Fieldwork. Back to basics

Three things an executive needs to know when targeting at__ veterinarians.

Chart 1

Nowadays, dogs, cats, ferrets, monkeys and even scorpions are considered pets; in fact, there is a long list of animals that can be seen by a vet at the city, which includes canaries, parrots, rabbits, hamsters and reptiles too.  In view of this fact, it is useful to consider what the typical practice of a veterinarian is like in a Spanish city.  

Dogs are the most frequent visitors

The graphics depict the results of a study performed by Argos in 2008, based on a sample of 380 practices (Sampling error: ± 5,12%; Confidence interval: 95,5%). It can be seen that dogs are the most frequent visitors to the Spanish practices –chart 1.  

In fact, 69% of the practices reported that between 69-99% of their patients were dogs. Conversely, for 48% of the vets interviewed, the percentage of visits in which cats were the patients varies between 1-50%- chart 2.

Keep in mind the importance of choosing the right location. It is true that for some matters such as ad testing, location may be irrelevant but for other subjects of research it is essential.  Basically, we all know that location is a key point when considering research projects related to livestock.  However, it is quite common to forget how important it is to get information about incidence and prevalence prior to research on pets’ illnesses, parasites or even food.  Nonetheless, this is an aspect capable of changing the local setting of the project.

Without information any executive is unable to prevent you from making a mistake.On usual bases, when we are consulted to develop fieldwork with veterinarians, we advise clients about the convenience of delivering a precise description of both the objectives of fieldwork and the subject of research.  In these cases, a detailed RFQ is worthwhile and saves us all hard times.  It ensures that fieldwork is carried out in the right place and with the right people. 

Chart 2