Patient sensitivity is vital to medical market research. We believe an ethical approach to researching sensitive health topics is essential to good quality research. Ensuring a patient receives proper treatment is the baseline of our research and we employ case by case methods to ensure this. Ethical approaches toward patients guarantees better data quality, harm reduction, and patient satisfaction. When patients feel protected and respected, they are more likely to take part openly and give better quality insight.
Traditional research methods can accidentally overlook the needs of patients, for example requiring a patient with a movement disorder to sit through a long interview. This leads to patients disengaging with the research they are participating in or even worse not engaging in the first place. Patients experience varying symptoms and these symptoms can vastly differ per patient and disease. When traditional market research applies the same research methods to all varying cases it cannot serve the needs of any group of patients. This risks silencing and effectively dismissing the voices needed for the study being conducted.
Research accessibility is not only an ethical adjustment but is also necessary for the improvement of the quality and relevance of research. When patients can participate in a way that works for them, they are more likely to feel comfortable sharing their important personal information with researchers for the study. This can be performed through multiple methods including flexible interview sessions, participant led formats and effective, careful moderation. Ethical research also requires a case-by-case approach whereby patients with unique symptoms can be properly accommodated.
At LDA Research we tailor our methods to each and every patient to optimise patient satisfaction and research results. With patient-centred methods and adaptable fieldwork approaches, LDA helps clients reach people often missed by standard research models without losing the depth that makes qualitative research valuable.
Rare Disease Networks Perspectives Series – Blog 3 out of 5: Policy, Protection, and Progress: The Regulatory Perspective on Rare Disease Networks
Regulation, by its nature, is cautious. Agencies tasked with protecting public health are not designed to move fast; they are designed to be rigorous. Yet rare diseases have, from the very beginning, placed regulators in an uncomfortable position. The same caution that protects patients from unsafe or ineffective treatments also, if applied without adaptation, denies those same patients access to
