Category: Surveys

Quantitative and qualitative research methods both have advantages and can each be used effectively with different research objectives in mind. Here at Research by Design, we use a mix of both techniques depending on what we deem the most effective way of fulfilling the key requirements for the project. We...

With religion in decline here in the UK, engaging young people in faith has never been more important for the Christian community. Young people are the future, and with just 5% of young people currently in church (Scripture Union, 2017), the future is looking bleak for the Christian faith. Questions...

The way one market research company works can be very different to another. Having spent the first three years of my career at one agency, I had little knowledge of the working practices anywhere else. I naively assumed that our way was the way of all market research agencies. Shortly...

Many membership organisations grapple with how to encourage more of their members to engage or interact with them. This is a challenge we hear again and again from the organisations we work with – most evidence of members interacting with their professional association comes from an ‘engaged minority’ and the...

Working in the market research industry means having a huge love for data! Being so close with data and reporting statistics to our clients often makes us question statistics when we see them reported. As researchers, we can’t help but ask questions such as: · Who was interviewed and by whom?· How were...

‘Speeders’ are respondents who complete a survey, in what is perceived to be, an impossibly quick time. How these speeders affect the quality of data is often in debate. It has always been my view that speeders should be removed from the data; how can a respondent completing a survey too...

Proverbs and phrases aide, the sentiment is true – when we work together, we are undoubtedly stronger. This is definitely the case for boosting response rates for online surveys undertaken amongst membership organisations, and this paper outlines some of the best ways to achieve this.  We all live busy lives and...

Mobile is important in research – but don’t forget about traditional survey platforms! We are already glued to our mobiles in many walks of life; we call, text, search, tweet, like, comment, navigate, shop, take photos, record videos, play games, use apps and generally hate to be parted from our electronic...

Many of us would agree that trying to get an appointment with a local GP can be challenging.  The national media have not been shy in painting a picture of an overstretched primary care sector, highlighting a national shortage of GPs, doctors turning their backs on the profession and junior...

According to the Pew Research Center, the gold standard for surveys, online response rates are on a downward spiral. With so many more things to do online than just a couple of years ago, declining attention spans and smaller, mobile handsets dominating web use, it’s little wonder fewer respondents are...

Recent research by Verve has found that consumers are deliberately giving false information to brands, such as fake addresses, date of births and email addresses, concluding this is devaluing the databases brands work hard to collate. The study, which surveyed more than 2,400 consumers, found that six in ten consumers intentionally...

Putting the customer at the heart of everything, how do you gather feedback from the people who matter the most?  Through our recent work evaluating levels of satisfaction of those working within NHS buildings, we learned of the “Friends and Family Test” – a single-question survey asking patients whether they would...

Just how many steps do modern market researchers take on a day to day basis? Inspired by this question, and by the interest expressed by my colleague in his musings last month I have been giving this some thought. We are seeing that wearable fitness devices are growing in popularity, and it...