The Chartered Society of Physiotherapy wanted to conduct an audit of its members and understand how they viewed the Society and its services.

The aim of the research was to produce results which could be fed into the development of their three year strategy and identify the key priorities for 2009. As part of this consultation, the Society wanted focus groups conducted with members from around the country. Rapid turnaround was required with the minimum disruption to the members and the research had to be cost effective.

Using CaucusWorld, online focus groups were run during the qualitative phase to help scope key issues for different segments of membership (NHS and non-NHS, engaged and non-engaged).

The online focus group functionality was used and incorporated dynamic presentations, questionnaires, video and text. Our researchers were then able to moderate group discussions with members around the country, while presenting dynamic material and administering questionnaires using the platform.

Our approach allowed a quick turnaround and immediate delivery of outputs. Members joined the sessions from around the country (including one from Guernsey) from the comfort of their practices or their homes. The outputs included discussion transcripts, questionnaire results and a video for each focus group, providing instant feedback and actionable insights. Output was in easy-to-analyse time stamped format for video, text and quantitative data syncing. User data captured during the registration process enabled questionnaire data to be easily and instantly integrated with other quantitative data generated in the wider research project.

Member Feedback “First time I did anything like this – it was great!” “Excellent structure and kept moving on to get into a variety of topics.” “Great fun, wish I’d had the opportunity to do it a year ago.”

Qualitative and quantitative outputs from our approach are being used to sense-check and better inform the survey for a further sample of members. Our sessions have helped the Society to prioritise services to meet members’ needs and contributed to the Society’s strategy development process.