Research Tools

Desk Research

Our desk research department specializes in the monitoring and collection of secondary data across all business sectors. Our library and databases include most economic and business works and studies, legal references, and trade and professional directories. We usually carry out desk research to complement our quantitative and qualitative studies.

Purpose

  • Understand the concept at hand
  • Gather available and relevant data through credible sources
  • Eliminate redundancy
  • Reduce the time required for collecting data


Ethical Standards

We follow ethical research practice as per ESOMAR’s international code. When conducting any focus group, we highlight the following:

  • The focus group discussion is voluntary and that participants can leave at any time
  • The information that participants are providing will remain confidential and that it will be portrayed in a way whereby participants cannot be identified
  • All participants need to sign an informed consent


Qualitative Research

InfoPro’s qualitative research department provides in-depth consumer insight using the following research techniques:

  • Focus groups
  • In-depth interviews
  • Ethnographies
  • Shop alongs
  • Home visits

The topics we cover include social and economic issues, product testing, concept testing, taste testing, pre and post advertising assessment, and branding.

Staffing

The recruitment process is carried by full-time staff members. We utilize our internal databases – which have the demographic information of 75,000 contacts – to recruit individuals to take part in our focus groups. InfoPro, depending on the profile required for the focus groups, will filter out matching individuals and carry-out the screening process accordingly. Such a huge database ensures that no recurrent individuals are recruited for our focus groups and therefore eliminates any potential biases resulting from individuals becoming too familiar with the focus group set-up.

Team of Qualitative Experts

Our qualitative team consists of expert moderators, senior interviewers, and assistant moderators.  Most team members are trilingual and have a minimum of ten years of experience. Our moderators utilize visual and physical aides and techniques to uncover underlying consumer motivation, beliefs, attitudes, and opinions on virtually any topic. Our moderators and assistant moderators also have extensive experience in dealing with respondents from different cultures and backgrounds. This ensures a smooth process and flow of communication between the moderator and respondents.


Quantitative Research

We offer full-fledged quantitative services which include questionnaire design, data collection, quality control, data processing, analysis, and reporting. Our quantitative department relies on a variety of methodologies to reach our clients’ research objectives.

Methodologies

  • Face-to-face surveys
  • Street-intercept surveys
  • Telephone surveys
  • Online surveys
  • Mobile / Tablet Surveys
  • Mystery shopping

We follow a rigorous methodology of fieldwork recruitment, training, pilot testing, and project execution.

Surveyors

The recruitment department employs over 200 full-time and part-time surveyors located all over Lebanon. Activities carried-out by the department include the following:

  • Recruitment
  • Scheduling appointments with corporate entities
  • Supervising and coordinating with teams on the field
  • Ensuring proper quota fulfillment and quick project turnaround

Training

Our senior project managers handle the training of all full-time and part-time staff. Simulations are conducted to ensure that all staff members have retained the various concepts covered by providing back-ground information on the topic at hand, defining technical terminology, explaining the logical sequence of the questionnaire, and probing methods to be utilized.


Research Design

The InfoPro team starts the research design process by drafting the final outline of our deliverables – whether a presentation or an analytical report. This helps ensure that we have a complete vision of our mandate at the onset of the project and that we are tackling all issues relevant to the overall objectives of the program.

Database Design

InfoPro teams are adept at utilizing different kinds of statistical software.  Our technical team will handle the design and development of all databases. The databases will be tested using simulations and mock data.

Data Collection

We can ensure the rapid mobilization of our teams and a quick project turnaround thanks to:

  • The presence of our team all over Lebanon
  • Having databases which contain the contact and demographic information of more than 75,000 individuals nationwide
  • Having corporate databases which contain the coordinates and profile of approximately 12,000 MSME’s and corporate entities nationwide

Quality Control

We contact all individuals surveyed at the start of any project to assess the credibility of the information provided. We then minimize the call backs to 50 percent of all interviews for the remaining duration of the study. The quality control department employs a team of full-time quality control supervisors and research assistants. Activities carried-out include the following:

  • Training part-time quality control staff
  • Supervising the editing, back-checking, coding, and data entry teams
  • Controlling for logical errors through the quality control process detailed below:
  • Editing: consists of screening for logical errors in the completed questionnaires.
  • Back Checking: consists of contacting the interviewee to double check certain pivotal information in the completed questionnaires.