According to Gail Keppler, Managing Director of TVG Business Units, "This partnership will provide our clients with another modality for obtaining information from physicians. It combines TVG's highly regarded research design and analysis skills with WebSurveyResearch's technological expertise. With physician internet use on the rise, this partnership will streamline the research process for our clients." Jerry Arbittier, Managing Director of WebSurveyResearch added, "Clients can now accomplish rapid, accurate survey research among larger samples of physicians than traditional survey research methods allow. Physicians are difficult to access and interview. This Internet-based approach is both time and cost-effective. It is also methodologically sound, because response rates from Internet surveys typically exceed those of telephone or mail surveys." Under the terms of the agreement, beginning in 2001, TVG will become a Charter Member of WebSurveyResearch, gaining access to the WebSurveyResearch physician panel of nearly 7000 physicians for performing marketing research. TVG will use their marketing research expertise to develop the questionnaires and analyse the data. WebSurveyResearch will host the surveys on the Internet and provide the raw data to TVG. The next phase of this partnership will allow both companies to tap into the recruiting power of the TVG physician database, one of the largest and most current in the industry. WebSurveyResearch was launched earlier in 2000 by Ziment, one of the largest market research organizations in the USA and a leader in healthcare market research. It is an online service created to allow rapid, accurate survey research among professionals.