The great British summer can be difficult to predict.
You might get sunshine. You might get sideways rain. You might experience both while walking from the car to Tesco with your meal deal.
But there is one forecast we’re feeling rather confident about.
The forecast says there’s a 100% chance of quant!
Summer is often treated as market research’s quieter season. Diaries become a patchwork of annual leave, inboxes fill with out-of-office replies and arranging a meeting involving more than three people begins to require military-grade planning.
But while everyone else is trying to work out whether Claire is back before James goes away, consumers are still out there. Shopping, socialising, travelling, trying new things and forming opinions about all of it.
In fact, summer can create some particularly useful conditions for quantitative research.
People often have a little more downtime and greater flexibility in their routines. Longer days and better weather bring more people into high streets, retail parks, shopping centres, attractions and leisure destinations. That creates natural opportunities for people to stop, take part and tell you what they think.
Convenient, really, because opinions don’t tend to take six weeks off. 🤷🏼♀️
Quantitative research is all about gathering measurable information from a larger number of people. It helps businesses understand how many people think, feel or behave in a particular way, identify patterns across different groups and make decisions based on rather more than the opinion of whichever colleague happens to be standing nearest the kettle.
That might involve a national online survey, face-to-face interviews across several locations, product testing, exit surveys or intercept research conducted close to the point of purchase.
And summer can be a very good time to do it.
Of course, there isn’t a golden research rule stating that every quantitative project will perform better between June and August. Research rarely enjoys being that tidy.
The right timing will always depend on the audience, subject and methodology. Research involving teachers, for example, may need a rather different approach from a study speaking to festivalgoers. Good market research begins with understanding who you need to reach and when participation will be most realistic for them.
But in our experience of delivering quantitative market research fieldwork, a change in people’s usual routines can open up valuable opportunities.
Someone with a little time to spare may be more willing to complete an online survey or stop for a face-to-face interview. They’re also likely to give more considered answers than someone simultaneously attempting to board a train, answer an email and locate their left AirPod.
Then there are all those consumers venturing outdoors voluntarily.
When the weather improves, high streets, retail parks and shopping centres tend to become busier. For exit surveys and face-to-face intercept research, that means more opportunities to reach people in the right place and at precisely the right moment.
Instead of asking somebody to remember a shopping experience several weeks later, researchers can speak to them while it’s still fresh. What brought them there? What did they buy? What influenced the decision? What nearly put them off? Did the experience live up to expectations?
It’s real-time feedback from real consumers, gathered before “Ummmm I think it was quite good?” becomes the full extent of their recollection.
Speaking to people in context can also help market research teams include consumers who may be missed by an online-only approach. With trained fieldworkers, carefully designed questions and consistent quality controls, intercept research can gather structured, measurable data across several locations and provide a clearer view of how experiences differ between audiences.
And, with any luck, nobody has to shelter beneath a clipboard while the rain comes in sideways.
Summer also produces behaviours that simply can’t be understood quite as well from a desk in November.
People travel more. They socialise differently. They visit attractions, attend events, eat and drink different things and make purchases they may not consider during the colder months. Brands across retail, leisure, travel, hospitality, food and drink can measure those behaviours while they’re actually happening.
Quantitative research can explore seasonal purchasing habits, responses to summer campaigns, awareness and consideration, visitor satisfaction, event experiences and reactions to new products or concepts.
If summer matters commercially to your organisation, it makes sense to study it in summer. Asking people about their ice cream choices in November may still produce answers, but it does remove some of the atmosphere.
Online quantitative research can work particularly well during this period too. Participants can respond at a time that suits them, whether they’re at home, travelling or enjoying a brief interval in which nobody has asked them to join a video call.
Online surveys can help organisations reach larger or geographically dispersed audiences, compare responses between different groups and measure attitudes, behaviours and preferences at scale. When they’re supported by appropriate sampling, sensible quotas and robust participant verification, they can keep useful evidence moving even while internal diaries are scattered across multiple time zones and caravan parks.
That can make summer more than the awkward pause between two productive periods.
Run the fieldwork now and you can arrive in September with data ready to explore, decisions ready to make and something considerably more useful than a novelty fridge magnet. This is particularly valuable when autumn planning, campaign development or product decisions are already waiting in the wings.
Naturally, a sunny day does not replace a sound methodology.
Good quantitative research still requires a clearly defined research question, the right audience, carefully written and unbiased questions, reliable recruitment, appropriate quotas and consistent fieldwork. It needs proper quality checks, ethical data handling and a plan built around the decision the research is meant to support.
Timing creates the opportunity. Good research design turns responses into evidence you can trust.
At Acumen Fieldwork, we plan every quantitative research project around the people our clients need to reach and the practical realities of reaching them properly.
Sometimes that means speaking to consumers online across the UK. Sometimes it means trained fieldworkers working across several physical locations. Sometimes it means catching people at the point where their experience is most relevant, before they’ve had time to forget the detail or become distracted by lunch.
There is no single template for getting it right. The methodology should always follow the research question, rather than being chosen because it looks fetching in sunglasses.
But with the right audience, approach and fieldwork team, summer can be an excellent time to gather consumer opinions, measure real-world behaviour and build a clearer picture of what people are doing, and why it matters.
So, while the British weather remains anyone’s guess, the research outlook is looking rather more promising.
If you have a quantitative research project brewing this summer, speak to Acumen Fieldwork. We’ll help you reach the right people, choose the right approach and gather reliable answers at scale; whatever the weather decides to do.
When our client needed to recruit mental health professionals for a pilot study exploring attitudes towards AI, the challenge was not simply finding people with the right job titles.
The research required clinical psychologists, psychiatrists, counsellors, therapists, mental health nurses and sex therapists, but professional experience was only one part of the brief. Participants also needed to represent a broad spectrum of AI knowledge, engagement and optimism, from those already using AI regularly to those who remained cautious about its role in healthcare and society.
Recruiting across such a varied group of mental health professions was already a detailed brief, particularly for some of the more specialist roles.
However, the most significant challenge emerged during screening. Mental health professionals were generally more familiar with and engaged in AI than the study required, meaning participants with lower levels of AI knowledge, interaction and optimism were much harder to find.
The team was therefore not only recruiting by profession and experience, but balancing the sample according to several attitudinal measures, including:
A strong sample needed to include genuine differences of opinion, rather than a group of professionals who all viewed AI through a broadly similar lens.
Acumen combined several recruitment methods, including its in-house database, targeted social media activity and detailed desk research.
As the early responses began to reveal a strong concentration of AI-engaged professionals, the recruitment strategy was adapted. Rather than continuing to source from the same channels and hoping for different results, the team refined its targeting to reach professional groups more likely to provide the underrepresented perspectives.
This included focusing outreach on older professionals and exploring more rural practices. The age-based targeting proved particularly effective, helping the team identify participants with the more cautious and less AI-engaged viewpoints needed to balance the pilot cohort.
Throughout the project, recruitment was continuously reviewed against the study’s attitudinal requirements, allowing the team to adjust sourcing activity as patterns emerged.
Within a two-and-a-half-week recruitment window, Acumen delivered a pilot sample that reflected the required mix of mental health professions and attitudes towards AI.
The client was pleased with the quality and balance of the participants recruited and subsequently commissioned Acumen to support the main study, expanding the project to 150 participants across the UK, including Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The larger study required the team to scale the approach considerably while continuing to manage the same complex balance of professional roles, geographical representation and AI attitudes.
For research exploring a rapidly developing subject such as AI, demographic diversity alone is not enough. If participants share similar levels of awareness, confidence or enthusiasm, the findings risk reflecting only a narrow section of the intended audience.
By treating attitudes as a core recruitment requirement rather than an additional screening detail, Acumen helped ensure the research could capture a more meaningful range of professional perspectives.
The project demonstrates how responsive sourcing, careful screening and a willingness to rethink the recruitment strategy can turn a difficult pilot brief into a scalable national study.
Online fraud is changing quickly. As artificial intelligence, deepfakes and increasingly sophisticated scams reshape the threat landscape, understanding how the public perceives and responds to fraud has become more important than ever.
Acumen Fieldwork was commissioned to recruit participants for a qualitative research study exploring how people understand the evolution of online fraud, from past experiences and current concerns to the risks they expect to see in the future.
The client required 10 participants for a two-hour, face-to-face workshop in Central London.
The group needed to reflect a broad mix of public perspectives, with participants balanced across gender, age, ethnicity, socio-economic background and occupation.
All participants were required to:
Those working in banking or IT were excluded to ensure the discussion reflected the views of the wider public rather than people with specialist professional knowledge.
Meeting the demographic quotas was only one part of the brief.
The research required participants who had enough digital experience and awareness of fraud to contribute meaningfully, without bringing professional expertise that could influence or dominate the discussion.
The sample also needed to include people from five different age groups, ranging from 18 to over 60, while maintaining an even gender split and a broad mix of backgrounds and occupations.
This meant the recruitment process needed to look beyond surface-level eligibility and consider how each participant would engage with a complex, sensitive and fast-moving topic.
Acumen managed the recruitment using a free-find methodology, screening each participant against the full demographic, behavioural and attitudinal criteria.
Our screening explored how frequently participants used the internet, the range of activities they completed online and their existing awareness of fraud.
We also assessed their confidence in discussing unfamiliar or emerging issues, including AI-enabled scams and deepfake technology, as well as their ability to express their views clearly within a workshop environment.
Alongside recruitment, Acumen managed participant communications ahead of the session, including consent documentation, attendance information and identification requirements.
A balanced group of 10 London residents was recruited for the workshop, representing a broad range of ages, backgrounds, occupations and levels of online experience.
The project demonstrates Acumen’s ability to recruit for complex research where participant quality matters just as much as demographic fit. By combining detailed quota management with thoughtful behavioural screening, we recruited a varied group equipped to contribute meaningfully to a sensitive and rapidly evolving subject.
Acumen Fieldwork supports qualitative and quantitative research across complex, sensitive and emerging subject areas.
From carefully balanced public samples to more specialist audiences, our recruitment team can help you find participants who meet the brief and bring genuine value to the research.
A global research agency partnered with Acumen to recruit participants for a series of online focus groups exploring consumer attitudes toward spirits, with a particular focus on Southern Comfort drinkers.
The study required 28 participants across four online groups, with quotas spanning age, gender, location, social grade, and socialising habits. Alongside the logistical complexity, the project came with a tight turnaround and a particularly challenging recruitment requirement: finding participants with a genuine affinity toward a specific spirit brand, rather than people who simply fell loosely into the category.
Consumer recruitment often looks straightforward on paper. In reality, the difference between an average group and a genuinely valuable discussion usually comes down to participant quality.
For this project, the challenge wasn’t simply identifying people who drank spirits occasionally. The client needed participants who had a meaningful connection with the category and could speak naturally and confidently about their preferences, behaviours, and perceptions.
Traditional screening approaches can sometimes flatten nuance, particularly in FMCG and consumer brand research. A simple “yes/no” response to brand usage or preference rarely tells the full story, especially when working with socially influenced categories like alcohol, where recognition and genuine affinity are not always the same thing.
Combined with detailed quotas and last-minute timelines, the project required a recruitment approach that was thoughtful, responsive, and highly collaborative from the outset.
Rather than relying on a rigid screener process, the Acumen team adapted the recruitment methodology to better reflect the nuance behind consumer behaviour.
Instead of asking participants whether they liked Southern Comfort in a binary way, we reframed the question using a scaled affinity model. Participants were asked to rate their relationship with the brand on a spectrum, allowing us to identify varying levels of engagement and distinguish genuine fans from lighter or more casual consumers.
This small but important adjustment created a much richer understanding of participant suitability and significantly improved the overall quality of the sample. It also helped create stronger group chemistry during the discussions themselves, with participants able to engage more naturally and meaningfully with the subject matter.
To meet the project timelines, Acumen used a blended sourcing approach, combining recruitment from our existing engaged participant network with targeted outreach to broaden the sample where needed. Throughout recruitment, quotas were monitored closely and adjusted dynamically to ensure balance across all required demographics and social behaviours.
The project was managed collaboratively throughout, with regular communication, rapid problem-solving, and a flexible approach helping the study stay on track despite the compressed timelines.
All 28 participants were successfully recruited and scheduled across four online focus groups within the required timeframe.
The sessions ran smoothly, quotas were achieved in full, and the client was particularly pleased with the overall participant quality and level of engagement within the discussions.
Most importantly, the groups delivered the kind of nuanced conversation the client was looking for, demonstrating the value of careful screening design and recruitment methodologies that go beyond surface-level qualification criteria.
This project demonstrated that successful recruitment is rarely just about speed or volume. It’s about understanding the difference between someone who technically qualifies for research and someone who genuinely belongs in the conversation.
By combining flexible thinking, nuanced screening techniques, and hands-on quota management, Acumen was able to deliver a high-quality sample under pressure without compromising on participant fit or research integrity.
Delivering complex, high-sensitivity recruitment for a UK-wide study on bowel screening behaviours
Background
When our client set out to explore the barriers to bowel screening among UK adults aged 50–75, this was never going to be a straightforward recruitment exercise. The study required a carefully balanced sample of those who had engaged with screening and those who hadn’t, alongside attitudinally segmented group discussions designed to get beneath the surface of decision-making.
But the real nuance sat in who needed to be part of the conversation.
The audience spanned lower socio-economic groups and a range of ethnic communities, with a topic that’s often difficult to talk about, let alone volunteer for. This wasn’t just about finding people. It was about reaching them in the right way, with the right tone, and building enough trust for them to take part.
The recruitment challenge
The brief came with multiple layers, each one tightening the funnel:
With IMD and ethnicity quotas fixed, the available pool narrowed quickly, particularly within older age groups. Add to that a four-week rolling timeline, and the margin for error disappeared entirely.
Acumen’s approach
This is where thoughtful recruitment from our healthcare team did the heavy lifting.
We built a strategy that was both precise and flexible, combining targeted outreach with a more human, community-led approach.
Alongside this, we worked in close partnership with the client to introduce considered flexibility on secondary quotas such as age, gender, and household income, protecting what mattered most while keeping delivery on track.
What made it work
One of the most effective elements wasn’t a tool or a platform, but people.
By tapping into family and community networks, we were able to extend our reach in a way that felt natural rather than intrusive. Younger participants became trusted connectors, opening the door to audiences who are often missed by traditional recruitment methods.
This allowed us to:
And crucially, this didn’t come at the expense of quality. Engagement, reliability, and depth of contribution remained consistently high across all groups.
Outcome
The result was a project delivered with both rigour and care:
Complex healthcare audiences deserve a thoughtful approach. Speak to Alan Shirley about how we can help.
When our client approached us to recruit participants currently using GLP-1 weight management medications for an anonymous online survey, the brief was clear, but far from simple.
Working within a sensitive health space always requires a careful balance. It’s not just about reaching the right audience, but doing so in a way that protects participant experience, maintains trust, and delivers data you can genuinely rely on.
In these contexts, a wide net isn’t always the right approach. What matters more is being deliberate in who you reach, how you engage them, and how their data is handled from start to finish.
Recruiting people actively using GLP-1 medications meant navigating both specificity and sensitivity.
On one hand, we needed to reach a clearly defined medical cohort. On the other, we needed to ensure that every response came from a real, engaged individual, not someone rushing through a survey for the incentive.
In a space that’s growing quickly, with increasing public awareness and demand, maintaining that level of authenticity becomes even more important. It also means recognising that participants aren’t just data points, they’re individuals sharing something personal, and the process needs to reflect that.
We kept the entire recruitment process in-house, drawing from our network of over 270,000 participants. That decision wasn’t just operational, it was intentional. For a topic like this, control matters. It allows us to be more selective in how we reach people, more thoughtful in how we engage them, and more confident in the quality of the data that comes back.
Rather than pushing the study out broadly, we were careful and considered in how it was distributed within our network. That more targeted approach helps ensure participants feel comfortable taking part, while also protecting the integrity of the responses.
Our healthcare specialists supported on survey wording and data handling protocols, helping to ensure the research was not only robust, but appropriate for the audience. It meant we weren’t just collecting data, we were doing it in a way that respected the people behind it.
Alongside this, our Data Specialist carried out detailed quality checks post-fieldwork, removing and replacing any responses that didn’t meet our standards. It’s a step we build in as standard, but one that becomes even more important when working within sensitive subject areas where trust and accuracy go hand in hand.
While a full week had been allocated for data collection, the required completes were achieved within just three days. We then allowed time for thorough quality control before delivering the final dataset, complete with data tables, a full day ahead of schedule.
More importantly, the quality held up. The client received a clean, reliable dataset and the confidence that the participants behind it were exactly who they needed them to be.
This project is a good example of what happens when you treat fieldwork as more than just a numbers exercise.
Keeping recruitment in-house gave us control. Bringing in healthcare expertise ensured the research was handled appropriately. Building in robust quality checks meant the final output could be trusted.
Just as importantly, it reflects the kind of relationship we aim to build with our clients. Not transactional, but collaborative.
When you’re working with a partner who understands the nuances of your audience and the responsibility that comes with sensitive research, it allows you to focus on the insight itself, rather than worrying about how the data was gathered.
When our client approached us with a brief to recruit just six participants, it sounded straightforward on paper. In reality, it was anything but.
This project involved recruiting specific telecomms customers for 3.5-hour filmed sessions in their homes, complete with professional film crews. The sessions were designed to explore specific consumer segments in depth, so the recruitment criteria were understandably precise. But as the brief unfolded, the layers of complexity quickly became clear.
Participants needed to match specific client segments through a segmentation tool, agree with ten statements associated with that segment, and fall within a very specific age and family stage profile. On top of that, there was a logistical constraint: each participant needed to live within a 30-minute drive of the previous household to keep filming schedules manageable.
As Project Manager Sam Garlick explains:
“Finding people who matched the segment via the tool was just the first hurdle. They also had to agree with ten relevant statements, be the right age and family stage, and then live close enough to the other participants for filming logistics. It was definitely a puzzle.”
Rather than chasing an impossible idea of “perfect”, the Acumen team focused on practical problem-solving and close collaboration with the client. For each segment, we presented several strong candidates who met the brief closely, even if they weren’t an exact match in every single detail.
This approach allowed the project to move forward efficiently while still maintaining the integrity of the segmentation criteria.
The client team were equally pragmatic. In some cases, they flexed slightly on individual factors, such as accepting participants who didn’t pay for TV packages but matched every other requirement, or allowing travel distances to stretch a little further to secure the right household.
Regular conversations between the Acumen team and our client helped speed up decisions and keep recruitment moving smoothly within the tight timeframe.
Despite the complexity behind the scenes, the end result was exactly what the client needed: six carefully selected customers who reflected the required segments and were comfortable hosting extended filmed research in their homes.
Projects like this highlight what recruitment really involves. It’s rarely just about demographics. It’s about understanding the nuances of a brief, navigating practical constraints, and working closely with clients to find the best possible participants.
It’s just what we do.
GLP-1 medications may be dominating headlines, but the most meaningful shifts are happening away from the spotlight, in the quiet adjustments people are making to their everyday lives.
When we speak to individuals who are actually using these medications, the conversation rarely centres on dramatic transformation. Instead, it revolves around a change in pace and perception. Appetite feels different. Cravings are less urgent. Decisions that once felt automatic, particularly around food and spending, become more considered. That recalibration of instinct might seem subtle on an individual level, yet when experienced at scale, it begins to reshape patterns of consumption in ways that brands cannot afford to ignore.
For organisations operating across food, drink, retail, beauty and healthcare, this is not simply a weight management trend to monitor from a distance. It represents a behavioural shift unfolding in real time. Basket composition evolves. Portion expectations adjust. Indulgence, functionality and value are being reassessed through a different lens. What feels relevant in a world of reduced impulse may not look the same as it did even two years ago.
At the same time, the surrounding landscape adds further complexity. Private prescribing continues to grow, NHS capacity remains stretched, and alternative supply routes are emerging with their own ethical and regulatory concerns. Meanwhile, secondary markets are forming around side effects, aesthetic changes and nutritional optimisation, signalling that GLP-1 is influencing far more than appetite alone.
What makes this moment particularly significant is its steadiness. These are not overnight shifts driven by hype. They are incremental behavioural adjustments that, taken together, have meaningful commercial and cultural implications.
In our latest podcast episode, we explore what people are really telling us about life on GLP-1 medications and what those lived experiences mean for brands seeking to remain relevant in a changing environment.
Over the past 20 years, we’ve delivered all our healthcare research under the wider Acumen umbrella. From patient studies to work involving healthcare professionals and clinical environments, it’s been some of the most complex, sensitive and rewarding fieldwork we’ve supported.
What became increasingly clear is that healthcare isn’t just another sector sitting neatly alongside the rest. It operates differently to the consumer market. The regulatory landscape is tighter, the documentation requirements are more rigorous, and the conversations themselves often carry real emotional weight.
Rather than treating healthcare fieldwork as a bolt-on specialism, we decided it deserved its own focus.
That’s why we’ve launched Acumen Health.
Acumen Health is our dedicated arm built specifically for healthcare fieldwork, underpinned by compliance-led processes, in-house project delivery and teams who understand the nuance of working in clinical and regulated settings.
For us, this isn’t about creating something separate from who we are. It’s about refining and strengthening what we were already doing well. The principles of our fieldwork haven’t changed, meticulous recruitment, secure data practices and rigorous delivery have always been part of how we work. Acumen Health simply gives that expertise a clearer home.
At the same time, we’re conscious that healthcare research must never lose its human core. Behind every brief are patients, professionals and lived experiences that deserve respect. The operational side matters enormously, but so does tone, sensitivity and trust.
Acumen Health brings those elements together in one clear, intentional offer. It represents our continued investment in raising standards within healthcare fieldwork, and our commitment to delivering research that is rigorous, responsible and genuinely people-first.
We’re incredibly proud to see it formally launch and excited about what comes next.
You can visit Acumen Health by clicking here.
