An unexpected positive of the last 12 months has been the ability to conduct more remote usability testing conveniently and quickly. As a provider of participant recruitment for UX studies, Acumen has put together 5 steps on running an awesome field stage of a UX project.

Define but also diversify your personas

Define the personas you want to test from an appropriate source – this might be existing customer data or even competitor data if your client is seeking new customers. Ask yourself if you need to think about life stage, gender, income, ethnicity, abilities and recruit a broad range of participants.

Have your links ready

Have a clear idea of the platform you’ll use and how participants will join it when you put your brief together. Then you can check they have the right setup during recruitment (browsers, screening in mac/ pc users), and they will receive one clear invite which has everything they need on it rather than a drip of information.

Avoid bias during testing

Keeping things contained, low cost and casual led many developers to use friends, family and colleagues in the past to test. This can cause a false consensus effect if participants are not neutral to the process. Screen out those who might have hidden agendas, and balance the range of criteria so that your participant’s characteristics are weighted in any one way.

Acumen provides project management and recruitment for in person and remote user tests. Screener writing, recruitment, tech checks, hosting, and incentive payments can all be handled by our expert team of project managers. To chat about how we can help email enquiries@acumenfieldwork.com 

By Gareth Dyson

 

 

We’re always looking for ways to add value for our clients in whatever capacity we can. The sudden shift to Online F2F has meant that large numbers of the UK population have had to rapidly upskill in order to make the most of the many video conferencing platforms being used.

Here, we’ve put together some of the most common problems we’ve experienced when asking the public to log in for research. To download a copy of our full cheat-sheet to use on your own research please go to our website.

We can’t promise to solve all connectivity problems but with this guide there should be fewer pixelated faces or ominous silhouettes looming in the corner of your screen.

DOWNLOAD ACUMEN’S GUIDE TO ZOOM FOCUS GROUPS HERE

We’re delighted to announce that despite the problems posed by Coronavirus, during a week when we moved from a Tier 3 restriction to a national lockdown, we were still able to go ahead with our ISO20252 audit.

Remote working proved to be no obstacle when it came to our team providing full accounts of our quality control procedures – meeting both industry regulations in addition to the legal requirements of GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018.

No doubt Team Acumen will be celebrating in style as soon as it’s safe for them to do so.

If you’d like more information about how our Quality Controls can enhance your research, please contact Liz.Diez@acumenfieldwork.com

Acumen are delighted to confirm that they will be fully endorsing the Recruiter Accreditation Scheme which is due to launch within the next week.

The scheme, which is the first of its kind in the industry, has been developed by the MRS and the AQR in a joint initiative designed to provide a formalised standard for market research recruitment. It will create an industry-wide set of standards – creating quality assurances for anyone involved with procuring the services of recruiters. Additionally it will also provide a path to professional recognition for recruiters, who have frequently been one of the most overlooked parts of research supply chain.

It’s for this reason that Acumen are pledging their support for the scheme. Our ethos has always been to put quality at the heart of  everything we do. In fact it was our very own founder, Julie Fuller, who first raised the notion of a professional qualification for recruiters when she was elected to the AQR board over 5 years ago. Since then it has been continually championed by Acumen, most recently by our Fieldwork Director, Becki Pickering, who has been part of the steering committee overseeing the final stages of the scheme’s development.

Highlighting its importance, Becki said “This is a watershed moment for the market research industry. Recruiters are an essential part of qualitative market research and the scheme will recognise this fact by elevating the work that they do. Not only will it provide a professional qualification but it will also be a resource for anyone who recruits market research participants.”

Underpinning the scheme are a number of modules which cover everything from new and emerging recruitment techniques to best practice around data protection and GDPR compliance. Each module will be delivered via the scheme’s dedicated website and will use videos, quizzes and webinars to deliver the content. There will also be a number of free resources for recruiters, in the form of template documents, in addition to providing a directory of accredited recruiters for clients to use.

Acumen will also be committing to the scheme by using only accredited recruiters for their projects. We hope that by doing this we will enable as many of our suppliers to participate in the scheme, in addition to promoting a best in class ethic with our clients. By collectively committing to this scheme we will, in time, effect real change within the industry; facilitating a quality first approach to all of our qualitative recruitment.

If you would like to know more about the Recruiter Accreditation Scheme or how we can help with your market research projects, you can contact a member of our team by email or by calling 0161 234 9940.

Acumen are delighted to share the results of our first “Coronavirus Impact Report”. This first piece of research, looking at how public attitudes towards market research are likely to be affected by the ongoing pandemic, is being shared freely with our friends and colleagues within the research industry as we all attempt to adjust to our new normal.

Our flagship study has been conducted with a sample of the British population in an effort to understand what factors they will be considering as the country moves out of lockdown and we look to begin conducting market research again.

What did we do and who did we speak to?

Our research took the form of a short online survey sent to a national database of participants who have opted in for market research projects. The survey took approximately 5 minutes to complete and specifically queried attitudes and sentiments around participating in market research once restrictions have been relaxed in the near future.

What did they say?

The purpose of the research was to understand the public perception towards various market research related activities and to see how people felt about them in relation to other everyday activities.

Our first finding will be certain to give some comfort to our colleagues in the research industry as our sample viewed individual face-to-face research as being second only to visiting a supermarket for activities that involve social contact.

Focus groups with 5-8 people were also favoured above visiting the hairdressers to get a haircut – and we’ve all read the reports of how desperate people have been feeling about that.

It isn’t quite as good news for large public events where you might anticipate interacting with large volumes of people in an uncontrolled environment. On this, visiting the zoo, attending music festivals or concerts and going to the gym were the least favoured activities of our sample as they contemplate what they’ll be doing when they’re returning to their day-to-day activities.

Risk reduction

When we asked our sample about what measures could be put in place to make them feel safer and more comfortable when attending a face-to-face focus group or interview our sample were very clear in their view that social distancing was certain to put them at ease.

This answer received more than twice the positive response of the next most favoured option – having the ability to drive and park at venues. This may become a key consideration for the wider market research industry as we consider how to move out of current lockdown position and begin to plan future market research projects.

Any other considerations?

Online research has been the champion methodology for the past few months. Thankfully for researchers it also seems that participants have been able to adapt to this very quickly with high levels of confidence across age groups including those aged over 55 who may have previously avoided studies with this method. When asked to state their levels of confidence we see high levels of agreement amongst all participant groups indicating that this is a change that people have really embraced in this new environment.

If you would like to know more about our research or if you would like to see the full report of our findings then please send an email to enquiries@acumenfieldwork.com and we will be happy to send you our complete results. 

The events of the past week can’t be understated. The news of the spread of Coronavirus to the UK and the World Health Organisation recognising it as a global pandemic has forced everyone around the world to reassess almost every aspect of their lives.

At Acumen we’ve had to enact a number of contingency policies to ensure the safety of our staff, clients and all of the supply partners and participants that we rely to conduct our research. We’re grateful that, for now, the impact has been minimal and inconvenient – in comparison to the differing scenarios unfolding globally.

In times like these many of us are reaching out for answers, advice and solutions. As people who work in market research we have a deep understanding of that drive. We also wanted to know, not just about the virus, but the every day impact that an event like this has on us – at a personal level and at a national level.

We decided to distribute a survey via our recruiting partners, Research Opinions, to try and get a better picture of the view from the UK. Here are some of their responses:

Some of the statistics were reflected in the verbatim responses we recorded:

I’m concerned that things are even worse than we are being told. That the government aren’t acting quickly enough and there will be many deaths.

The effect on the vulnerable and those who are self employed. I’m concerned as a health worker in a hospital too. Seeing empty supermarkets is something I never would’ve expected to see in my lifetime. 

 

There were almost equal levels of support and discord with the governments response to the outbreak:

I am less concerned today than I have been over the last 2 weeks. The government has finally taken this pandemic seriously but their measures are too little, too late and do not go far enough. 

Mixed information given and different countries adopting different strategies. 

The panic is more concerning. The measures being taken are limiting income. I feel there is more scaremongering than actual facts.

Everyone should have access to testing so they can self isolate even if they have no symptoms. At the moment even people with symptoms are not being tested and are just told to stay at home. 

 

I think a lot of this is hysteria but it’s hard not to feel concerned when you hear about it 24/7.

I’m sure if everyone is careful with hygiene and isolating if they are unwell, then the spreading of the virus will be limited. Unfortunately we live in a selfish, greedy world where people have never practiced good hygiene and aren’t going to start now. Or they’re going over the top with panic buying; leaving others in want. The virus itself isn’t the problem.

The outbreak of Coronavirus is a rapidly evolving situation which is presenting challenges for people at all levels of society. At Acumen we’ve been working hard to prepare for these and many other adverse situations that can arise and impact the work we do day to day.

Our first priority is always ensuring the safety of our team, the clients who work with us, our partners in the research supply chain and, of course, the public who participate in our many and varied research projects.

We have been listening to the advice provided by the UK Government, the NHS and the World Health Organisation and have responded with a number of measures to help us as the situation evolves.

In terms of our day to day operation it is still very much business as usual at the moment. We are still operating at normal capacity, quoting on projects, organising research, and delivering our usual high level of service every day. In the event that the spread of Coronavirus would impact our ability to work from our office then we have contingencies in place to allow any of our team to work remotely, ensuring there would be no disruption to our services.

We have also implemented a number of measures to the way we’re working in an effort to mitigate the risk posed by Coronavirus to our participants, clients and research partners.

All screening material now includes questions which encourage participants to self-isolate and contact the relevant health authorities if they have either personally visited or been in contact with someone who has visited any of the most severely affected countries in the last 14 days. This is irrespective of whether they are displaying symptoms or not.

For participants who are due to take part in research we have implemented an SMS system to request that; “Given the evolving COVID-19 situation we request that, prior to attending any research, you follow the public health advice relevant to any recent travel you may have completed or symptoms you are experiencing.”

Additionally, we are providing all participants, interviewers and researchers with information on how they can practise good hand hygiene and advising them on how to minimise contact through social distancing and avoiding physical contact.

We have also been in constant communication with the many venues, interviewers and other suppliers that we work with to deliver our research services to ensure that all our following the latest advice on the ways to mitigate the impact of Coronavirus on our industry. Further information can be found via the MRS website here.

The main focus of our business is to plan for all eventualities but if you have any questions about current or future research projects that you would like assistance with then please do not hesitate to get in touch.

The Acumen team are ready to help.

LAST UPDATED: 11/03/2020 – 16:00

 

For the past four weeks the team at Acumen have been probing public opinion throughout the UK with a string of surveys to coincide with the upcoming General Election. The surveys, which were sent out to a database of over 110,000 market research participants courtesy of the team at Research Opinions, quizzed the British people about their views on everything from the prospective leaders, the party manifestos and the big issues facing the nation.

The surveys scrutinised two key areas of public attitude; how well each of the party leaders were perceived to be doing and which political party the public were intending to vote for. In addition to this we asked key questions on a range of issues which arose organically throughout the election cycle with each survey timed to gather responses at significant milestones over the past four weeks – such as the leaders debate and the release of the party manifestos.

Having access to such a large pool of potential participants from right across the UK gave us a significant advantage. Additionally, as the participants on the Research Opinions database have all opted in to participate in market research, it also meant we had a community who were engaged and willing to share their opinions. From this we were able to return results for a large sample of the population, from across the UK, and then track shifting attitudes towards the leaders and their parties as events unfolded throughout the election cycle.

Key Trends

The findings of our research showed an early lead for the Conservative party in the week following the announcement of a General Election, with the Conservatives proving to be more popular across the UK by 2-3{507235cd7bf177eea4c9d7ffa05443f1fb50bb3c683fc377ad5ed86dac05d456}. However, this lead seemed to plateau while Labour, who were initially trailing behind the incumbent government, began to increase their support with a steady upsurge in people stating their willingness to support Labour over successive surveys on 20th November, 27th November and 3rd December. This culminated in the Labour party taking a small lead over the Conservative party with 39{507235cd7bf177eea4c9d7ffa05443f1fb50bb3c683fc377ad5ed86dac05d456} of people stating their intention to vote for a Labour government and 36{507235cd7bf177eea4c9d7ffa05443f1fb50bb3c683fc377ad5ed86dac05d456} for the Tories.

While this seems to contradict many other pre-existing or established polls, we have seen a more consistent voting intention with regards to both the Liberal Democrats and the Brexit Party; with the latter losing support, possibly due to the arrangement with the Conservatives not to contest specific seats. This might also be key to any possible interpretations of the data as it’s not just the Brexit Party who have discussed tactical voting tactics in specific constituencies. Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Green Party have all spoken at local levels about the need to vote tactically in a bid to forestall a Tory win.

The ‘least worst’ option

This idea of people potentially voting for their ‘least worst’ option may be at least partially substantiated by the results to another key question we tracked over the past 4 weeks. In addition to asking people about their voting intentions we also wanted to understand peoples’ perceptions of the leaders. The specific question we asked was to rate each leader’s performance in their role so far, with 4 graded options.

Taking all of the data together it paints a dim view of the leaders with Boris Johnson’s performance declining, but still maintaining, a lead. Jeremy Corbyn by contrast saw a minor increase in his performance rating but was still seen less favourably by the majority of the people we surveyed. Nigel Farage and Jo Swinson also received significant negative responses to the question of their performance. This, to some extent, could suggest a high level of apathy towards the potential leaders of the UK even among voters who have been highly engaged with the political process and the repeated surveys they’ve wanted to participate in.

Swing votes

Away from the broader view of the candidates we were also able to determine the public approval within their core audiences; specifically, the people who have stated their intention to back either the Conservatives or Labour. Within those groups the Conservative electorate were least likely to rate Johnsons performance negatively with 88{507235cd7bf177eea4c9d7ffa05443f1fb50bb3c683fc377ad5ed86dac05d456} praising his performance and 12{507235cd7bf177eea4c9d7ffa05443f1fb50bb3c683fc377ad5ed86dac05d456} viewed it critically. In contrast Corbyn managed to achieve a 76{507235cd7bf177eea4c9d7ffa05443f1fb50bb3c683fc377ad5ed86dac05d456} approval score while 23{507235cd7bf177eea4c9d7ffa05443f1fb50bb3c683fc377ad5ed86dac05d456} rated him badly. The view from both Liberal Democrat voters and The Brexit Party was somewhat more mixed with only 6{507235cd7bf177eea4c9d7ffa05443f1fb50bb3c683fc377ad5ed86dac05d456} of Liberal Democrat voters rating Boris Johnson positively and 13{507235cd7bf177eea4c9d7ffa05443f1fb50bb3c683fc377ad5ed86dac05d456} of sharing a similar view of Jeremy Corbyn. Meanwhile 74{507235cd7bf177eea4c9d7ffa05443f1fb50bb3c683fc377ad5ed86dac05d456} of Brexit Party voters approved of Johnson’s performance versus 100{507235cd7bf177eea4c9d7ffa05443f1fb50bb3c683fc377ad5ed86dac05d456} disapproving of Corbyn’s.

There may be no surprises in any of these numbers for people who’ve been following the twists and turns of the General Election over the past four weeks, but it does seem to indicate that while people might be stating their broad support, perhaps one of the biggest obstacles facing each of the parties is that over their own leaders. How that materialises tomorrow in the voting booth remains to be seen. Some may set aside their personal dislike of the national candidates in favour of their stated party while others may choose to set aside party allegiance in order to secure a government which most closely reflects their political interests.

Is the end in sight?

It has been an intense period of debate with many unforeseeable moments both propelling and pulling down on the fortunes of all of the parties and their leaders. With 24 hours remaining there are still potential twists that could provide for a surprise ending but, from our perspective, it could also be something we’ve already seen before.

We’re getting into the festive spirit in the Acumen office with a Christmas campaign that’s sure to get you in the mood in the run up to the big day.

With only 15 working days left until we wrap up for Christmas, we’ll be running a competition where you can win prizes which include the Amazon Echo Plus, a Jo Malone Cracker, 3 Months of Fresh Flowers delivered right to your desk and a Luxury Spa Day for Two!

All you need to do to win some of these fabulous prizes is go to our Team page each day and discover who has received a Christmas makeover. To reveal who it might be, simply click or hover over one of the team pictures to animate the GIF and, if you’ve found the right one, you should see one of the Acumen team with some eye-popping animation on their GIF.

To enter into our daily prize draw simply email the name of the person you think it is to enquiries@acumenfieldwork.com

Winners will be selected at random and notified by email.

Good Luck!