2

Designing and Fielding Market

Research in Your State or

Community

Agenda

• Importance of Research Prior to Communicating

• Designing a Research Program

• Using Research Results

• Sample Questionnaires

• Q & A

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Importance of

Research

Why Research?

• Clarifies the problem

• Provides target audience perspective

• Increases understanding of target audience’s daily life and where/how to reach and influence

• Provides benchmark measurements to begin tracking

Why Research?

• Refines messages to ensure success

• Avoids wasting resources on approaches unlikely to succeed

• Provides data to help convince opinion leaders

What if I Can’t Afford Research?

• Don’t cut corners• Inadequate research can provide bad

direction• Use Covering Kids and Covering Kids &

Families findings• Get advice from states/others who’ve

conducted research • Use/adapt proven messages and materials

Campaign Objective:Motivate parents of children eligible for Medicaid or SCHIP to call the hotline to

start the enrollment process

Covering Kids Initiative

Primary Questions

• What are the dominant concerns parents have in raising their children?

• What are eligible unenrolled families doing now to meet their children’s health care needs?

• What barriers might be standing in the way of calling to obtain coverage?

Primary Questions

• Are there key differences between eligible unenrolled and enrolled families?

• What are the rational arguments that can be used to persuade parents to enroll?

• What are the emotional messages that will motivate parents to act?

To link the rational arguments of why a parent should access SCHIP or Medicaid for their child to

an emotional hook motivating them to do so

Persuade by reason. Motivate through emotion.

Communication Strategy

Ads Press/PR Outreach

Research Objective

Pre- 800# Eval Post VISTA Survey Pulseline Callbacks Survey 114 National 4 groups 503 Markets Interviews Markets (101 total) 3,014

2,778

Motivations Awareness/ Message Impact/ Impact/Attitudes Testing Recall Recall

Strategy Benchmark Ads Evaluate/ Evaluate/Refine Refine

Core Research Program

Covering Kids Message Strategy

Smart DecisionSmart Decision Good ParentGood Parent

Less WorryLess Worry

Peace of MindPeace of Mind

Low-Cost orFree Kid Gets the

Care They Need

Recognized by Others

Kid IsSuccessful

Doing theJob/PrideKid Is

Healthy/ProtectedSCHIP/Medicaid

• Identify barriers that get in the way of the desired behaviors among parents

• Isolate the most effective strategies for addressing these barriers

• Develop a strategic plan to guide communications efforts in these areas

Tri-Part Outreach Mission

Utilization Renewal Enrollment

TexCare Research Objectives

TexCare Research• 10 ASL SESSIONS

– Community-level feedback, ideas, buy-inBuild working hypotheses

• 101 IN-DEPTH VISTA INTERVIEWS– Map parental attitudes, behaviors, values– Identify most effective communications framework

• 800 BENCHMARK PHONE INTERVIEWS– Test hypotheses, messages, tactics– Project framework across audiences

• 6 FOCUS GROUPS– Test specific creative material– Make recommendations for changes

TexCare

Healthy Child Money/Time

Medical HomeMedical Home

Less WorryLess Worry

Peace of MindPeace of Mind

Coverage(CHIP/Medicaid)

Coverage(CHIP/Medicaid)

• Choose my doctor• Know kid’s medical

history/same staff• Can call for advice• Check ups,

preventive care• Access that works

for me

• Low cost or free

• Child gets needed help, access to care

• Not stigmatizing

• Prevention or early detection of illness

• Saves time

Parental Tool

Smart Decision

Good ParentGood Parent

TexCare Positioning Strategy

Utah Children Research Questions

• How is life different for a parent who has a child who is not insured?

• What are the real-life trade-offs faced by these parents and their children?

• What are the real stories of the challenges they have faced?

Utah Children Research Study

• Two Advanced Strategy Lab sessions• 31 parents with uninsured children• Three-hour sessions, individual

feedback in a group setting• Laptop computers for input• Verbatim stories captured• Results used in report being

written to establish impact

Utah Mother’s Story CapturedMy son was in the hospital for 5 days. I had to take a loan out to help pay for it. It was way stressful wondering if my kid was going to make it or not, and how would I pay for all this. It was the most stressful time in my life. I had to make phone calls to try and make arrangements to make payments on this, the hospital was worried how I was going to pay for this. I had to sign my life away and promissory notes etc. I felt so bad. I don’t know if I would have been able to handle it again. I pray to God every day that it won’t happen again.

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Designing Research

Steps Before Research

• Communications objectives?

• Research objectives?– Understanding target audience– Message development– Testing materials to use– Evaluating success– Getting media coverage– Identifying family needs, etc.

Steps Before Research

• Key issues to answer?• What is already known?

– Literature review– Secondary data– Other studies already done– Feedback from stakeholders – Working hypotheses to test

• Four framing questions?

Four Framing Questions1. Who is the target audience?2. What are the behaviors involved?

– What are they doing now?– What do you want them to do?

3. What else is going on in their lives?– What else influences this decision in their life?– What barriers are in the way?

4. What could they do other than what you want to motivate them to do?– What competes for their time, attention, etc.?– What other choices do they have?

Primary Research Types

• Qualitative

• Quantitative

Types of Qualitative Research

• Focus groups• In-depth interviews,

VISTA, etc.• Creativity sessions• Ad test, Pulseline• Shoppability studies• Taste tests/Usage tests• Advanced Strategy Lab

• Children’s play sessions• Teleconferencing• Pilot tests• Mystery shopper• Mock juries• Piggyback groups

Qualitative Research

• Seeks the why and how• Ideal method for getting real stories,

insight into personal experiences of families

• Better understand the values, emotions, and thought processes of audience

• Issues change, but values behind decision making are relatively constant

• Excellent for communications themes and messages, and probing the strengths and weaknesses of program

• Ideal for testing advertising or other outreach material

Qualitative Research

Other Specific Uses for Qualitative Research

• Generate hypotheses that can be tested later quantitatively

• Provide in-depth background

• Get impressions about new concepts, policies or products

• Stimulate ideas for new concepts

Other Specific Uses for Qualitative Research

• Interpret previously collected quantitative results

• Should not be used to answer “how many” or project results to a larger population - can’t prove a hypothesis

Activity: Research Needs

Ideas among This Group

1. ____________________________

2. ____________________________

3. ____________________________

4. ____________________________

5. ____________________________

Activity: Four Framing Questions1. Who is the target audience?2. What are the behaviors involved?

– What are they doing now?– What do you want them to do?– What else is going on in their lives?

3. What else influences this decision in their life?– What barriers are in the way?

4. What could they do other than what you want to motivate them to do?– What competes for their time, attention, etc.?– What other choices do they have?

Quantitative Research

• Surveys – telephone, intercepts, mail, Internet, etc.

• Larger samples + sampling design – can be projected to a broad audience

• Seeks the who, what, where and how many

Quantitative Research

• Allows you to measure differences across subgroups

• What you see reported in the media

• Not best way to explore an issue or answer the why

Results: Research Needs

Most Critical among This Group

1. ____________________________

2. ____________________________

3. ____________________________

4. ____________________________

5. ____________________________

Qualitative or Quantitative?

Addressing These Research Needs

1. ____________________________

2. ____________________________

3. ____________________________

4. ____________________________

5. ____________________________

Covering Kids & Families Example

Enrolling Uninsured Low-income Parents in Medicaid and SCHIP

• Los Angeles – African-Americans, Hispanics and Mixed (African-Americans, Hispanics and Whites)

• New York – Whites, African-Americans, and Hispanics

• Phoenix – Whites and Mixed (African-Americans, Hispanics and Whites)

Groups were conducted in February 2003

Utah Department of Health Example

• TRIAD FOCUS GROUPS– Understand parental attitudes, perceptions,

behaviors– Identify most effective communications framework

• BENCHMARK STATEWIDE SURVEY– Test hypotheses, messages, tactics– Project framework across audiences

• CHIP DISENROLLEE SURVEY– Understand why leaving the program– Measure satisfaction with program when enrolled

Your Research Partner

• Develop a sound sampling plan

• Design an unbiased questionnaire

• Use professional interviewers

• Build in quality control

• Provide analysis and interpretation

• Tie the results to strategy and tactics

Selecting a Research Partner

• What can you spend?

• What internal resources do you have?

• Do you need a vendor or a partner?

• What is your deadline?

• What is the final product – just data, or analysis and implications, too?

Selecting a Research Partner

• What is the firm’s reputation?

• What is the firm’s experience - broadly and specifically - in your area of need?

• Is it a national firm or only local?

• Is the firm all inclusive, or do you have to rely on others?

• Does it fit with other parties involved?

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Using Research

Results

Implementing Results

• Improve outreach, messaging, materials

• Improve program

• Show evidence of success

• Get media coverage

Implementing Results

• Justify continued support/funding

• Explain to decision makers what is occurring and why

• “Sell” involvement to potential partners

• Share with others addressing the issue

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Sample

Questionnaires

Samples

• Quantitative instruments– CK 2000 national survey– CK hotline callback survey– CK post test

• Qualitative guides– Using Proves Messages: Iowa Covering Kids &

Families Back-to-School Media Campaign– Covering Kids dial testing groups– UT Children ASL sessions– CKF – focus groups – Parent Enrollment

Available Resources