participants to have open conversations about how they were feeling on a variety of sensitive topics such as when they had tested positive for the virus, how they felt while having symptoms, as well as the best and the worst things they experienced during their quarantine
• Multiple touchpoints with the same participants to gauge how they were feeling at each stage as they dealt with the virus

By using these various features, the team was able to get under the surface a little bit more, which provided a well-rounded view of the emotional burden that their participants experienced.

Results

By adding a new methodology to their online qualitative research offering, Purdie Pascoe was able to uncover in-depth insights from their participants when discussing healthcare topics.

Key takeaways from the study included:

• A greater understanding of the symptoms experienced by those who tested positive for COVID-19
• Insight into the quarantine experience and recovery process, including how participants felt missing important events, managing loneliness and working at home while caring for other members of their households
• Changes in the recorded behaviours of the participants pre and post COVID-19