CM Research specialises in recruiting veterinary professionals as well as all kinds of pet owners for qualitative projects.

We’re in a unique position as a veterinary and pet specialist agency as we have already invested the time necessary to build trust and engagement in these sectors through our two panels: PetsPanel (for pet owners) and VetsPanel (for vets). However, we also recruit outside our panels to allow us to cover very specific target audiences such as, as a recent example, orthopaedic specialists in referral centres or pet owners who own a cat that has diabetes. Our in-house recruiter teams are fantastic at providing innovative solutions to challenging recruitment projects and are experienced at working with customer lists as well as free-finding contacts.

Regardless of the recruitment method, we’ve put in place tried-and-tested methods to ensure we offer top-notch recruitment such as back-up participants and sending text reminders. Over the years, we’ve found solutions that work best for reaching specific groups: getting around veterinarian’s busy schedules, for example, and carefully selecting pet owners to ensure they offer valuable contributions to the research.

We know that the key to a successful group is having the correct participants. As an example: recently, we ran a project involving group discussions on microchip products which required participants to use a specific brand of microchip. This proved tricky as, much like you or I might refer to a vacuum cleaner as a ‘Hoover’ despite the fact that Hoover is actually a brand name not the name for an appliance, veterinarians were also using the microchip brand name to describe all microchips regardless of the manufacturer. We like to take a four-stage approach to ensuring the reliability of our research participants. First, we only open-recruit at veterinary conferences which allows us to ensure that all our panellists are verified veterinary professionals. Panellists can join the panel online, but they are required to submit scanned copies of their certifications for quality assurance. Second, at project stage, we ask interested individuals to complete a recruitment screener which contains open questions which don’t hint at the subject of the research. Third – we run quality checking exercises such as calling participants to double check their response, calling the practice to double check they stock a specific product or checking background and specialisms. Finally, if possible, we reveal the key requirements of the research to the potential participants and ask them to self-police (double check that they are sure they meet the requirements). This final step comes down mutual trust: by us– that they will answer honestly and by our panellists – that we will restrict their participation only as required and offer them opportunities in the future even if they do not qualify.

This leads into our final point that is essential to consider when undertaking recruitment for qualitative projects: establishing sufficient rapport between the interviewer and the participant to foster honest, truthful responses. We believe that building a foundation of trust doesn’t just start when the moderator walks into the room or the interviewer picks up the phone to speak to a research participant – it starts with our panellists’ very first contact with CM Research. From the moment panellists join our panel they are reminded of our privacy policies which protects the confidentiality of their personal details. We’re honest with our participants about how their feedback will be used. Displayed prominently on every survey we send out is our commitment to honouring the guidelines set our by the Market Research Society and the British Healthcare Business Intelligence Association.

Whether you’re looking for a recruitment only or a full-service solution, you can be assured of engaged, honest and reliable participants.