Market Research

Market Research

Market Research

We are an in-house market research team / consultancy with a broad and varied remit. Our mission is to provide market insight and intelligence to inform business decision making across the University. We could be discussing our new prospectus designs with prospective undergraduates one day and analysing the data from a staff survey the next.

What we do

Much of our work is in-house. We manage surveys, run focus groups and conduct secondary research. We also co-ordinate projects with external research agencies in instances where there’s a need, such as a specialist target audience, or when fieldwork is conducted internationally.

How we work

We have expertise in both quantitative and qualitative methods. We typically use quantitative methodologies, like surveys, to generate reliable data sets where we need robust numbers to be confident in our findings. We use qualitative approaches such as focus groups to answer more complex research questions and gain in-depth understanding of issues. We also make use of secondary data sources, such as HESA, and conduct desk research to help us understand the market.

Our clients

Approximately one half of our work is connected in some way to student recruitment, whether that is understanding the prospective student decision making journey, evaluating an Open Day or portfolio development. Additionally, we conduct regular and ad hoc work for many other Departments and Services across the University, including Residential Services, HR and the Guild. Recently we have started working with academics that previously would outsource market research activities to external agencies.

Who we are

We have two full-time and one part time researcher, plus a full time data analyst in the team.