When full service market researchers and consultants are bidding out a project they most commonly reach out to suppliers that can support all their needs. Often, most end up hiring a sample company to handle fielding, survey programming, data processing, translations, coding, etc. Going this route is no doubt convenient but is there a service level tradeoff to also consider? 

Providing sample for projects is a panel companies core focus and there are plenty of good ones out there. An equally important phase of a research project is survey programming, which really is the foundation for an online survey. With programming an ancillary service for a sample company, you might find yourself working with more jr/mid-level programmers or even an account manager that liaisons with the programmer. This level of expertise is fine for simple surveys but generally not the best fit for more complex surveys, like we see in healthcare. So, does the value in hiring a separate team of programming experts outweigh the convenience of a one stop shop? Here are three distinct advantages when working directly with a team of programming experts:   

QUALITY
Experts will carefully review a survey, find errors/inconsistencies, recommend ways to improve responder experience, and program with the data layout in mind. Typically, you’ll see most programmers rush to start programming without this consultative review that can lead to mistakes, longer changes/testing periods, and data inconsistencies. Experts care about results and will offer valuable feedback that can enhance the survey’s performance. We are already seeing dropping response rates and data quality concerns, especially in healthcare, so well-placed dynamic question types can help improve data outcomes. Researchers work hard to write the perfect survey so shouldn’t they want to work with directly with expert programmers who can turn their Word doc into the highest quality and most engaging online survey?      

SPEED
Highly trained and experienced experts can simply get things done faster, especially when you cut out the middleman. For programming this means faster review of the questionnaire, faster initial link delivery, and faster response to changes. Most programmers may need more time or engage in a lengthy exchange over something that an expert already understands and knows how to execute. Onboarding multiple panel companies is also done faster when working with an expert vs. a sample provider. While it may be perceived that hiring a separate programming team is inefficient, the reality is they will save you time.      

FIELD SUPPORT
A good programming company doesn’t just program a survey and back out once in field and only respond to change requests. We believe that it’s also a programming company’s responsibility to stay engaged, help manage communication across all vendors, and offer their field management expertise all throughout fielding. In our last blog we highlighted ways to get the best performance out of your sample PM. We are seeing that fielding most healthcare projects is not as simple as “set it and forget it”. A PM’s role should be sample management, providing daily progress reports, proactively identifying challenges, and offering strategic fielding solutions. We believe a programming team should also function as fielding advocates by supplementing the efforts of the sample PM. At Owl, you’ll find our team providing field updates, highlighting struggles and offering targeting or screener adjustments, asking the PM to release more sample or bring on partners, and pushing all vendors to work within timelines. Why rely on one person to manage your entire project when you can have a team to help?

We have seen that the minimal time it takes to engage a panel company and programming company on the front end is largely offset by higher quality, faster delivery, and supplemental field support. While it’s tempting to keep buying from the one stop shop out of convenience, there is a definite tradeoff to consider. Break the trend and choose the combination of partners that can deliver the best results. You’ll never regret hiring expert programmers and likely wonder why you didn’t do it sooner.