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 BT 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 BT 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 BT 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.
When a new project lands with us at Acumen, there’s a moment of excitement. A new challenge, a new audience to understand, a new story waiting to be uncovered.
But great fieldwork doesn’t happen by accident. Behind every successful project is a clear process, careful planning and a fantastic team making sure every detail is handled properly.
Over the last 20 years we’ve refined a simple, structured approach that guides our clients from the first conversation through to fieldwork and beyond. It keeps everything running smoothly, gives our clients full visibility at every stage, and most importantly ensures the people taking part in market research truly represent the audience you want to understand.
Here’s how it works.
Every project begins with a conversation.
During the client briefing stage, we take time to properly understand what you’re trying to achieve. Your objectives, the audience you want to reach, the type of research you’re running and any practical considerations around timing or methodology.
Once we’re aligned, we formalise the brief and translate your objectives into a clear recruitment and fieldwork plan. That means agreed criteria, expectations and timelines are all in place before anything begins.
It’s the solid foundation that everything else is built on.
With the brief confirmed, we map out a realistic schedule for the project.
This timeline outlines each stage, from recruitment and screening through to fieldwork and final delivery. It gives everyone visibility on what’s happening and when, ensuring the project progresses smoothly without surprises.
Good research moves quickly, but it also moves carefully. Having a clear roadmap means we can do both.
Recruitment starts with the screener.
We develop and refine the screening questionnaire to make sure we’re reaching precisely the right participants for your research. Whether you’re speaking to consumers, patients, professionals or specialist audiences, the screener ensures we’re finding people who genuinely match the criteria.
Before anything launches, you’ll have full visibility and sign-off. That way everyone is confident we’re targeting the right voices from the outset.
Once the screener is approved, our recruitment team over at Research Opinions gets to work.
Using our 250k in-house participant community alongside carefully managed outreach, we begin sourcing the right people for your project. Every conversation is handled thoughtfully and professionally, ensuring we secure engaged participants who are genuinely representative of your audience.
Recruitment is often where the real craft of fieldwork lies. It’s about listening carefully, asking the right questions and ensuring every participant is the right fit.
Before fieldwork begins, every participant is carefully verified. We start by using Acumonitor to weed out any potentially fraudulent participants.
We then confirm that they meet the agreed criteria and compile detailed participant profiles for you to review. You’ll always have the opportunity to approve the final participants so you can feel completely confident in the people representing your audience.
It’s another layer of reassurance before research goes live.
With everything in place, fieldwork can begin.
Once the sessions are complete, we don’t simply move on to the next project. We close the loop properly, from final confirmations and incentive processing through to internal debriefs where we capture learnings and review what worked well.
It ensures every project finishes as smoothly as it started, and leaves us ready for the next brief.
A process designed to make research easier
Market research projects can involve a lot of moving parts. Recruitment, logistics, participant management, timelines and communication all need to work together seamlessly.
Our process is designed to keep things simple for our clients. You always know where the project stands, who is involved and what comes next.
Behind the scenes, our team is quietly making sure everything runs exactly as it should.
When fieldwork is handled properly, you’re free to focus on the insights that matter most.
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.
Every major business decision is, at its core, a capital allocation decision. A product launch, a pricing shift, a repositioning, an expansion into a new market… each one commits budget, time and resource long before it delivers a return. Once that capital is deployed, reversing course isn’t simple, and let’s be honest, it’s rarely inexpensive.
That is why the value of market research deserves to be considered in financial terms, not just marketing ones.
From the outside, market research services can sometimes look like a line item that sits ahead of the “real” activity. Something prudent, perhaps, but not always essential. Yet when viewed properly, strategic market research forms part of how risk is understood and managed before capital is exposed. It supports evidence-based decision making at the point it matters most, before investment scales.
The cost of getting it wrong is rarely small.
Overestimated demand becomes excess inventory and margin erosion through discounting. Misjudged pricing quietly compresses return on invested capital. A campaign built on assumption absorbs significant spend but ultimately will fail to convert at the level forecasted. Development budgets are committed to products that the market simply does not prioritise. And let’s be clear, none of these outcomes happen because teams lack ambition or capability. More often, they happen because assumptions were not pressure-tested early enough.
In financial terms, untested assumptions increase forecast variance and widen risk exposure. They tie up working capital in initiatives that may not deliver the expected return. While the research budget may feel material in isolation, it is typically modest when compared to the downstream cost of correcting a misjudged decision.
When considering market research ROI, the comparison should not be against doing nothing, it should be against the cost of being wrong.
We understand why market research can feel discretionary when budgets tighten. Leadership teams are balancing short-term P&L performance with long-term growth ambitions, and every line is scrutinised. But postponing insight does not remove risk; it simply shifts it further along the timeline, where the consequences are harder and more expensive to reverse. Scaling production before validating demand, entering a new segment without testing proposition fit, or adjusting pricing without understanding elasticity all increase strategic exposure at precisely the point capital is most committed.
Good market research does not eliminate risk. No responsible fieldwork partner would claim that. What it does offer is clarity. It narrows uncertainty before capital is deployed, stress-tests assumptions before they scale, and strengthens confidence in projected revenue and margin resilience. In that sense, investing in market research for business growth is not about buying opinions, it is about protecting return on investment.
And if market research exists to protect value, its integrity matters. Robust recruitment, representative samples, methodological rigour and secure data handling are not operational details; they underpin the reliability of the insight itself. Poor-quality research carries its own financial risk, because decisions made on flawed data can be just as costly as decisions made without any data at all.
Growth will always require calculated risk. That is the nature of business. The difference lies in whether that risk is taken with evidence or with optimism alone. The organisations that sustain strong returns over time are rarely the ones that avoid risk entirely. They are the ones that understand it properly before they commit capital.
When viewed through that lens, the value of market research becomes clearer. It is not simply a pre-project cost. It is a strategic safeguard, one that reduces exposure, strengthens confidence and helps businesses grow with intention rather than assumption.
We’re pleased to share that Acumen Fieldwork is ISO 20252 certified!
Now, we know certifications can sometimes feel like something that lives quietly in the footer of a website or on pages of a cred deck. But in research, this one carries real weight.
ISO 20252 is the international quality standard developed specifically for market, opinion and social research. It looks at how projects are designed, how recruitment is managed, how data is handled, how processes are documented and how accountability is maintained. In other words, it examines the bits that truly underpin trustworthy research.
And it’s thorough… really, really thorough. The audit isn’t a quick glance over a policy document. It’s a deep dive into how we actually operate, from screeners and consent processes to data security, supplier management and project controls. It asks one simple question in lots of different ways: are you doing what you say you do, and can you prove it?
For us, that answer is yes.
But what matters more than the certificate itself is what it represents. It reflects a team who care about getting things right. A culture where details are checked, participant experience is protected and data is handled with rigour. It’s about consistency, transparency and processes that stand up to scrutiny, whether anyone is watching or not.
To the surprise of no one, quality in fieldwork isn’t glamorous. It’s the quiet discipline behind the scenes. It’s clear documentation. It’s robust recruitment. It’s secure systems. It’s having the confidence to say no when something doesn’t meet the standard.
That’s the work our team does every day.
So yes, we’re ISO 20252 certified. We’re proud of that. But more importantly, we’re proud of the people who make it possible, the project managers, recruiters, IT team and admin staff who keep the wheels turning and the standards exactly where they should be.
GLP-1 has been everywhere lately. In headlines, in marketing calls, in group chats. But while the noise focuses on weight loss, we were more interested in something quieter and arguably more powerful.
What happens to everyday behaviour when appetite changes?
When appetite shifts, so does decision-making. And when decision-making shifts, markets follow.
Rather than relying on commentary or assumptions, we went directly to people currently taking GLP-1s and asked how their habits are evolving. Not just what they’re eating, but how they’re shopping, planning, spending and thinking about food and consumption more broadly.
What emerged wasn’t dramatic or extreme. It was a subtle, steady recalibration. Impulse purchases are declining. “Treat” culture feels different. Portion sizes, basket sizes and even the emotional relationship with food are adjusting. There’s more deliberation. More intention and less automatic behaviour.
For brands operating in food, drink, retail and health, it really matters. These aren’t one-off change and they point to a longer-term shift in how people engage with products, promotions and reward.
This is less about hype and more about understanding what’s structurally evolving beneath the surface.
We’ve pulled the findings together in a short report exploring the behavioural patterns we’re seeing, and what they might signal for brand relevance in the months and years ahead.
If you’re thinking about where growth comes from next, it’s worth a read. You can download it here.
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.
Market Research is all about representation – we are looking for the right people for the right criteria to represent the views of the right audience. How could it be anything but? Research, at its core, should be inclusive. It’s how we get the best insight, gather the most understanding, collect the most important data, and ultimately the best way to learn. However, the more we learn, the more we are coming to realise that we can often forget to give a seat at the table to those who need it.
In (what should be) a progressive society, where every day we are growing and learning, gathering insights and widening our understandings, the excuses for our exclusions are starting to run dry.
We’re all familiar with the term ‘hard to reach groups’. There is an increasing thought however, that these groups are not so much ‘hard to reach’ as they are ‘easy to ignore’. It is easy to say ‘well they don’t come forward’, but this is only half of the process.
One example of a ‘hard to reach group’, is the transgender community. Making up only 0.54% of the 16+ UK population (according to the 2021 census), they make up a seemingly miniscule number of the British population. Of course there are no transgender people in your project’s data pool, there are so few of them!
Statistics can be deceiving. 0.54% of the UK’s population actually translates to 262,000 transgender people – all 16 and above, meaning all eligible to participate in almost all research projects. If transgender people are hard to reach, despite over a quarter of a million trans people making up the UK populace, we must instead ask ourselves what WE are doing wrong, for us to struggle to find trans people who are willing to participate.
The good news is, there are some very easy steps we can take. The first being the most simple of all – using the correct names and pronouns.
The subject of pronouns has overwhelmed the conversation surrounding trans people. This is not, and never has been, the crux of the issue with the fight for trans equality. However, it is worth considering that this is how we lose people at the first hurdle. It takes very little thought to refer to people how they wish to be referred to. We easily accept when people prefer a nickname to their legal name, or vice versa. We hardly even think about it. So why is it so difficult now?
Being thoughtful about people’s pronouns is the earliest sign of safety you can give to a transgender person. It is the immediate signal that they are entering a space where they will be treated with dignity and respect. It is only a small thing, using the appropriate he/she/they/etc. We were all taught how to use a person’s name and pronouns while we were in the single digit ages. It is not a new or novel concept. But as the first thing that occurs in your encounter with somebody, this sets the tone for the rest of the interaction, as well as the likelihood of future interactions taking place.
In a world where trans people must look around the corner of every room they enter, checking for danger and seeking safety, the very least we can do as an industry is show up for them with respect. Trans people have voices to be heard, opinions to be shared, on a million different subjects that we can research. Any project you have, there will be a trans person out there who fits the bill. If they are hard to reach, then is it up to us to show that we are a safe place to reach out to. They should WANT to come to us.
It’s a small thing, but so incredibly vital – and so incredibly simple. There are thousands of transgender people we can learn from, just like everybody else. It should be our mission to break down the barriers between our industry and those ‘hard to reach’ groups, especially in ways that cost nothing. It takes nothing to be respectful, but to a trans person looking for inclusion, the payoff could be priceless.
Written by Alec Fuller (they/them,) Recruitment Specialist at Research Opinions part of the Fuller Research Group
Written by Lydia Fuller, COO at Acumen Fieldwork.
Over the past couple of years, I’ve witnessed first hand the seismic shifts reshaping the market research industry, none more so, than Covid. Overnight, the research industry was forced to pivot, to learn new skills and to show its ability to adapt to change, and quickly.
Today we see artificial intelligence dominating headlines and boardroom conversations – everyone has an opinion on it and like Covid, the impact of AI is going to be seen and felt across industries and sectors, we in the world of Market Research are not going to be alone navigating this new world.
For me, 2025 has been the year of embracing AI and new technology, playing with different tools and platforms, understanding how to get the best from it, testing where it can help, where it can save time and where it’s simply not sophisticated enough to … yet. It’s been the year of upskilling myself, joining in the big debates and starting to have a point of view on how we are going to incorporate it into workflows and processes.
What I find particularly interesting is that 2025 has also been the year where I’ve observed a resurgence of face-to-face research. When Covid hit and the world of Qualitative Research moved online, there was a big question mark about the future of face-to-face, and the number of viewing facilities that sadly closed their doors in the subsequent years only supported this feeling.
Yet this year, it’s made a (long, overdue) comeback. Of course, there’s still been lots of online methodologies, but clients are, once again, requesting in-person research and online doesn’t feel the automatic default option. Where it previously felt quite challenging to convince clients as to the value of face to face, to motivate them out of their homes, to get them to want to travel to in-person sessions or to be able to justify the additional venue costs, something feels like it’s changed.
And for me, it’s no surprise that these two, quite polar changes seem to have occurred alongside each other. As the world embraces AI, the need for real, authentic, human connection is stronger than ever. AI is enabling the research industry to move at speed, to process vast datasets, quickly identify patterns and deliver initial findings faster than ever before. However, somewhere within this world of speed and technology has highlighted the need to make sure that the human remains front and centre of why we exist.
Maybe as an antidote to AI, I sense clients wanting to connect with consumers in an authentic way, to see the whites of their eyes, hear the subtle inflections of their voices and observe them as they go about their behaviours, confident in their validity as humans and not bots.
We’ve seen increases in focus groups, ethnography, accompanied shops, observations and intercepts and I see a renewed vigour for client teams choosing to come together to observe research sessions away from the day-to-day distractions of the job. These in-person methods allowing them as a team the time to observe, discuss, debate and move projects forward with consensus, in a way that isn’t so easy to do online.
Looking ahead to 2026 I see we still have a way to go in navigating AI and what it means for our industry, I don’t think anyone quite has the answer just yet, but I feel excited that we have a new tool in our armoury, one that helps speed up our processes and allows us time to focus on where we can add the most value.
We can debate the merits of moderator bots and synthetic participants all we like and I’m sure in this new world, each will have their place. I’m confident that we as an industry will embrace this new technology and adapt and pivot where necessary as we learn more about AI’s capabilities, just as we have done before.
But most importantly, the crux of what we stand for as an industry doesn’t change: connecting with humans, telling their stories, bringing to life their voices and keeping them at the forefront when it comes to decision making.
