Market research & fieldwork

At the heart of our ability to conduct thorough and insightful analysis lies a sophisticated capacity to gather information. We organise our capacity to gather primary data under three headings:

Quantitative information

• We devise questionnaires that cover a range of complex environmental, social, economic and behavioural issues, structured in such a way as to elicit accurate and meaningful responses
• We commission and manage large-scale survey exercises of consumers and householders, ranging from omnibus surveys through to bespoke face-to-face interviews of structured samples covering many thousands of people
• We conduct other data gathering exercises - project mapping, business interviews, product purchasing - on a scale sufficient to enable quantitative analysis

Qualitative information

• We undertake face-to-face and telephone interviews - with individuals ranging from members of the general public to senior decision-makers and opinion formers - using structured and semi-structured topic guides, and - where appropriate - using innovative techniques such as Q-method
• We specify and conduct discussion groups with consumers, businesses and policy makers, carefully stratified to meet the needs of individual research projects
• We run web-based data gathering exercises, capable of collecting both qualitative and quantitative information

Case Studies

• We undertake in-depth investigations of individual locations, projects or products
• We gather data for case studies through documentary review, on-site interviews and site visits
• We put especial store by our ability to gather evidence on what hasn't worked, as well as what has