New White Paper Report from Medimix International
50,000 Interviews done between 2006-2010 reveal cultural differences that affect concept testings. Study compared the way healthcare professionals from 20 countries use scoring scales for the five key metrics of Medimix's PromotestTM; specifically: Clarity, Relevance to Practice, Originality, Credibility, and Intention to Prescribe.
Miami, FL, September 30, 2010 --(PR.com)-- For several years, Medimix International has been conducting concept tests around the globe using its proprietary PromotestTM Model, and it recently compiled the results of 49,838 interviews covering 250 concepts tested in a period from 2006-2010.
Medimix International has now released a White Paper Report, “Cultural Differences in Using Standard Notation Through Promotest™ Studies,” which compares the way healthcare professionals from 20 countries use scoring scales for the five key metrics of PromotestTM Specifically, these metrics are Clarity, Relevance to Practice, Originality, Credibility, and Intention to Prescribe.
Ten countries were then analyzed in depth to give a more definitive appreciation of their behavior. Very clear differences between countries were noted, with deviations lowest for Originality and the highest for Relevance. The implications for surveys with international reach are striking and will have an impact on how meaningful conclusions can be drawn and applied to global marketing campaigns.
Mexicans Are the Most Optimistic
Interestingly, four countries consistently gave strong notations. Of particular note was Mexico, whose respondents always overrated the concepts with a record average of 2.03 /10.
“Mexicans in general have a tendency to be over-positive because they like to 'please' and be 'nice.' It is important to take this characteristic into account when performing interviews in this country, where you need to dig deeper and ask the right questions to arrive at a more reliable understanding of the thoughts and perceptions of the interviewees,” comments Mexican-born Dr. Tessa Schoor, Chief Medical Officer of Medimix International.
Optimism also seems to be the dominate tone in respondents from the United States and Brazil, while Germany appears strongly pessimistic, consistently giving lower scores than the average. More moderate responses with low variation rates are seen from France and Spain, where respondents use the full gamut of the scales, with consistent averages.
China is the country which remains somewhat of an enigma. Chinese healthcare professionals tend to score either high or low and responses can vary widely based on the region, type of hospital or education of the respondent. Chinese results do not typically follow the classic Gaussian distribution, and market researchers have to be careful when normalizing data in China, a country far too complex to be summarized in a single trend. If anything, Chinese respondents tend to overrate Relevance to Practice. Researchers performing studies in China would do well to pay attention to this phenomenon, since it might affect the outcome of any research using universal scales.
“Opinions of Chinese doctors may deviate from international norms because of cultural politeness and a positive attitude to new concepts,” adds Hong Kong-based Dr Bruno Leraillez, Partner of Medimix Asia, who has lived in China for 30 years.
Other significant variations were seen in Japan, Russia, Taiwan and Canada, whose average scores are extremely negative and -1.5 /10 beyond the average.
Medimix International has used the results of this survey to refine the calibration of its Promotest™ Research tool, and keeps enriching it with the results of any new survey. Analysis is performed against this ever growing database of responses from previous tests, at the country and specialty level (the tool covers 60 medical specialties).
For example, in a promotional concept testing for a new treatment of leukemia, the analysis of scoring differences is now possible between oncologists and hematologists, offering an opportunity to be extremely granular in the findings of the research.
“Thanks to our model Promotest™, we are now able to help our clients who are building global marketing campaigns,” comments Henry Gazay, CEO of Medimix International. “The scores obtained by campaigns pre-tested in countries like Mexico and Germany might totally differ, but it does not mean that the campaign has to be rejected. We strongly recommend against testing a global campaign without such international benchmarks, which are based upon years of experience testing campaigns in the healthcare sector.”
Countries included in the report are:
North America: US, Mexico, Canada
Asia: China, India, Japan South-Korea, Taiwan
Europe: France, Germany, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom, Poland, Russia
Latin America: Brazil, Mexico,
MEA: Turkey, South Africa
For more information on the methodology used and more detailed results, please email: communications@medimix.net
About Medimix International
Medimix International is a dynamic provider of advanced marketing research solutions for the healthcare industry worldwide. Medimix’s proprietary panel provides direct access to more than 550,000 physicians and healthcare professionals from around the world, making it one of the largest panels in the industry.
Medimix has 10 offices across the globe, including USA (New Jersey, Florida), Europe (London), Latin America (Mexico DF and Sao Paolo) and Asia, (Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai).
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Medimix International has now released a White Paper Report, “Cultural Differences in Using Standard Notation Through Promotest™ Studies,” which compares the way healthcare professionals from 20 countries use scoring scales for the five key metrics of PromotestTM Specifically, these metrics are Clarity, Relevance to Practice, Originality, Credibility, and Intention to Prescribe.
Ten countries were then analyzed in depth to give a more definitive appreciation of their behavior. Very clear differences between countries were noted, with deviations lowest for Originality and the highest for Relevance. The implications for surveys with international reach are striking and will have an impact on how meaningful conclusions can be drawn and applied to global marketing campaigns.
Mexicans Are the Most Optimistic
Interestingly, four countries consistently gave strong notations. Of particular note was Mexico, whose respondents always overrated the concepts with a record average of 2.03 /10.
“Mexicans in general have a tendency to be over-positive because they like to 'please' and be 'nice.' It is important to take this characteristic into account when performing interviews in this country, where you need to dig deeper and ask the right questions to arrive at a more reliable understanding of the thoughts and perceptions of the interviewees,” comments Mexican-born Dr. Tessa Schoor, Chief Medical Officer of Medimix International.
Optimism also seems to be the dominate tone in respondents from the United States and Brazil, while Germany appears strongly pessimistic, consistently giving lower scores than the average. More moderate responses with low variation rates are seen from France and Spain, where respondents use the full gamut of the scales, with consistent averages.
China is the country which remains somewhat of an enigma. Chinese healthcare professionals tend to score either high or low and responses can vary widely based on the region, type of hospital or education of the respondent. Chinese results do not typically follow the classic Gaussian distribution, and market researchers have to be careful when normalizing data in China, a country far too complex to be summarized in a single trend. If anything, Chinese respondents tend to overrate Relevance to Practice. Researchers performing studies in China would do well to pay attention to this phenomenon, since it might affect the outcome of any research using universal scales.
“Opinions of Chinese doctors may deviate from international norms because of cultural politeness and a positive attitude to new concepts,” adds Hong Kong-based Dr Bruno Leraillez, Partner of Medimix Asia, who has lived in China for 30 years.
Other significant variations were seen in Japan, Russia, Taiwan and Canada, whose average scores are extremely negative and -1.5 /10 beyond the average.
Medimix International has used the results of this survey to refine the calibration of its Promotest™ Research tool, and keeps enriching it with the results of any new survey. Analysis is performed against this ever growing database of responses from previous tests, at the country and specialty level (the tool covers 60 medical specialties).
For example, in a promotional concept testing for a new treatment of leukemia, the analysis of scoring differences is now possible between oncologists and hematologists, offering an opportunity to be extremely granular in the findings of the research.
“Thanks to our model Promotest™, we are now able to help our clients who are building global marketing campaigns,” comments Henry Gazay, CEO of Medimix International. “The scores obtained by campaigns pre-tested in countries like Mexico and Germany might totally differ, but it does not mean that the campaign has to be rejected. We strongly recommend against testing a global campaign without such international benchmarks, which are based upon years of experience testing campaigns in the healthcare sector.”
Countries included in the report are:
North America: US, Mexico, Canada
Asia: China, India, Japan South-Korea, Taiwan
Europe: France, Germany, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom, Poland, Russia
Latin America: Brazil, Mexico,
MEA: Turkey, South Africa
For more information on the methodology used and more detailed results, please email: communications@medimix.net
About Medimix International
Medimix International is a dynamic provider of advanced marketing research solutions for the healthcare industry worldwide. Medimix’s proprietary panel provides direct access to more than 550,000 physicians and healthcare professionals from around the world, making it one of the largest panels in the industry.
Medimix has 10 offices across the globe, including USA (New Jersey, Florida), Europe (London), Latin America (Mexico DF and Sao Paolo) and Asia, (Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai).
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Medimix International
Kathryn McAdam
305-573-5233
www.medimix.net
Kathryn McAdam
305-573-5233
www.medimix.net
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