Senior research manager, Rachel Barnes, discusses the methods LDA Research takes to prevent fraudulent respondents when recruiting for patient research providing a genuine and high calibre sample group for our clients
In recent years medical market research has shifted towards a more patient centric focus. For patients and their caregivers, this is a welcome development as it means rarer conditions and previously ignored illnesses are being investigated, ultimately leading to improvements in treatments and quality of life for these patient populations.
For the medical market research recruiter, an increased focus on patient research is not without its challenges. One of the darker sides of this industry is the number of fraudulent people who pretend they have illnesses to be accepted on genuine patient studies, particularly when there is a monetary incentive offered. With developments in technology over recent years, attempts to deceive recruiters into including fraudsters in patient samples have become more sophisticated.
Recent examples encountered by recruiters at LDA Research include men pretending to be pregnant women for an app testing study; producing highly realistic letters from the NHS in the UK edited to reflect multiple different conditions for inclusion in different unrelated studies; and one US patient attempting to complete the same interview twice under 2 different aliases. In an average project, for each genuine respondent LDA Research identifies, there are anywhere from 20 to 50 fraudulent applicants.
Weeding out these fraudulent respondents is extremely difficult. LDA Research employs numerous different checks to ensure that the respondents we recruit for patient medical market research provide genuine and high calibre sample group for our clients. From checking IP addresses to identify the location of people completing online screeners, to confirming diagnosis through at least two different sources, LDA Research puts a lot of effort into their checks and balances with patient recruitment. However, remote checks can never be fool proof. LDA Research therefore goes the extra mile with all patient research, organising face to face screening calls with any potential respondent before including them in a study sample group. This can be time consuming, but is worth the effort for our clients, and sets us apart from others in the field.
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