Using SurveyMonkey Audience to Get Respondents for Medical Education Research: A Guide

Blog post by Katherine Moreau, PhD

Medical education research (MER) often requires access to specific populations, ranging from medical students to practicing physicians. One of the most challenging aspects of this research is recruiting the proper respondents who are both qualified and willing to participate in surveys. Traditional recruitment methods may take time and resources. Tools such as SurveyMonkey Audience can streamline this process by providing a quick, reliable, and cost-effective way to gather data from your target audience. In this blog, I explore how you can leverage SurveyMonkey Audience to collect data for your MER.

What is SurveyMonkey Audience?

SurveyMonkey Audience is a service that allows you to survey a targeted group of people quickly. It utilizes a network of millions of respondents, and you can choose participants based on various criteria, such as demographic characteristics, location, professional expertise, and more. This feature makes it ideal for MER. 

Why Use SurveyMonkey Audience for Medical Education Research?

Here are some of the key reasons why SurveyMonkey Audience is an excellent tool for your MER:

1. Access to a Broad Pool of Respondents: SurveyMonkey Audience provides access to respondents from diverse demographics. For MER, you can survey medical professionals, students, and faculty from different institutions and specialties without needing to recruit them personally.
2. Targeted Sampling: One of the cool features of SurveyMonkey Audience is its ability to segment respondents based on specific criteria (e.g., educational background, age, professional experience, and geographic location). For MER, this means that you can target specific groups:
   • Medical students
   • Residents
   • Attending physicians with teaching experience
   • Healthcare professionals working in particular settings (e.g., hospitals, clinics, rural areas)
3. Cost and Time Efficiency: Traditional methods of recruiting participants for surveys can be time-consuming and costly. SurveyMonkey Audience allows you to pay per response, which means you can control your budget. Additionally, you can quickly obtain respondents (e.g., I completed my last survey in 24 hours with over 600 responses)
4. Data Security and Privacy: SurveyMonkey Audience complies with major data privacy regulations, including HIPAA, to protect respondent information. This is especially important if you are dealing with sensitive or personal information. 

Steps to Use SurveyMonkey Audience for Your Research

1. Define Your Research Objectives and Target Audience
   Before you start, it’s essential to clearly understand what you’re trying to measure and who your target audience is. In MER, this could include understanding:
   • The effectiveness of a particular teaching/assessment method
   • The current challenges faced by medical students

Knowing exactly who you need to survey (e.g., 3rd-year medical students, attending physicians) will help you accurately set up the survey.

1. Create a Survey on SurveyMonkey
   Next, create the survey using SurveyMonkey’s platform. Ensure your questions are clear, concise, and well-structured.
2. Select Your Audience
   Once your survey is ready, it’s time to choose your respondents using SurveyMonkey Audience. You can select from various filters to ensure you’re reaching the right group:
   • Demographics: Age, gender, education level, and geographic location
   • Profession: You can choose respondents based on their profession (e.g., medical students, nurses, doctors, the general public)
3. Set Your Budget and Timeline
   SurveyMonkey Audience allows you to control your budget by choosing how much you will pay per response. Depending on the level of targeting and complexity, the cost per respondent may vary, but you will receive transparent pricing before launching the survey. You can also specify your desired timeline to get the responses within a timeframe that fits your research needs.
4. Launch and Monitor Responses
   After launching your survey, monitor the incoming responses and ensure they align with your target audience criteria. You can check real-time data and response rates to ensure that you’re getting sufficient participation.