ISSN: 2474-9222
Authors: Joseph FT*
With advances in data collection via electronic surveys, they have become a popular tool for researchers especially with the changes in normalcy caused by the Coronavirus pandemic. During this pandemic period, previously collected traditional format paper data on Homeopet ™ ‘Leaks No More’ was collated, analysed, written up, reviewed, and published Farrington TJ and Smith . The current study was again an owner response survey like the previous studies but done electronically. In the case of this Homeopet™ 'Leaks No More' survey, the selection criteria used to identify eligible participants who had purchased the product directly from the manufacturer's website helped to ensure that the responses collected were from genuine product users including first time and repeat users. This helped to eliminate potential bias in the responses and ensured that the data collected was of high quality. It ensured elimination of spurious responses and replies from unverified users. The use of gratuities only to those who agreed to provide fully completed surveys containing a true assessment of their pets' responses with an email and other contact details including agreement to be contacted helped to improve the response rate and quality of data collected. In fact the normal verifying of email addresses and names of respondents was turned off for data protection requirements after collection before sending data to analyst and authors removing only from them ability to cross-reference to an original mail shot offering the survey to people who had joined the mailing list on Homeopets own sales site, the researchers were after completion of the paper able to ensure that the data collected was authentic and reliable without exposing any personal data for the participants from the survey collection while still ensuring it was verifiable. Despite striving to write the survey questionnaire in a balanced inclusive way so that it would resonate with a wide range of perspectives and viewpoints across a broad range of views, one can assume that those who filled it out were more likely to have been open to complementary medicine or to have a pet who had failed to respond or responded poorly to conventional therapy. It also meant that emails and names could be verified and if necessary, through the email DNS, and thus could be contacted to complete any missing data needed, which thanks to response numbers was not necessary so the data remained completely confidential. As Homeopet ™ ‘Leaks No More’ is an OTC (Over the Counter) retail product which during the pandemic sold primarily online through various online retailers due to the restricted access to bricks and mortar retailers, shops, and stores there was little or no direct access to or contact with the end users and thus the electronic survey proved highly effective in that environment. Overall, electronic surveys have proven to be a more successful and time-efficient way of collecting data compared to traditional methods as shown in this research paper. The high-quality data collected in this study will be valuable for future research and product development in the field of complementary medicine for pets. Methods and Outcomes: An online questionnaire template was developed using questionnaires from the previous studies and the decision was to use SurveyMonkey® as the mode of delivery to participants. Homeopet™ LLC employed an independent consultant to design and develop the front end for owner response input and the back end for data collection. Ms Jenny Doran Halcyon Days Ltd. worked with Dr Farrington and his team, some external individuals unfamiliar with the project (to ensure the public would understand the questionnaire fully), including staff at Homeopet familiar with the process, to test prototype versions of the SurveyMonkey® and tailor them to the projects requirements till the entire team came to a consensus acceptable to Homeopet™ in the time constraints available. The survey was then made available online with an invitation to participate added to the purchase process on the manufacturer’s website. Other online outlets were considered but were not open to the authors having access to their customer information even for verification purposes. This outlet area is being worked on for future surveys.
Keywords: Canine Urinary Incontinence; Pet Care; Veterinary Epidemiology; Bladder Weakness in Animals; Urethral Sphincter Mechanism Incompetence; Electronic Data Collection; Urine Leakage
