[updated May 29, 2020]
As many states across the country move through phased plans to re-open their physical economy, AnswerLab remains committed to our remote business.
In fact, we will not return to in-person research until we design a human-contact free way to do so or until the risk of spreading COVID-19 has ended in our communities.
In early March before all shelter-in-place orders, we called on the research community to go remote in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Dedicated AnswerLabbers shifted 90 client projects from in-person research to remote - in 5 business days. We delivered our insights to clients on their original schedules, while keeping everyone safe. I will forever be proud of what our company pulled off in support of public health – and grateful for our clients supporting these efforts.
Until there are treatments or vaccines for COVID-19, we will not waver in our commitment to make the safety of our clients, employees, and participants our number one priority. In-person research that requires close human contact in an enclosed space poses some level of risk to all parties, no matter how many safety measures are put in place.
That’s a risk we are unwilling to take.
Why? Because . . .
- Virtually every research question we’ve encountered over the last 15 years can still gain valuable business insights via a remote methodology.
- We have developed substantial security protocols to protect our clients’ assets.
- Over the last two months, we have innovated on every in-person research approach to ensure we can deliver an exceptional experience using remote tools.
- Today COVID-19 is still prevalent in our communities and has the potential to grow more throughout this year.
- AnswerLab has always and will always Put People First.
Following our values of making the safety of others our priority has served our business well. We are hiring and reinvesting in the experiences of all AnswerLabbers to ensure they feel supported during these unprecedented times. We continue to innovate our remote research services while offering solutions to clients’ thorniest of business questions. We have shown that research firms can put people first without sacrificing business health.
Doing right by people isn’t hard. It just requires unwavering commitment in the face of adversity. We’re committed. We hope the greater research community will be too. Our public health depends on it.
If you need help shifting from in-person to remote, please check out AnswerLab’s Guide to Remote Research.
[posted March 9, 2020]
With the global spread of COVID-19 (the new coronavirus strain) AnswerLab is committed to:
- Supporting the health and safety of every employee, client, and participant
- Fulfilling our social responsibility to minimize transmission of the virus and
- Ensure that clients continue to receive the insights they need in a timely fashion to support critical business decisions
In an abundance of caution, from March 9 through May 31, AnswerLab will be conducting all of our research using our remote methodologies only, and temporarily closing our in-person labs.
For 15+ years, we have been developing best practices for remote research in support of every stage of the product lifecycle, and we are excited to share those with you. The vast majority of our research will seamlessly switch to remote approaches leveraging our favorite tools and platforms. A few research projects may not be feasible in a remote environment, so we will postpone them until after this first wave of the COVID-19 has passed. If you are a client with a near-term project, your AnswerLab Strategist will work with you to ensure we're meeting your needs.
If you'd like advice about shifting in-person research needs contact us, to find out how our remote research approaches can help your team meet the growing demands for insights at today’s speed of innovation.
Read more about our thinking behind this decision and our point of view about what qualitative researchers and organizations can do during this time from our Founder, Amy Buckner Chowdhry: Researchers, Please Join Our Pledge to Go Remote (medium article).
