Ahead of the General Election we’ve been asking people what they think about the major political parties, their leaders and what issues matter the most to them in the upcoming election.
In the first of our surveys that went out to the Research Opinions community last week we were able to collect a range of views from prospective voters across the country. One of the most decisive questions was about the big issues facing the nation. Top of the list was Brexit followed by concerns on the NHS, crime, the economy and the environment. Interestingly when we asked which issues concerned people personally, the responses we received put crime into fourth place while the NHS edged in front of Brexit – suggesting that people have different concerns when thinking about their personal circumstances versus the big issues they view as facing the nation.
This may have been reflected in another question put to voters. When asked about which leader’s government they’d personally favour to deal specifically with Brexit, people were equally divided. Only 39% supported the idea of a Boris Johnson led government while 36% supported the notion of Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership; crucially the remaining 26% were unable to decide.
It seems that the potential leaders are proving to be particularly unpopular. When asked to rate the performance of both Johnson and Corbyn 59% of participants rated Johnson as performing badly while 68% gave Corbyn the same rating of disapproval. How this will play out as we head further into the election cycle remains to be seen with both candidates, vying for the top job in the government, take to their debating podiums this evening.
Acumen will be tracking the public sentiment and attitudes around the upcoming election with a series of polls going out over the coming weeks. Make sure you’re following all the news on our social media channels and checking our website for regular updates.
To find out more about how we can help with your research, whatever the subject, contact becki.pickering@acumenfieldwork.com
Hannah O Donoghue Hobbs shares some of her insights on making the most out of social media. As a marketing executive within the Fuller Research Group of companies, she’s our resident expert on all things social.
Whether it’s creating eye-catching content to reach new market research audiences or long-term brand engagement campaigns– she’s got some top tips for all social media channels.
1. Think about your audience
Before you can even begin creating content for social media you have to think about who you’re trying to target. The answer to this will inform everything that happens next. While LinkedIn is best for B2B audiences and Facebook is known for building communities and starting wider conversations there’s also a number of other factors to consider.
The time of day that post content is also a key factor in determining how successful your content will be in connecting with an audience. If you’re trying to communicate with people who work a typical working week then key times to aim for are 6am and 6pm when that audience is more likely to be checking their social media feeds.
To ensure that you are consistently hitting those important time-zones you can use an array of scheduling tools – many are freely available online.
2. Good Karma for Social Media
When it comes to building a consistent and strong presence on any social media platform there is really simple rule to follow; you get out what you put in.
One of the most common misconceptions about social media is that it’s all about distributing content that automatically taps into your audience. In reality most brands that are successful on social media have built their following by engaging their audience. This comes from starting conversations and returning to them. It isn’t a one-sided discussion and they’re flexible and dynamic to what their followers are talking about.
It pays to be social and savvy followers are more likely to engage when they feel part of the conversation.
3. Jab, jab, jab, right hook!
This highly technical term is actually a practical way to remember how to vary your approach to social media content.
Think of the right-hook as the curated piece of content which has specific aims, benefits or, more specifically, a clear call to action. This is the post that you want to land with your audience, inviting them to respond or act in a clear way.
For more information on how we can engage participants through social media get in touch with becki.harrison@acumenfieldwork.com
At Acumen we’ve always championed the importance of quality assured research services through our work within the industry. Whether that’s through Acumonitor, our bespoke tool for detecting fraudulent participants, or the rigorous standards of our ISO 20252 accreditation.
We’re thrilled to announce that our most recent ISO20252 audit can now be announced and, once again, we have passed with zero discrepancies – meaning that we are fully compliant with the industry standards for all methodologies of market research.
This year’s audit has been led by Liz Diez who took over the role of Head of Compliance & Business Development after working at Acumen as a senior project manager. With her keen eye for detail Liz has been ably leading our teams through the changes brought in by the implementation of the GDPR and ensuring this works to complement our existing ISO20252 accreditation.
With the news that we have passed once again without a single discrepancy we’ll be continuing in our work leading the way in the industry on high quality market research services.
To celebrate the International Day of the Girl we’re looking back over some of the important work done by members of our team when they volunteered in Sierra Leone as part of an initiative to help young women.
Earlier this year Lizzie Coultas, our Head of Healthcare Market Research, and Julie Fuller, our business founder, travelled to Sierra Leone to assist on a charitable project, organised by Teams4U. The objective of this initiative was to empower girls and young women by providing them with resources they need to succeed in life. This included basic items such as school resources, bras and sanitary products which, due to a lack of access, often prevent young women from staying in education.
The team were also involved with a local college, helping to refurbish classrooms to provide vocational training to young women and provide them with an income.
Hear about Lizzie’s experiences in the short video below
Beyond the voluntary work that Julie, Lizzie and the other volunteers did in Sierra Leone, we also raised funds of over £16,000 which went directly to the institutions we were working with in Sierra Leone. For this we would like to thank all of the generous donations we received, including The Research Club and all the individuals who helped with each of our fundraising activities.
International Day of the Girl is a United Nations initiative which seeks to highlight many of the unique challenges faced by girls and young women around the world. By working with Teams4U we have witnessed the reality of these struggles and welcome the broader awareness that today brings.
It’s World Mental Health Day and to mark this year’s awareness day we’re announcing the appointment of three Mental Health First-Aiders within the company. Laura Baxter, Charlotte Neild and Emily Basnett will be the first members of the wider company to receive this training.
We’ve always recognised the importance of an open and honest work culture and, as we’ve grown, we’ve also come to understand the importance of our role in providing effective and positive support for all the people who work with us. The average British person spends just over 1800 hours per year at work (a third of their waking hours!), so it’s essential that we continue to invest in the people that have made our business successful.
Stigma around mental health remains a key issue in the UK and we encourage our senior members of staff to keep an open dialogue with their teams. In a recent feedback survey, over 80% of our employees said that they were happy to chat with their line manager if they were suffering with work or home related stress.
We’re proud to put the wellbeing of our employees at the forefront and this investment in the MHFA scheme will ensure that that all of our teams feel safe and supported in the workplace. You can learn more about the training scheme by going to the MHFA England website and you can download materials relating to mental health in the workplace by visiting Time to Change.
Matt Barker recently joined Acumen’s Quantitative market reseach fieldwork team, after working in both Qualitative Recruitment and Fieldwork. Here he puts together his thoughts on the 5 things that made his recent Hall Test a success.
Location, Location, Location
The right location is key to a successful hall test. It’s worth thinking about what location is going to ensure you are getting your target completes. At Acumen we take various things in to account when deciding upon a location. Are you looking to speak to city slickers about a new snack smoothie targeted to lunch time shoppers? Or is your sample more of a suburban, family type? Ensure you are considering who you are wanting to talk to when picking a venue.
Dream Team
As with any winning team, you need the right players. It is important each and every member knows their role in the data collection process, as well as having an understanding of your research aims. Doing so will steer your players to make decisions that benefit your research, not hinder it.
Sensible Questionnaire
The importance of a sensible questionnaire is paramount; it must meet your research objectives firstly whilst being designed in a way to avoid leading questions, unnecessary repetition of details whilst ensuring you’re eliciting the right level of detail for your research. Balancing these demands can be a high-wire act but if done correctly, it creates a solid foundation to build your project on.
Incentives
Having run hall tests in one shape or form since Acumen’s formation, 10+ years ago, we know about setting the right price to get the completes we need. Incentives vary from project to project, and considerations include the length of time it takes a participant to complete the test, in addition to the research subject the level of detail needed. Generally, we follow the MRS Guidance that anything upward of 5 minutes should be incentivised. As with everything in life – time is money!
Good Communications
Without proper lines of communication, valuable data can be lost in the process of a participant coming through the door, to them leaving. A key to a successful Hall Test is a clear briefing before fieldwork begins, timely updates throughout and ensuring everyone involved knows that there is no such thing as a silly question.
With all these things in mind you can be sure that your Hall Test runs smoothly from start to finish. For more information on getting your fieldwork off to a flying start speak to Acumen on 0161 234 9940 or email
As a company working within the market research sector, we know how important it is to ask for feedback. That’s why we’ve decided to formalise our methods of measuring success and are offering all of our clients, partners and suppliers the opportunity to recognise a member of the Acumen team.
Our latest initiative allows you to share your feedback directly with us and highlight the work of individual team members in addition to the overall qualitative fieldwork, quantitative market research fieldwork and healthcare fieldwork teams too. In order to start sharing your views you simple have follow the link that has been added to the email signatures of all our team members. This will then take you to a short 1 minute survey where you can give us an insight on what it was like working with Acumen.
The feedback we’ve received so far has been used to highlight the exemplary work of some of our team members as well as helping us to assess our services and look how we can continue to expand our range of services, adding greater value to your market research projects.
If you’d like to tell us what you think about Acumen or just share some feedback on some of the people you’ve been working alongside on your research projects, then simply follow the link at the bottom of one of our emails or access it here. We’d love to hear from you!
We’ve been in a celebratory mood at Acumen this week. We found out that we’ve been named as finalists in not one, not two – but three categories this year’s MRS Operations Awards.
This follows our success last year when Acumen was named as the winner for the Best Data Collection: Face to Face award. That award was in recognition of our “inventive data collection within hard to reach audiences” and our “glowing testimonials”. We’re over the moon to learn that this year we’ve been recognised in the Best Data Collection: Face to Face category again, in addition to two further nods for Best Data Collection: Telephone and Best Training & Development.
The MRS Operations Awards are particularly special to the team at Acumen as these are the only awards in our industry which specifically recognise the contributions made by fieldwork and recruitment teams, in addition to other suppliers in the market research chain; all of whom are integral to the success of any research project.
The winners for this year’s MRS Operations Awards will be announced at a special ceremony on Thursday 26th September at the new location of The Curtain in Shoreditch. Members of Acumen’s fieldwork team will be there to celebrate all of our fellow contributors and cheer on the team from Aspect who have also been named as finalists in the Best Viewing Facility category.
It promises to be a fantastic night!
It’s been quite the year at Acumen with continually increased demand for our services and, more recently, some industry award nominations for our work. So we’re now delighted to tell you that we’re expanding across a number of departments with new faces joining our teams.
Matt Barker first came to the company in 2018 as part of his University placement and, after gaining experience within a variety of different roles he returned to University to complete his degree – achieving 1st Class Honours. After he graduated Matt was successful in securing a permanent role within our Quantitative department and we couldn’t be happier. He’s brought a wealth of experience from both his placement and his time in higher education and is already making an impact within his new role.
Tom Garnett is the newest addition to Acumen’s Qualitative market research agency department; joining the team on a full time basis after making an impression during a 12 week placement with the company that he secured after finishing his degree . He’s shown a real aptitude for fieldwork within his new role and has brought a fresh perspective to the team from the time he had on his placement. The team love working with him and he’s been a welcome addition to the company.
Supporting the fieldwork teams are Jasmine Gaskell and Sarah Rogers. Sarah has joined Acumen’s finance team as an Accounts Assistant and is helping Acumen with the important elements of finance and business management. Jasmine joined the company to assist with the admin and office management while Beth is on maternity leave. She’s already made an impact on the business with a real can-do attitude and an impressive retinue of terrible jokes which she happily shares with anyone who’s willing to listen.
For more information on any of our team members, just head over to the Team page where we’ve got short bios and possibly the best team pictures you’ve ever seen!
