My company's "research"

The organization where I work (Indiana State Medical Association) maintains a sophisticated database of membership along with demographic and contact information. This is crucial to understanding the customers during marketing campaigns. The database allows us to target certain portions of membership by field:

• Do we want to market to older physicians? Residents? Students? The software can create lists based on age or years in practice.
• Do we have a special program for female physicians? The membership can easily create a list along with contact information.
• Do we want to focus on rural physicians? Indianapolis doctors? Those in the Chicago region? The member base can be compiled into lists by zip code.

While this isn't exactly “research,” many hours of research and development have gone into creating this wealth of data. This information serves as a good starting point for research – not only for demographics but other fields. Two characteristics of members the organization is especially interested in is whether the physician uses electronic medical records and whether the physician is employed or private practice. These fields are also part of the database and help to give the organization an idea of “customer behavior.” 

The database also contains information on each member about benefits sought (examples include coding/legal assistance and health/malpractice insurance).

This is a benefit of marketing events and benefits to those physicians who are already ISMA members. The organization also does traditional but less sophisticated research to learn about nonmember physicians, how to communicate and how to convince them to become members.