In 2011, we conducted a two-part research program to gain insight into the needs and motivations of our users and to explore ways of reaching others who might benefit. More broadly, we investigated public attitudes towards pathology in general. We also canvassed medical and health professionals about how they used the website and their views on its value for the people in their care.
We began with an online survey of 641 participants and from their responses we were able to identify the key user profiles by way of age, sex, location, education, etc and gather information about how they used labtestsonline.org.au. From this we were able to determine the relevant target audiences and the lines of questioning for the second part of the project - a series of focus groups. These were held in Sydney and Brisbane and included labtestsonline.org.au users, members of the public who’d had pathology tests at some time in the past but who had no experience of labtestsonline.org.au, hospital doctors, GPs, nurses, practice managers and other health professionals. We also interviewed pathology collectors, who by the very nature of their job, were considered to have special insight into the way the public experiences pathology.