The Research & Planning Group (RPG) is a full-service marketing research firm based in St. Louis, MO.
We can handle most qualitative and quantitative research projects and bring decades of expertise to every project.
Our specialties include telephone interviewing with hard-to-reach subjects such as physicians or executives, focus groups and Qualtrics-based online surveys.
If you want to go beyond gathering information and are hoping to search for insights that can lead to action, we can help!
Our Philosophy
We view research techniques as tools for providing information that can support decision-making, and we believe it’s important to ensure that when you need information, you’re using the right tools to get the job done.
We view every project as an opportunity to help our clients find the right approach to get the information they need, and that means we recommend a collaborative approach towards the design of every study. The best research projects are those in which our clients have taken the time to help us to understand what they really need to know, and we’ll do whatever we can to ensure that we find that information for them.
Our Research Team
David Rich is President of The Research & Planning Group. David’s experience as a health care marketing research consultant and focus group moderator spans forty years.
His experience in all aspects of b2b and b2c services and product research includes both qualitative and quantitative research, executive interviewing and focus group moderation. He has conducted more than 2,500 focus groups.
Prior to founding the Research & Planning Group in 1983, David directed research and market planning for a St. Louis-based advertising and public relations agency. He has also worked as a strategic planner for the University of Cincinnati’s Institute for Research and Training in Higher Education, an internal consulting arm to all teaching departments of the university.
He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology from Indiana University (1967) and a Masters in Corporate and Strategic Planning from the University of Cincinnati (1972).
Sean Jordan is the Research Director for the Research & Planning Group. Sean joined RPG in 2008 as a graduate student intern and is now the Principal Researcher for the team and Managing Partner for the firm. As a graduate and faculty member of the Master of Marketing Research (MMR) program at Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville (one of the only professional marketing research post-graduate programs offered in the nation), Sean is equipped with a wide array of quantitative and qualitative research techniques and possesses a number of skills that aid him in research design, data analysis and report presentation.
With his background experience as a professional journalist, Sean is an ideal interviewer for one-on-one and small group interactions. Never shy in front of a crowd, Sean is also a dynamic presenter and focus group moderator, and he has directed dozens of focus group studies (both online and in-person) and delivered hundreds of research presentations during his career.
Sean’s marketing background is diverse as well; he has been recognized as an outstanding guerrilla marketer in retail sales, and he successfully vaulted an independent comic book company from obscurity to bestselling publisher during his time as its marketing and public relations director.
Beyond his time at RPG, Sean writes both fiction and non-fiction books, conducts historical research in interactive gaming space and works on Lego projects. He is also working towards his black belt in Okinawan Shorinryu karate along with his wife and children and volunteers in support of a variety of endeavors, including his children’s school, the Cub Scouts and local animal welfare organizations.
Emma Mitchell is a Research Assistant at the Research and Planning Group. She received her Bachelors of Anthropology from the University of Missouri-St. Louis in 2018. During the course of her social sciences training, she focused on primate behavior and classical cultures, and she has spent many hours in the field cataloging both as an observational researcher. Her research on western lowland gorilla behavior was presented at UMSL’s research symposium and published in their magazine.
In her free time, you can likely find Emma at the bottom of the ocean, scuba diving. She is a certified Rescue Diver and hopes to one day teach scuba in a warm, exotic location.
Lane Soylu is the Research Coordinator for the Research & Planning Group. She received her bachelor’s Degree in Psychology at Cankaya University in Ankara, Turkey in 201 and then received her master’s degree in General Psychology at Cameron University in Lawton, Oklahoma in 2021. She worked as a research assistant in the Cultural and Fictional Psychology laboratory conducting research comparing immoral behaviors acceptable in fictional characters versus those of real people within one’s inner social circle.
Lane began her Ph.D. in Behavioral Neuroscience at The University of Missouri- ST Louis (UMSL). She worked in Social Neuroscience and Intergroup Relations Lab (SNAIR) in the field of social psychology and social neuroscience. Her thesis was on neural synchrony in interracial couples pertaining to discrimination interracial couples have been facing due to minority stress, including studying how relationships are impacted due to the discrimination and an assessment of neural synchrony when facing decisions and measuring brain activity.
She is interested in cooking and baking as well as binge-watching TV shows. She has a cat named Dinosaur.
Trish Mertens brings over 20 years of experience and professionalism in administrative, office management and accounting fields. As RPG’s Office Manager, she oversees the day-to-day administrative functions of RPG’s operations and is responsible for all office procedures including accounting and payroll. While utilizing her organizational skills to ensure smooth operations, she also works on building and maintaining relationships with vendors and clients.
Trish has lived in the St. Louis area most all her life and enjoys spending time with her husband and children. Exploring all that our beloved city has to offer, a typical weekend with her family would most likely include a stroll through the St. Louis Zoo, gazing at the beautiful Botanical Gardens or cheering on our St. Louis Cardinals!
Do you have a question for us? Please feel free to contact us. We’d love to hear from you!