The COVID-19 pandemic crisis is impacting our health and economic livelihood in earth-shaking ways. Life has changed for all of us, and there is no "new normal" on the horizon yet. It is a public health crisis, and an economic one. It is imperative that health researchers, businesses, and government planners rely upon probabilistic, weighted samples to reach target populations with a high degree of confidence in the resulting research.
Types of Research We Support
Government and health care professionals are in a difficult spot. Without reliable estimates of nationwide COVID-19 infection rates, they are shooting in the dark at an elusive and threatening target. Increasingly, health care researchers are relying on Address Based Sampling (ABS) methods to select representative samples of households in order to collect much needed testing data.
Reducing any coverage bias is critical, since a small subset of households must represent all of the households in the country. The sample must be reliable and defensible.
The Key to Better COVID-19 Intelligence: Representative Samples
In order to report population-based results with accuracy, you must start with a representative sample which can be weighted to represent the true infection rate in the country or region.
A pragmatic, effective option to attain this goal is to conduct surveys that rely on probability-based sampling techniques that can provide full coverage of the entire US population. Whether the needed data are to be collected through mailed-out test kits or individuals coming in for testing, healthcare professionals are realizing the advantages of reaching out using an Address Based Sampling (ABS) methodology.
Examples of Our Work in the Field
MSG has been in high gear recently assisting clients with their survey sampling needs, as well as associated various data analytics tasks for many COVID-19 related research efforts. These efforts have ranged from measuring public mental health, infection rates, economic impact, and health disparities among the vulnerable populations. Here are a few ways we are currently supporting our clients with their COVID-19 research:
Testing Kits
A large organization needs to send testing kits to a representative sample of HHs within the state. They required a representative sampling frame to help understand how COVID-19 is impacting various population groups within the state.
Economic Impact
A non-probability online sample was requested for a study regarding COVID-19 and impact on health and economy in the state of Tennessee.
Testing Sites
A midwestern County needs to instruct people to go to a testing site. We devised a representative phone sample frame (Dual Frame RDD) to ensure folks in higher risk categories have enough representation.
Communities
A dual frame RDD phone sample design was utilized to reach respondents in Mississippi regarding the effects of COVID-19 within their community.
Sports Leagues
A large American Sports League is surveying people weekly on their feelings about attending public events in the future.
Grocery Delivery
An age targeted consumer sample was supplied to Stockton Economic Empowerment Demonstration. The goal being to make groceries available to senior citizens during the pandemic.
Some of What We Offer
We offer an integrated, versatile ecosystem of data and technology platforms that can assist your research projects at every stage of their life cycle. Adopt the entire product range and utilize our full suite of resources and tools, or pick and choose the areas where we can enhance your research.
Project Management
- Dedicated POC
- Support team
- Project coordination
- Sample management
- Deliverable management
- Scheduling
- Reporting
- Quality control
- Timeline oversight
- Budgeting
Production
- Sample set-up
- Sample generation
- Data appends
- Coding
- Printing
- Proofing of all mock-ups
- Reminder call scripts
- Voicemail scripts
- SMS reminder scripts
Implementation
- Mail drop scheduling
- Postage payments
- Secure transfer of phone numbers to the call center
- Secure transfer of phone numbers for SMS
- Collect daily completion reports
Statistical & Methodological Expertise
- Senior level expertise
- Statistical consulting
- Methodological consulting
- Survey methodology
- Sampling methodology
- Sample size calculations
- Modality considerations
- Design consultation
- Questionnaire design
- Script development