DJS Research Ltd

In the chilling aftermath of a 1960s military coup that birthed Indonesia's 30-year dictatorship, "Behave" by Robert Sapolsky recounts the ghastly tale of a writer stumbling upon a horrifying rumour. Amidst the regime's merciless reign, a paramilitary group orchestrated village massacres with an unthinkable twist – they brought along a traditional orchestra. Curiosity driving him, the writer confronted a veteran, who chillingly confirmed the sinister truth: the musicians and instruments were there "to make it more beautiful".

As someone interested in people’s behaviour that statement is about as fascinating as it gets. One behaviour, horrifying in every way, can be transformed in the minds of those performing it merely by manipulating the context within which it is taking place.

Before my PR department place an embargo on this article going out, I shall dispense with the barbarism and focus on the behavioural lessons.

The fascinating thing when it comes to the environment or context in which we all live is that we rarely realise how much it is impacting our decision making as we go about our daily lives.

Given its undeniable capacity to wield such influence, it begs the question: what exactly constitutes context?

To those interested in the design of behavioural interventions this isn’t merely an interesting question, it is a crucial one which is imbued with a great amount of nuance and complexity.

Zap, crackle and pop, beware a voltage drop

Failure to appreciate context’s implications is a key reason behind the challenges faced when translating or scaling findings from one domain to another or moving from tightly controlled laboratory experiments to broader implementations.

Neatly termed a "voltage drop", this discrepancy can often be credited to a difference in the context and/or populations in which behavioural interventions are being implemented.

But how can you dissect context? Is it even possible? Or are we, as behavioural practitioners, destined to flail around in a soup of intervention-busting contextual factors just hoping that our planning leads to our intended behaviour change? If only there were a checklist at the disposal of applied behavioural scientists, aiding them in evaluating the transferability of an intervention across two different settings…

Well, in a valiant effort to add nuance to the concept of contextual differences by identifying its constituent parts, the behavioural boffins over at Behavioural Economics in Action at Rotman (BEAR) and BEworks have attempted to do just that and you can find a link to it at the bottom of this article.

A checklist!

Using seven popular interventions as a starting point, the researchers got busy identifying the elements of context across two kinds of variables – differences in the situation in which the intervention was delivered and received, and differences in the recipient population of the intervention.

Taking the first variable of interest: differences in the situation in which the intervention takes place and honing in on just one dimension of this - the physical environment - there are a host of possible contextual factors that the checklist covers. These include: temperature, lighting, noise level, colours in the environment, indoor or outdoor setting, seasonal ambiance, hours of sunshine…

And when it comes to differences in the populations targeted by interventions, a similar list of helpful contextual factors to consider are provided from demographics to psychological traits, states and beyond.

In summary, it is a timely and helpful reminder that the laws of human behaviour are highly context-dependent and with the potential number of contextual factors being so vast, this checklist provides a neat starting point from which to build.

Get a copy of the checklist here.

Despite the record number of signs ups to Veganuary this year¹ and 4.1million (14.3%) UK households following a vegan, vegetarian, pescatarian or flexitarian diet in 2023, recent data released by NIQ reveals the plant-based category in the UK is showing signs of a slowdown.

What’s going on? Was veganism just a passing fad, or have consumers just decided they are not ready to give up their bacon butties in 2023?

Our investigations indicate the cost-of-living crisis alongside a desire to eat less highly processed food are the more likely causes.

A recent poll by DJS Research revealed that 42% of consumers are putting fewer items in their shopping baskets and 53% are switching away from more expensive branded items for cheaper own label alternatives. Data from NIQ indicates this behaviour is even more pronounced amongst those who buy plant-based foods, with 73% of these consumers actively trying to make savings on their grocery bill. And according to the 2021 Good Food Institute report, the per-kilo price of plant-based alternatives is twice that of animal meats, so it’s perhaps no surprise that shoppers are becoming more price sensitive in the current economic climate.

Retailers are reporting a similar picture and plant-based ranges have shrunk by over 10% in the past six months across the big four supermarkets. The list of dairy-free and plant-based brands that have reduced the number of vegan products they produce is a long one … Innocent Drinks has discontinued its dairy-free coconut, almond and hazelnut flavoured smoothies, Heck is set to reduce its range of meat-free products from 10 to two², The Tofoo Co. has seen a 42.9% decrease in range volumes, while Unilever’s The Vegetarian Butcher contracted 31.6% of its lines in six months³, the vegan food company Meatless Farm, which was selling £11m worth of its plant-based mince, burgers and chicken breasts in 2021, has announced it will cease trading altogether⁴.

With so many new plant-based product launches and new meat-free brands entering the market in recent years, the plant-based category had become somewhat crowded, so perhaps some casualties are to be expected. However, Mintel reports that sales of meat alternatives are still forecast to “rise over the long term” and data from NIQ reveals that 38% of the UK population plans to replace meat-based meals with a vegan or vegetarian option at least once a week (generally described as flexitarians). This all suggests there is great potential in the category for brands delivering the products consumers want, at a price they are prepared to pay.

And what about the product; Mintel reports that many plant-based products fail to meet consumer expectations, only 31% of Americans who eat plant-based meat substitutes opt for these products because they enjoy the taste. In China, 36% of consumers say they’d eat more plant-based meat alternatives if they were less processed⁵. A scan of the meat-free fridges in the major supermarkets reveals many meat substitute products which are expensive, highly processed and with a low nutritional value; plant-based meat alternatives often contain more sodium than animal meats and some of them contain added sugars and bulking agents.

Brands in the plant-based food category need to ensure the needs and wants of consumers are baked into their product development, brand strategy, marketing communications and pricing strategy. And the brands which deliver healthy and nutritional product innovation, perhaps centred on whole plants rather that highly processed look-a-likes, might just find the answer to growth in this stagnating category.

Wellbeing and mental health are incredibly important to us at DJS Research and ensuring that our colleagues are working in a supportive and nurturing environment is central to everything we do, and to our employee-owned ethos. That is why this year, as well as our annual MyDJS employee engagement survey, we have set about checking in on our employee partners more specifically around wellbeing.

The Market Research Society has done a lot of work around wellbeing in recent years, including supporting an Opinium tracker survey to understand more about mental wellbeing in the sector. Towards the end of last year, more than 50 market research professionals met to hear the results of the  2022 Wellbeing in Research survey and talk about ways to improve wellbeing across the industry.

The survey highlighted that while there have been small improvements in mental health within the sector, with fewer researchers experiencing challenges compared to last year (83% versus 87%), there is still work to do.

Just 19% of the researchers who had experienced mental health issues said they had taken time off specifically look after their wellbeing, which although a marginal rise from 2021 (18%), is still greatly lower than the national average (41%). The study also found that the top barrier to researchers taking time off to look after their wellbeing, was ‘having too much work to do’ (52%).

Jane Frost CBE, CEO of MRS, said of the findings: “This research makes clear that many still struggle to act upon their stress or anxiety, a barrier that we need to break down. 

"It’s not just the right thing to do but staff that are happier are proven to perform with greater energy and more efficiently as well. In the midst of a cost-of-living crisis, it’s likely many will be feeling anxious and stressed, and as leaders in market research, we need to ensure we’re offering as much wellbeing support as we possibly can.”

Introducing our first DJS Wellbeing Survey

Indeed, on a mission to improve wellbeing within our own market research company, our inaugural DJS Wellbeing Survey sought to understand more about what personal and workplace wellbeing means to our partners, as well as how they currently perceive each. It also offered the opportunity to gauge which DJS Research wellbeing initiatives are working well in the eyes of our partners, and highlighted the areas which can be improved on – as well as some suggestions of 'how'.

The results revealed that 97% of colleagues polled believe that workplace wellbeing is important, with 88% of our DJS team saying they agree that DJS is dedicated to employee wellbeing. Seven in 10 said they agree that we provide useful support which aids wellbeing at work (70%), while more than three in five colleagues (65%) rate DJS’ current wellbeing offering as 'effective'.

At DJS Research we have a dedicated Wellbeing Team as well as mental health first aiders who are there to support employees if they are experiencing emotional distress or mental health problems, such as stress, anxiety or depression. Fact sheets are regularly shared covering a range of wellness topics, and we’ve also welcomed guest speakers (our most recent being on stress management) to help support our partners.  We encourage our partners to take an extended lunch for 'Wellness Wednesday' (or whenever suits), as well as offering online yoga sessions and regular coffee and cake days at the office where we can connect with colleagues face-to face.  To add to that, we’ve introduced an early finish on a Friday (where possible) to help us all ease into the weekend!

In addition to what we’re doing already, our survey has given us some great ideas for exploring future wellbeing initiatives and to look at how we can improve the day-to-day for our company partners. It’s good to know also, that there are already many areas in which we’re getting wellness support right and our partners recognise our efforts in this area.

Listening to our employees and valuing their opinions has always been important to DJS Research, and since becoming employee-owned in 2021 on our 20^th anniversary, we have introduced even more ways of hearing their voices. As well as our annual MyDJS survey (which has recently been completed for 2023), our EO Voice panel allows all employees to have a say in how we do things, share feedback and ideas, and help shape the future direction of the company.

Speaking about our DJS Wellbeing Survey, Research Director, Ali Sims said:

“Employee wellbeing has always been important to us at DJS Research and is growing in importance so we’re continually striving to look for ways we can support our employee partners in this area. We launched our first DJS Wellbeing Survey to see what wellbeing means to our partners, as well as what we’re getting right, and more importantly, where we can improve.  The results show that our efforts are being recognised and our partners feel supported in many areas. It’s also given us plenty of food for thought; things we need to look at in more detail and some great ideas of how we can make things even better.”

For more insight into what it’s like to work for our supportive, employee-owned company, take a look here: ‘What it’s really like to work at DJS Research’ to see how we roll…

Research Director, Rebecca Green was invited to speak at the Visitor Studies Group Conference in London earlier this year, alongside Rachel Collins, the marketing lead from Wellcome Collection, on the topic of taking a more inclusive approach to audience segmentation.

The event took place in May 2023 with delegates coming together from across the UK cultural sector (and beyond) to share and reflect on experiences of developing inclusive visitor studies practice.

The conference sought to “explore the role of research and evaluation in championing equity and accessibility, and looked at how evaluation can be used as a tool in efforts to foster a sense of belonging and welcome for visitors of diverse backgrounds.”

DJS Research and Wellcome Collection -- Taking a more inclusive approach to audience segmentation

Rebecca and Rachel presented a case study titled 'Taking a more inclusive approach to audience segmentation' about the development of a new audience segmentation system for Wellcome Collection, that aligns with its intention to “embed AD&I into every aspect of Wellcome Collection” and reduce barriers for d/Deaf, disabled, neurodivergent and racially minoritised people.

During their presentation together they discussed how Wellcome Collection scoped and commissioned its segmentation and how the Wellcome team worked with DJS Research to gather data and develop segments in an inclusive way as well as their experience of embedding inclusive practice when commissioning and delivering visitor research.

What approach did they take?

Segments were not built based on the characteristics of priority audiences, instead, exploratory research was used to understand the specific considerations for these audiences. Priority audiences were oversampled to ensure their representation in the data and inclusive methods were used to ensure priority audiences could participate.

Research perspectives were gathered from a cross section of departments and teams; physical and digital audiences, generalist and specialist users, people from a range of racially marginalised groups, and d/Deaf, disabled and neurodivergent people.

The five key takeaways from the project were to:

• Budget for expert advice
• Build in a plurality of voices
• Design flexibly: allow scope to adapt your research tools as well as your methods
• Allow time for discussion and critique
• Be prepared to confront your own prejudices and pre-conceptions

Speaking about the event, Rebecca said:

“It was fantastic to spend the day with so many talented, enthusiastic audience researchers. Culture is a sector that’s often short-changed on time and resources, so it was inspiring to hear people’s creative approaches to making research more and a timely reminder that we have a responsibility to actively advance equity within our professional practice.”

The event also gave Rebecca many thoughts and ideas about audience engagement and the importance of equity.

“I was reminded about how much can be learned outside of the 'conventional' or 'gold standard' research methods. Proportionality is important (doing evaluation suitable to the scale of the overall project) and meaningful audience engagement is more important than confidence intervals or margins of error,” she said.

“I was challenged to think about the limits of my own practice, what I can’t do as a cis White university-educated woman, and what I shouldn’t attempt to do. For me, the most compelling stories in the conference came from museum and gallery professionals working with members of under-represented and under-served communities as their guides and facilitators. This approach provides re-assurance and understanding for participants and also ensures that the voices of those communities are fully heard and understood without being heavily filtered through the project commissioner’s culture.

“And this in turn brings me back to the importance of equity across society. Museums and galleries are often acutely aware that their workforces lack diversity (one excellent article among many can be viewed here) and market research, particularly outside the capital, faces similar challenges. It would be easy to see these are separate issues, but actually, they’re closely connected. We can’t be inclusive researchers unless and until we’re inclusive employers, managers, leaders and teammates.”

Also speaking at the event were researchers from Imperial War Museum, Wallace Collection; University College London; Science Museum Group and The Social Investment Consultancy; R&A World Golf Museum; Royal Crown Derby Museum; and the V&A Museum.

We're delighted to welcome Matt Bristow back to DJS Research, our latest 'boomerang' returner who has joined the company as a Research Director, after eight years with Ipsos. 

Matt brings with him a wealth of experience in delivering research projects across the public and third sectors and has particular expertise in conducting research with vulnerable audiences, as well as large scale public consultations and engagement.  

Initially joining DJS Research in 2010 as a Senior Research Executive, Matt worked out of our (much smaller) Whalley Bridge office and left shortly after we moved to our current Strines Headquarters (even helping to move some of the furniture!).

Since that time, we've seen a huge number of changes at DJS Research, including a second office open in Leeds (2017) and more recently, the expanision of our remote worker network. Other huge news has been the company changing structure on our 20th birthday in 2021, from family-owned to an employee-owned model, making staff majority shareholders and company partners. 

Matt's return sees him joining other ‘boomerang’ partners and former colleagues including former Research Manager, Sarah Smith, who has returned as Training Lead for our new JRE programme, and Maya Winter who has returned to her role as Research Manager.

Speaking about his new role as Research Manager, Matt said: 

“Whilst at Ipsos I always looked on with interest as DJS continued to grow and its recent move into employee ownership was a statement about how much value they place on their staff, something which I already knew about from my first stint at the company but which they had continued to prioritise. This also coincided with me being eager for a new challenge, an organisation that would trust and give me autonomy to develop my business areas of interest and support me to do so. It therefore felt the time was right to return and try and hopefully play a role in the next phase of the company’s journey.”

His new role will see him focus on developing and growing our already well-established public sector research offer.

Al Gleed, Managing Director of DJS Research said:

“Our employee-owned status is really helping us to attract the most talented people, and it is particularly satisfying when our previous employees return to the DJS fold after gaining a different perspective elsewhere. Matt is a very talented researcher and also a nice guy to have around so I’m delighted to see him back. Welcome home Matt!”

On the 29th June 2023 we celebrated our 2nd anniversary of becoming employee-owned!

Our newly formed social committee organised the whole-company get together at the pavilion space close to our Cheshire head office, where we enjoyed wood-fired pizza made on-site in the late afternoon sunshine.

It was great to see so many faces and toast our journey so far as an EO market research company, and everything we've achieved together as partners. And for those who couldn't make it this time, our socials team sent them a Just Eat or Deliveroo voucher, so while they couldn't be there in person, at least their tastebuds could have a nice treat!

Since becoming employee owned on July 1st 2021 (on our 20th birthday!) we have done so much to embrace employee ownership, and all partners are helping to shape the future direction of the company.

Together we have co-created our Strategic Plan and Partners' Charter, and our partners' voices have affected change across the business in a range of areas.

Wellbeing has been a big focus with a number of initiatives introduced (longer lunches, fact sheets, mental health first-aiders and yoga, to name just a few..), as well as peer groups set up, mentoring schemes and buddies for new starters. We also wanted to tackle some of the root causes, and so we put a focus on recruitment to support workload, with 51 new starters across all areas of the business welcomed in the last two years!

Embedding the principles of EO 

The principles of EO are being embedded in everything we do, and we're being encouraged to think like owners at every opportunity. In the last year we have received financial training to understand more about how a business is run, and have been consulted regularly via EO Voice and our annual MyDJS Engagement and Wellbeing surveys to give feedback and share ideas. 

Following feedback from our Employee Engagement Survey, all DJS Partners received a pay and pension increase in 2023, as well as a tax-free EO bonus -- which is another great benefit of our EO status!

While we have covered so much ground in such a short space of time, and there is so much to be proud of, one of our absolute EO highlights has been winning the Employee Ownership Association's award for Delivering Good Engagement, presented to us at the annual EO Conference in Liverpool. 

James de le Vingne; CEO of the Employee Ownership Association, said following our win:

"It has been wonderful to see how positively everyone at DJS has responded to becoming employee owned and I was delighted to see this recognised in at the EOA awards in Liverpool.  It’s no surprise to the EOA that DJS are accelerating through the early stages and transitioning so smoothly, you have invested wisely in developing excellent communications and created a framework that enables everyone across the business to embrace their new roles as employee owners.  Congratulations to you all."

Sifting through my emails early one Wednesday morning, I received a short, but joyous email. It was from our Operations Manager of CATI Services, Michelle Flanagan, and it simply said: “Can we do a piece on how fabulous my team are?”.  

I leaned back in my chair, smiled, and thought, ‘how brilliant is this!’, before pinging back a definitive "YES!". Absolutely.

Part of the culture here at DJS, particularly since becoming employee-owned, is to celebrate our colleagues and their achievements, and appreciate everyone’s contribution to the bigger picture. And there's no doubt that CATI Services plays a huge role in the company's bigger picture.

Since the pandemic, CATI has changed the way it operates, transforming from an in-house team based at our offices in Strines to fully-remote with around 60 interviewers based around the UK -- and even as far as Spain (thank-you, Tricia!). 

Collectively, in the last year, they have surveyed over 20,000 participants from around the globe, dialling around 70,000 numbers and interviewing in several languages (French, Spanish Italian, German and Bulgarian to name a few).

Michelle, who herself was a CATI interviewer before moving to head up the unit, knows first hand how hard the team works, and sees their dedication every day. While she could have sent thank you cards (we launched a peer-to-peer scheme last year, with 109 cards sent out to date!), she wanted to go one step further, and tell the world how great her colleagues are. And so we put togther a little video to celebrate our brilliant CATI Services team, with Michelle's top 5 reasons why CATI ROCKS! 

CATI and beyond…

CATI Services has also been the start of careers elsewhere at DJS Research, with around 20 interviewers side-stepping into research, data or joining the CATI management team.

CATI alumni Maggie Shelley last year moved from her role as principal interviewer into the research team, and has found her CATI training invaluable.

"Making the transition from CATI to research support was relatively straightforward and really enjoyable,” she said.

“In my role as a CATI interviewer, I did quite a few depth interviews and script checking -- and a lot of script timings. It taught me many of the skills I'm now using in research."

If you’d like to know more about working for our CATI Team as a telephone interviewer, take a look here and get in touch!

As inflation in the UK rose to 10.4% in February, a recent survey conducted by DJS Research of more than 1600 UK citizens aged 16 years + (using our in-house panel, Opinion Exchange), revealed that more than four in ten households (42%) are greatly affected by the current cost of living crisis, with a further 55% stating they too are slightly or moderately affected.

We’ve all heard the old adage ‘we’re all in the same boat’ of course, but a closer look at the data shows that while we might all be living through the same storm, some boats are struggling with the inclement conditions better than others!

Millennials are most likely to report they are greatly affected by the cost of living crisis (54%) compared to other generations, while Baby Boomers and the Silent Generation are most likely to say they haven’t been affected at all (5% and 9% respectively). To continue with the weather analogy, Millennials face a perfect storm of lifestyle and fiscal factors which results in them being disproportionately affected by the current crisis. Inflation and rising living costs are outpacing wage growth for many, but Millennials who are also more likely to be experiencing higher student loan debts, higher housing costs (rent and mortgage payments) and lower levels of savings than previous generations, can have less flexibility in their disposable incomes to manage any additional expenditure pressures. This is coupled with the fact that Millennials (particularly at the upper end of the age range) are likely to have young children at home and are then faced with average costs for a full-time nursery place for a child under two of £14,836 per annum, up nearly 6% over the past year (according to a report by the charity Coram). Indeed, our survey also reveals both women (47%), and those with children under eighteen at home (51%), are also more likely to say they are greatly affected by the cost of living crisis.

When it comes to managing the impact of these increased costs, around two-thirds of citizens are cutting back on their heating (65%) and electricity consumption (65%) in a bid to lessen the impact of utility cost increases over the past year. A similar proportion are cutting back on eating out (63%) and more than half (55%) are ordering fewer takeaways, a figure which is higher still amongst Millennials (70% eating out less and 66% ordering fewer takeaways).

Retail is also being squeezed as consumers try to make savings; more than half (54%) are buying clothing and accessories less frequently and in grocery four in ten consumers (42%) are adding fewer items to their basket of goods and half are buying fewer branded food and drink items (53%), opting for cheaper own labels options. Personal care and beauty is also being cut back in an effort to make savings, with 40% spending less in this category. A third of consumers (34%) are also spending less on electronics and appliances at this time.

The arts too is affected, with 38% reducing the number of trips they make to the cinema and 30% going to fewer concerts.

And just as the travel sector starts to recover from the devastating impact of Covid-19, more than a third of consumers (37%) state they are taking fewer holidays and when booking a holiday a third (32%) are spending less on their break. Day trips/days out are similarly affected with 42% planning fewer trips and a similar proportion (39%) spending less on day’s out/visits.

Slightly more encouragingly perhaps, fitness and sport are comparatively less likely to be impacted quite so significantly with just 17% planning to cancel a gym/fitness membership and 20% spending less on sporting equipment.

Which of the following are you doing to help manage your household finances during the cost of living crisis? (Top ten).

With the cost of living crisis predicted to continue for at least the remainder of 2023 in the UK (according to Experian), consumers are facing a challenging year ahead. So, what are organisations doing to support their customers? Which? reports that Asda is running a ‘kids eat for £1’ offer that has no requirement to buy an adult meal at the same time, while over 60s can also get soup and a bread roll for £1. Sainsbury’s has ‘feed your family for a fiver’ advice, while Iceland is offering 10% off on Tuesdays for shoppers over 60 years of age and an interest free loan scheme to help families pay for groceries over the school holidays. Both Boots and John Lewis have launched value ranges, with Boots’ offering items priced at £1.50 or less and the John Lewis ANYDAY range now expanded beyond homeware into fashion and children’s fashion. Finally, Co-op has partnered with Your Local Pantry to support communities and expand the network from 75 to 225 pantries in the UK over the next three years, increasing the number of subscribers who are able to make up savings of up to £1000 a year on their groceries.

As consumers continue to face the uncertainties of the cost of living crisis, value for money will be key when making any spending decisions and it will be the organisations who are perceived to be supporting them through this cost of living crisis who are likely to be rewarded with their custom, and perhaps longer term their loyalty.

For more information, or to find out about conducting bespoke research in your consumer sector, please contact Gill Redfern, Research Director at gredfern@djsresearch.com

Each year, the communications regulator Ofcom publishes a report examining media use, attitudes and understanding among children aged 3-17.  The ‘Children and Parents: Media Use and Attitudes’ report is an invaluable tool for policymakers and those working in the media industry as it allows us to see how the children’s media landscape is changing year on year.  I find it particularly useful for the work we do at DJS Research with children and young people as it helps to place our own research in a wider context.  That might be the research we do for media organisations, but also a whole range of other sectors and topics such as children’s mental health.

Dramatic and stimulating video grabs attention

One of the things that particularly interested me about this year’s report is the type of content that children and young people are drawn to.  The qualitative element to the research reveals an increased appetite for ‘dramatic’ content and explains that “gossip, conflict, extreme challenges, high stakes and often large sums of money were key features.”   Furthermore, the type of videos being watched online by the children in the research are described as “heavily edited to be very fast-paced, jumpy and stimulating.”   Children are faced with so much choice and these types of videos are helping content-creators to stand out.

We know that children and young people prefer short-form videos and they can often be found multi-screening (e.g. watching a TV set and looking at a phone or tablet) but the report also highlights a new trend in ‘split-screening’.  This is where “two short-form videos have been edited to play on a single screen, stacked on top of one another.”   Sometimes the two videos are related, for example an influencer commenting on or reacting to another video, but sometimes they appear unrelated.

Fact vs. Fiction

Both the qualitative and quantitative elements of the research explore the role of social media in detail, and how it is often used as a key source of information and news.  Ofcom’s News Consumption Survey found that almost three in ten children aged 12-15 used TikTok as a news source in 2022 (28%), up from 22% in 2021.     However, children are not always able to distinguish between fact and fiction.  Ofcom asked children aged 12-17 to review two social media posts – one real and one fake, and the results are cause for concern:

“Twenty-three per cent of children aged 12-17 who had claimed to be confident in their ability to differentiate between real and fake online, failed to identify the profile as fake. Although this proportion was down from 27% in 2021, it still means that nearly a quarter were overconfident in their ability, and in a position of potential vulnerability.”

Professional vs. personal spaces

YouTube continues to be the most used online platform among 3-17 year olds (88%), followed by WhatsApp (55%), Tik Tok (53%), Snapchat (46%), Instagram (41%) and Facebook (34%).  There are, of course, differences by age, although YouTube has a similar reach across all age groups.

The increasingly professionalised content on TikTok and Instagram feeds means fewer kids are likely to post content themselves on these platforms – perhaps as a result of feeling more self-conscious or unable to compete with the highly polished content they see.  A few years ago, we were more likely to see children creating their own content on these apps but now it appears to be a more passive experience. 

The qualitative research suggests children are making a clearer distinction between apps where they predominately consume more professional content (TikTok and Instagram) vs those for peer-to-peer interaction e.g., Snapchat and WhatsApp.   On the one hand it’s good to see children being more self-aware with regards to what they post in public, but it’s hard to feel positive about children spending time on apps that make them feel self-conscious rather than creative.   What particularly worries me (not least of all as a parent) is the move of peer-to-peer interaction into more private spaces.   The research highlights that children do not always know everyone in their group chats and there is no moderation of what they might be exposed to.

The importance of research

Conducting research with children and young people is so important - it’s the only way we can really understand how they are spending their time online and how they feel about it.  The children’s media landscape is constantly evolving and I love testing content for clients and talking about the fun stuff, but I also really value being part of the conversation to keep the next generation safe online.

If you’d like to chat more about research with children and young people please contact Helen Menzies, Research Director, at hmenzies@djsresearch.com

We would like to congratulate Olivis Holt for passing the MRS Advanced Certificate in Market and Social Research Practice!

Olivia has been studying for the qualification alongside her role as a Senior Research Executive and has been supported in her studies by The Research Academy. 

The MRS advanced certificate is the "leading, fastest growing, degree level vocational qualification for the research sector", according to the Market Research Society and gives candidates the opportunity to learn and understand all of the principles underpinning all stages in the research process, and to develop the skills required to enable them to design and carry out key research tasks. 

The MRS Advanced Certificate at DJS Research is open to executives with around 18 months of research experience and our researchers have support from The Research Academy -- an external body that helps guide the learning and studying for the certificate, providing tutors, and much more. 

Managing Director of DJS Research, Al Gleed, said: "The MRS Advanced Certificate provides a fantastic grounding in research so we’re very happy to support our people if they want to complete it. It takes some commitment and it is not easy - so to pass, especially with a merit, is brilliant. Well done Olivia!" 

DJS Founder and Chairman, Danny Sims, also commented: "Brilliant news Olivia! Really well done. It is some achievement - and not easy to pass at all!! You continue to go from strength to strength."

The Research Academy's Mia Lorenz also offered her congratulations, saying: "Congrats, Olivia, you smashed it! We're all incredibly proud of you and look forward to following what will surely be a stellar career! Danny Sims, you have a knack of hiring some very bright sparks!"

We asked Olivia to share a few words about her experience studying for the qualification and she told us: "Whilst studying for the MRS Advanced Certificate alongside working my day job was challenging, I’m glad I took the plunge and decided to do it! Studying for the certificate has definitely filled gaps in my knowledge and has taught me more about different methodologies that I’ll continue to use in the future. Thank you DJS for giving me the opportunity and support needed to complete the certification."

Olivia is the first executive to achieve the certificate since partnering with The Research Academy. We currently have two other Research Executives studying for the qualification too -- so watch this space! 

Last year, DJS Research conducted a study on behalf of the Royal Academy of Engineering, which 1,657 engineers participated in. Our full report has now been published alongside the Academy’s commentary ‘Inclusive Cultures in Engineering 2023’.

According to our research, three-quarters of engineers believe that inclusion in engineering has improved over the past five years. However, underrepresented groups (such as those from Black, Asian or minority ethnic backgrounds or LGBTQ+ engineers) continue to report experiencing a profession where microaggressions are overlooked, and bullying, discrimination and harassment still occur. To address these issues, employers, professional institutions, and the Academy itself must all play a key role in fostering inclusive cultures and making engineering a truly inclusive profession to work in.  

Since the Academy published our report, the work has gained a lot of interest and traction from several industry publications and press from both the engineering and professional research sectors (including Including New Civil Engineer, E&T Magazine and  Research Professional News). 

Rachel Hancock, DJS Research Associate Director who worked on the project, said:

 “It was a pleasure to work with the Academy on this research project which aimed to delve deeper into the experiences of professionals working in the engineering sector. With Diversity & Inclusion being an increasingly important topic across various industries, we are pleased to see our research generating interest and attention.  Our hope is that the findings from this study will spark meaningful conversations around how progress can be made in creating a more inclusive culture in engineering.”

See the published report here: Inclusive Cultures in Engineering 2023’.

Wellbeing and mental health are incredibly important to us at DJS Research and ensuring that our colleagues are working in a supportive and nurturing environment is central to everything to do – and to our employee-owned ethos. That is why this year, as well as our annual MyDJS engagement survey, we have set about checking in on our employee partners more specifically around wellbeing. 

The Market Research Society itself has done a lot of work around wellbeing in recent years, including conducting a survey with Opinium to understand more about mental wellbeing in the sector. Towards the end of last year, more than 50 market research professionals gathered to hear the results of the 2022 Mental Wellbeing in Research survey and talk about ways to improve wellbeing across the industry.

The survey, which polled 706 market research and insight professionals, highlighted that while there have been small improvements in mental health within the industry with fewer researchers experiencing poor mental health and stress compared to in 2021 (83% versus 87%), there is still work to do. 

Just 19% of the researchers who had experienced mental health issues said they had taken time off specifically look after their wellbeing, with 'having too much work to do’ (52%), revealed as the greatest barrier to doing so.

The survey also found that people working in market research were more reluctant to take time off from work for their wellbeing than in other UK industries. While the proportion of market researchers who experienced poor mental health and went on to take time off work to rest has increased marginally since 2021 (19% up from 18%), it is still greatly lower than the national average (41%). 

When looking at reasons why market researchers are hesitant to take time off work for their mental health, the top reason cited was 'believing it wasn't bad enough to take a day off work' (60%).

Introducing our first DJS Wellbeing Survey

On a mission to improve wellbeing within our own market research company, our inaugural DJS Wellbeing Survey sought to understand more about what personal and workplace wellbeing means to our partners, as well as how they currently perceive their personal and workplace wellbeing. It also offered the opportunity to gauge which DJS Research wellbeing initiatives are working well in the eyes of our partners, as well as the areas which can be improved on – and some suggestions of how!

The results revealed that 97% of colleagues polled believe that workplace wellbeing is important, with 88% of our DJS team agreeing that DJS is dedicated to employee wellbeing and 70% agreeing that we provide useful support which aids wellbeing at work.

At DJS Research we currently have mental health first aiders who regularly check in and remind us that they are there to support us with any difficulties, information sheets that are shared with partners and cover a range of wellness topics, as well as regular yoga sessions, guest speakers (our most recent being on stress management), an extended lunch for 'Wellness Wednesday', and regular coffee and cake days at the office. We have also introduced an early finish on a Friday (wherever possible) to help us ease into the weekend…

The survey has given us some great ideas for exploring future wellbeing initiatives and for looking at how we can improve the day-to-day for our company partners. It’s good to know also, that there are already many areas in which we’re getting wellness support right and our partners recognise our efforts in this area.

Listening to our employees and valuing their opinions has always been important to DJS Research, and since becoming employee-owned in 2021 on our 20^th anniversary, we have introduced even more ways of hearing their voices. As well as our annual MyDJS survey (which has recently been completed for 2023), our Employee Voice panel allows all employees to have a say in how we do things, share feedback and ideas, and help shape the future direction of the company.

For more insight into what it’s like to work for our supportive, employee-owned company  take a look here: ‘What it’s really like to work at DJS Research’ to see how we roll…

In another life my wife would have made a fantastic member of the paparazzi. Not because she loves hiding in bushes, but because she has a knack for taking unflattering snaps of me whilst I’m lost in my own world.

Take this less than insta-ready picture she snapped one past weekend, I assume, to commemorate all the fun I'm told we were having. It was only when she rushed over to show me her handywork that something occurred to me – see if you can spot it.

No, no, not the unbridled joy plastered across my face. It was the height of the tables – I mean look at them!

I couldn’t help but wonder whether this store was missing something by having tables of the shin-height variety.

With time on my side, I pulled out my phone and started to investigate…

The mere ownership effect describes how people tend to value what they own more than what they do not own. However, research also shows how the mere act of picking up a product can increase our sense of perceived ownership and subsequently the valuation we place on that object.

Notably, researchers out of the US measured participants’ perceived ownership of certain objects (e.g., a slinky and a mug, of all things) via a three-item set of 7-point scales, having checked beforehand that no one owned either object prior to the experiment[1].

The outcome: intriguingly, relative to a no touch condition, object touch led to greater perceived ownership of the objects, which in turn led to higher valuations of the objects too!

Down the rabbit hole…

Whilst *blissfully* waiting for my wife to finish up so that we could *happily* move on to store number six, I began to delve into the fascinating world of haptic research; that is, the study of human touch sensing.

Application after application came to the fore in ways that people rarely stop to appreciate during the course of their busy lives. When I got home, I jumped back into Charles Spence’s Sensehacking, which pointed out a number of examples of just how much more important touch is than we often realise:

The sheer amount of information conveyed through touch, from texture, hardness, temperature, and weight is so vast when you stop and think about it. And yet my own escapades suggest that not all stores appear to incorporate this into their layouts. Or, alternatively, could it be that the store in question has found that people are more inclined to bend and touch when they encounter smaller tables? All I know is that the store's workers weren't able to shed any light on this conundrum...and that you're looked at as a madman for asking about it.

Given that people often like to take the easiest route when completing a given action, such tweaks to stores may be something worth considering as it could promote people's propensity to run their hands over items as they walk by...and boost their levels of perceived ownership and value in the process.

“Seizing and freezing” and the perils of expertise when seeking creative behavioural solutions

When trying to solve a sticky behavioural problem I have, on occasion, found myself in meetings where the most senior attendees perform the verbal equivalent of Usain Bolt at the London Olympics. They seem to have a ready to go solution on the tips of their tongues, all whilst my own synapses are slowly untangling an optimum route from a host of possibilities.

In his book The Power of Ignorance, Dave Trott quotes an American ex-Diplomat who characterised this phenomenon best, with the line: “Most people approach every problem with an open mouth”. Indeed, the need to be first in offering up a solution appears to have become a contest in boardrooms nowadays, whilst the need to mull over or (heaven forbid!) express ignorance has become synonymous with weakness.

In the world of behaviour change, is this a red flag?

On the surface, senior people being able to generate ‘the best’ solutions doesn’t sound all that controversial. After all, the speed with which information can be retrieved from complex interrelated networks of information is what separates out experts from novices. Cleary then, expertise when tackling any problem can be incredibly useful.

In acquiring expertise however, it is easy to fall into the expert’s trap. Eric Dane from Rice University calls this entrenchment, whereby the more domain specific expertise one acquires, the more they risk losing their ability to creatively problem solve owing to the fact that the hard-fought accrual of knowledge subsequently gives rise to an inflexibility of thinking, with new information being ignored or shoehorned into places it shouldn’t be, often rapidly so.    

Troublingly, quickly formed opinions have been shown to often be flawed. Take the below, which is from Jonah Sachs’ wonderful book, Unsafe Thinking:

“Imagine we make a wager. I will show you a partially blurred image, and you have to guess what it is. You know that about half the people who have seen this blurred image before you have identified it correctly. So it’s a fair bet. But now I add a wrinkle. You can choose between two ways of seeing the image. In the first option, we’ll start with the partially blurred image, and it will slowly dissolve into extreme blurriness. Then you’ll guess. Or you can choose the opposite. We’ll begin at extreme blur and slowly proceed to the partially blurred state. Which would you choose? And do you think it matters?”

The results, it turns out, are interesting…

Those who go from partial blurriness into extreme blurriness get it right 50% of the time whereas those who go from extreme blurriness into partial blurriness get it right only 25% of the time!

The results are due to a phenomenon known as “seizing and freezing”, which Sachs points out occurs when people’s need for closure results in them seizing on an early solution and freezing on it, even when faced with contradictory evidence that their decisions might not be working out.

This phenomenon tends to befall those who value certainty in their answers to questions and who are less comfortable with haziness and ambiguity, they just can’t help but lurch to a response. This may be problematic in the world of behaviour change where, as Rory Sutherland says, there are far more good ideas out there that we can post-rationalise than there are good ideas that we can pre-rationalise.

All is not lost…

So, if expertise can shackle us and the need for urgent closure can misguide us, what’s to do? Well, according to Sachs, in order to combat the inflexibility that can seep into our thinking, one antidote may be embracing the unknown and getting out of our comfort zones. By placing ourselves in the unfamiliar, our attachment to a single mode of processing new information is loosened and we’re forced to spend more time as explorers rather than experts and enhance our abilities to know a bit about many things.*

Something else I also like to do to deter this style of thinking, is to actively craft my project teams so that there is a diverse range of thinking onboard. That way, as long as a culture has been cultivated in which people feel able to speak up, you exponentially expand your team’s ability to think creatively.

In the behaviour change space then, clearly there is a place for expertise when trying to formulate novel user-focused ideas for interventions, but relying on it and it alone can be self-limiting.

Whilst this article sheds some light on why this is and what we can do to combat its influence, let me know what other tips and tricks you have come across to boost creativity in your own teams…

* Sachs’ point reminds me of a BBC documentary I watched many years ago about Andre Geim, a Professor at Manchester University who won the Nobel Prize in Physics for his 2010 discovery of Graphene (you can watch it here). What chimes with me here is Geim’s switching of fields that he has made a feature of his career and which has led to an originality of thinking many of his peers can only marvel at.

We're excited to share that we were asked to submit our story about our journey to employee ownership to the Employee Ownership Association to win a potential award!

And we would LOVE you to vote for us!

The awards celebrate the stories of employee-owned businesses and the impact they are having on employees, the performance of the business, and on the wider economy and society.

EO success stories across four categories

We were asked to share our story in the 'Delivering Good Engagement' category. Other categories include: 'Delivering Good Governance', 'Delivering Good Leadership', and 'Outstanding EO Culture'. 

The entries were submitted on the 24th June 2022, on EO DAY and voting is open until the 1st August. Winners will be featured at a celebration dinner at the EOA Conference in October!

If you'd like to vote for us we would really appreciate it.

Read more about it here and vote!

Do you remember a school trip from your childhood?  The joy and the excitement as you were finally released from the classroom, free from the unpleasant glare of teachers to have fun with your friends and make some memories...

Here at DJS Research we held our very own school trip on June 30^th as employees gathered from across the country at Drayton Manor Theme Park for a day of fun and meeting up with old friends and colleagues, and new ones.  DJS has very much embraced hybrid working over recent years and our staff are spread throughout the country.  It is not often we all meet up, but when we do we like to do it in style and a generous budget had been set aside.

The day got off to an early start as people began their journeys, but then we were all too excited to stay in bed anyway.  A large coach of reprobates set off from Strines with another pick up in Stockport.  A smaller coach captained by a lunatic driver set off from Leeds and then a number of passenger vehicles were launched from across the country.  Despite trying to choose a destination easiest for the majority, the shortest journey was 15 minutes and the longest was near to 5 hours. Kudos to the Kent CATI ladies, for their commitment and their 5am start!  It was nice to meet you all and thank you for making the effort.

We arrived at different exits it seems and the Strines coach was a little delayed by a longer than planned toilet stop, but with the expert day trip leadership of Kelly and her lieutenants we were herded together like one giant herd of cats and released into the park.  It did not matter to us one bit that the entire park had been taken over by 14-year-olds with just a few teachers in high viz, we were here to have fun and they were not to get in our way.

It takes many different types of people to make an agency and we are many different characters and temperaments.  Some sought out the scariest rides in their search for the buzz and kudos of the risk seeker.  Others were happy to take the more sedate approach and enjoyed a leisurely train ride round the park.  And yes, some spent the whole day in the pub, led by Alasdair Gleed our Managing Director and his happy band.  We are an open house at DJS and all are welcome to enjoy their day as suits them, as long as they meet the height requirement, look after themselves and don’t stand on any school children.

Lunch was a welcome respite from the craziness of the park.  We were treated to a fabulous array of hot foods, the likes of which you would not find on some street stall in the park.  While the 14-year-olds in the park had to make do with their plastic sandwich, we dined like kings and queens in our own space sat outside in the bright sunshine.  It was nice to mingle and reacquaint ourselves with each other and honestly, we could have stayed there all afternoon, but there were rides to go on and the 3 courses and alcohol we had consumed could only make those rides that bit more exciting.

My little band decided to head for Shockwave, the scariest ride in the whole park.  In this you are stood up, loosely strapped in and then launched onto a circuit where it stops mattering whether you are upside down or not because you have lost all sense of physical reality anyway.  The queue is essentially in an enclosed tower that runs up a few flights of stairs in an airless and windowless space and was in many ways worse than any ride, but we had to commit to the ride and we waited for quite some time.  Only for the closure of the damn ride to be announced!

Not to be deterred we went on some other rides (a very pleasant river trip being one), but constantly with an eye on Shockwave.  As dedicated researchers, many with years of training, we understand the value of insight and gathering constant intelligence on a situation and we were to be rewarded as the ride reopened, we legged it and beat the 14-year-olds right to the front of the queue!  I can’t tell you much about the ride though as I had my eyes firmly closed.

As the day drew to a close many of us had the same “clever” idea to go on the log flume.  For those of you unfamiliar with a log flume you basically sit in a log shaped vehicle and are repeatedly thrown down from a great height into a pool of water.  At no point does this ride hide the fact that you will get very wet.  Everyone leaving the riding is soaking from head to foot.  You can actually see the ride from outside it and see how wet people get.  It is an unashamedly wet, wet ride.

But despite the obviousness of all this we all thought it a good idea to go on this ride just before we were due to get back on the coach.  In my group I had the fortune of being sat behind quite a tall colleague and that shielded me from the first blast, but then of course the ride decided to go backwards and that’s when it all got very wet, and after a few more soakings there was no dry part of me left.  Even the drying tunnels we found could not eliminate the dampness we carried with us back to the coach and indeed into the rest of the evening and weekend.

Tired and damp, but happy, we returned to our vehicles and said our goodbyes, vowing to do it again soon just without the log flume bit and maybe at a time of year when 14-year-olds are busy.  At our last day trip in 2019 we had no idea what was round the corner. Many of us have been through so many highs and lows, wondering if we would make it through and that is still true of today. We do never know what the future will bring, we all know that.  But as long as we have each other and are willing to embrace the ride then I know we’ll all be OK.  Even if we do get a bit damp at times. 

It was such a pleasure to see you all and I look forward to the next time!     

We've been employee-owned one whole year! And what a great year it has been for the company...

After twenty years of organic, and often double-digit growth, we have continued to strengthen -- despite the challenges faced by the industry during the pandemic. Our growth was highlighted in the latest MRS Research Live Industry Report 2022 where we were named as one of the 'fastest growing individual agencies'.
 

Changes and improvements 

Immediately after becoming employee owned, we took a long hard look at ourselves to help us to identify how we could improve as a company and make DJS Research a better place to work.
 
We gathered feedback from staff across the business on our Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats and used it to help shape our strategic plan for the next two years. And we’ve already used our findings to implement a number of changes!
 
We could see from feedback that staff needed extra resource and support and so we invested in 30 new staff members across all levels and launched our new junior researcher programme. This is not only helping to support staff wellbeing in addition to our other initiatives (yoga, massage and wellbeing walks!) but is helping us to deliver our projects more efficiently. It's great to see that our partners appreciate this too – with 91% saying they believe that DJS Research cares about their wellbeing in our latest MyDJS survey.
 
We have also been listening to our employees through EO Voice. Every team within the company has an EO Voice representative which meets quarterly to discuss ideas, suggestions, and improvements for the company. These are fed back to either the DJS Research Board or our Trust Board...
 
The findings of our latest MyDJS employee engagement survey shows that 99% of our partners are happy with our EO status -- and 92% say they believe as a company we are going in the right direction.
 
We will be celebrating our one-year anniversary with a company-wide garden party this September. Another great opportunity to get the team together! 

There’s no getting around the fact that 2020 has been an extraordinary year. Since March, Coronavirus has impacted every area of life and like everybody else, we’ve had to respond pretty quickly to working in new ways. Our kitchens and living rooms have become our offices, board room meetings have gone digital, and we’ve been catching up with clients and colleagues via video apps. Despite the challenges and uncertainty, however, our company has adapted well to the crisis and we’re proud to say we still have all of our permanent staff in their roles and enjoying their work.

So, this year, for our DJS yearly review, we’re going to look for the positive moments in a crazy year. Believe it or not, there have been quite a few!

1. Another year of double-digit growth
2. Covid-19 and national lockdown
3. Face-to-face research was severely restricted but other methodologies have flourished, particularly CATI and online.
4. Our loyal, repeat and new clients continued to commission good levels of research with us
5. We secured a place on a number of new research frameworks
6. We conducted numerous pieces of research to help with the Covid-19 crisis
7. Our research outputs continue to have impact
8. We’ve seen lots of our work published and making headlines
9. We received positive feedback from our clients
10. We distributed our thought-provoking research pieces
11. Opinion Exchange: our new research panel was launched
12. All of our permanent staff still have a job and in fact we’ve been recruiting new resource
13. Another four decades of loyalty
14. Our staff amazed us with their resilience and hard work
15. A number of extra wellbeing activities have been put in place for all staff
16. We continued to listen and act on staff suggestions within our annual MyDJS survey
17. We've continued to give back to the community
18.  A number of charitable activities were successfully completed
19. We’ve reduced our carbon footprint
20. You got to know us better – we launched our Christmas Calendar videos!


 

Bike-riding, baking, handstands and pumpkin picking – just a few of the activities undertaken by DJS Research staff and their families to help raise funds for our charity of the year, The Thomas Theyer Foundation, one sunny day in October.

As we were unable to do our planned office-to-office walk (Strines to Leeds) in June because of Covid-19, we wanted to come up with a great alternative fundraiser; something fun that we could do at home, and even get our families and children involved in. We really felt that fundraising at this time was really important as charities have faced additional challenges since the pandemic began, especially some of the smaller ones.

And so came about The DJS 'Do your 25 on the 25th!’ challenge!

Thomas Theyer would have been 25 years-old this year and so we wanted to incorporate the numbers ‘2’ and ‘5’ into our challenge to support his charity, The Thomas Theyer Foundation. The charity was set up by Thomas' parents after he tragically passed away in 2013 and fundraises to help children and young people with additional needs, as well as their families and carers.

We are delighted to announce, that following a two-stage tendering process, DJS Research has been awarded a sole supplier contract to provide WRAP (Waste & Resources Action Programme) with qualitative research services. Over the next three years we will be collaborating with WRAP, and their partners, across all WRAP’s priority areas, specifically:

• Food and drink
• Sustainable clothing and textiles
• Sustainable plastics
• Resource management (collections and reprocessing)

WRAP work uniquely, and by design, in the space between governments, businesses, communities, thinkers and individuals – forging powerful partnerships and delivering ground-breaking initiatives to support more sustainable economies and society. Evidence is at the foundation of everything WRAP does, so providing qualitatively robust, insightful and actionable insight is key to the successful delivery of WRAP’s behaviour change activities and campaigns.

Speaking about the new contract, our Head of Qualitative Services, Gill Redfern, said:

“We are thrilled to have been selected as WRAP’s preferred qualitative research supplier. Our experience in the retail and food & drink sectors, combined with our adaptive approaches to behaviour change insight and extensive qualitative capabilities, means we are uniquely positioned to deliver insight and add value across WRAP’s priority areas. We are looking forward to working with the WRAP team and contributing to the delivery of their ambitious sustainability goals.”

With Christmas as we know it in question this year due to the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic, our retail experts Gill Redfern and Rebecca Harris have been looking at what the current climate means for the fashion sector and what steps it needs to take to reassure shoppers coming back in-store once non-essential retails reopens its doors on the 2^nd December ...  

It is expected that the so-called ‘golden quarter’ for retailers, typically given a boost by key trading days such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday, will not be as lucrative this year as a result of government restrictions, rising unemployment, recession, and the closure of non-essential retail.

Even before the new lockdown measures were announced in England, 56% of consumers said that they plan to shop for more of their gifts online, compared to their Christmas shopping last year. 

"When consumers are able to return to bricks and mortar stores, retailers will need to offer additional reassurance to help shoppers feel comfortable and mitigate any anxiety", says Research Director, Gill Redfern, who heads up our fashion and retail research.

In our video, our retail team looks at how online retail may gain from the nation’s retreat from the high street this year, and how physical stores can attract customers back in-store when things start opening up again. 

If you'd like to contact our retail team, drop Gill or Rebecca an email - or call us on 01663 767 857

It’s been a year like no other - with restrictions and closures and life as we knew it being turned on its head due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Many events have been postponed and live sport has been hugely affected - but earlier this month, the most famous marathon in the world finally got underway...

Virtually.

The 2020 Virgin Money London Marathon was open to runners and walkers, not only from the UK, but around the world - and our very own Project Assistant, Alex Noden, was one of them!

After having to pull out of the 2019 London Marathon due to injury - and then seeing the 2020 event cancelled in April due to Covid-19, Alex was more than happy to accept a place in the 2020 virtual event in October - running to raise money for the Teenage Cancer Trust. 

“It went much better than I could have hoped for, and I have come out of it with a really positive experience so I’m chuffed to pieces,” said Alex after the event. 

“My main concern was that the training plan only went up to 20 miles, so I was worried about finding that additional 6.2 miles, but I did, and it was fine!  We were really lucky with the weather too – we actually had sun for most of the route, so were way luckier than lots of other people doing the same run in other parts of the country.  I really don’t think it could have gone any better.”

As well as running her first marathon, Alex raised an impressive £2,530.30 for the Teenage Cancer Trust, which amounts to £2,892.88 when including gift aid. 

“So much more sponsorship came in on the day of the event, and I’m so grateful," she said. 

"Big thanks to DJS who sponsored my challenge generously - and to my colleagues and friends - it really does mean so much. Charities have suffered so much this year, so every penny matters, even more so than usual.” 

Starting close to our offices in Strines and heading in the direction of Macclesfield, Alex and her running buddy, Helen, achieved the distance in just over five hours. Both were thrilled to achieve the 26.2 miles in this time, having only trained up to 20 miles and then facing disruption because of the pandemic.    

She said: “Given that we took it at a leisurely pace so that we were in a position to run it all and enjoy it along the way, and given that we had fairly leisurely stops, I am really pleased with this time.  My goal was to enjoy it and not kill myself, and I completely achieved that goal!”

Alex is also guaranteed a place in a future (non-virtual) London Marathon, and has requested a place in April 2023. 

Massive congratulations, Alex! 

*If you'd like to top up Alex's sponsorship pot for the Teenage Cancer Trust you can do so here 

Confirmation Bias, Market Research and Dominic Cummings: Don’t worry, I’m not going to re-visit the recent Dominic Cummings “driving to test my eyes” debacle or debate whether Boris is completely incompetent or “the best prime minister since Churchill” (you can find plenty of this material on social media).

Instead I’d like to briefly look back to those happy times before all this, specifically the Andrew Sabisky debacle.  Sabisky resigned as a Government adviser following criticism of alleged past remarks on pregnancies, eugenics and race. A self-proclaimed “superforecaster”, he was appointed by the aforementioned Dominic Cummings as part of his call for "misfits and weirdos" to apply for jobs in Downing Street.

During the furore, our Dom made a cryptic comment suggesting that the reporters camped outside his house should “listen to superforecasters rather than ignorant pundits”.

What was he on about?

I guess he was referring to Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction; a book by Phil Tetlock, Professor of Psychology and Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania.

I read it a while ago, and one of the most interesting bits was about confirmation bias. Put simply, this is not having an open mind – the concept goes that “experts” and opinionated people often prefer to read articles and accept evidence that support their strongly-held opinions; they are likely to ignore or dismiss evidence that contradicts their view.  Consequently, they don’t tend to make good forecasters, especially when compared to people who take a balanced view based on weighing up all of the available evidence.

There are lessons for us as researchers here. We need to work hard to be impartial and balanced across the research process. We need to work hard to uncover and hammer home the insights that surprise clients, as well as the ones that confirm what they already think (how dispiriting is it when, at the end of a research presentation, a client says "it pretty much confirms what we already knew”?)

There are also lessons for everyday life. It feels like there has been an epidemic of confirmation bias recently - Brexit (sorry to remind you of it) is a good example.

I won’t go in to my opinions on Brexit apart from saying that I was surprised by the outcome. Why? Because the papers that I read and my Facebook bubble of like-minded friends made me confident in what the outcome would be, wrongly.

As market researchers we might benefit from, for example, reading the Guardian Online and the Mail Online (even if it makes us retch a bit) if only to get a balanced view of what people of different persuasions and tribes might be thinking.

Maybe if we all try our best to avoid confirmation bias, we might even be a bit more understanding and tolerant of one other, as well as being better researchers.

Yep, I haven’t really done a great job of explaining what Dominic Cummings was referring to. I should really read his blog to understand his point of view properly. It might also give me some insights into his dress sense and approach to optical care.

And I won’t go into whether a pandemic of confirmation bias has impacted on recent policy and management of Covid-19, you can make up your own mind!

When lockdown began, I wrote a short and hopeful article on the role of Market Research in a crisis. We believed we still had a role to play. We have been proud that in fact we have been able to play a role across a wide range of sectors over the last few months or so. As well as much of our existing work, we experienced a strong demand for intelligence to help respond to the crisis.

Health 
One of the first studies that came to us explicitly about the pandemic was a commission from the Public Health Wales World Health Organisation Collaborating Centre on Investment for Health and Wellbeing. We were asked to conduct a large-scale survey of the Welsh population, exploring their experiences, perceptions and attitudes towards the Covid-19 pandemic. The project is still ongoing and has involved more than 8,000 interviews by telephone with residents across Wales (approximately 500-600 per week), plus 4,000 follow-up (longitudinal) interviews. The research investigates how people are feeling physically and mentally, their concerns, the impact of Covid-19 on their employment and financial circumstances, and their perceptions about how the government should respond in relation to relaxing lockdown measures.

The research has been fundamental in informing the Welsh public health response to Covid-19, and the results are circulated to the Welsh government on a weekly basis to help shape policy decisions. From a public health perspective, the results have been used to develop a campaign called ‘How are you doing’, which offers tools, advice and signposting for people looking for support with their physical or mental wellbeing, guidance for key workers, financial management and caring responsibilities. The campaign also offers training, such as digital skills, to help people stay connected (particularly the most vulnerable and elderly), and ways in which people can get involved in volunteering and supporting their community. The campaign has been released widely across social media and more traditional channels.

We are also currently working with various NHS organisations, such as Sustainability and Transformation Partnerships, on research to support the recovery from Covid-19.

The objective is to explore the learnings from some of the changes that have taken place in response to Covid-19 with a view to providing a mandate for more permanent changes, for example: shifting a large proportion of outpatient and GP appointments to video consultations; diverting A&E demand to pharmacy and 111; and, other temporary changes to a wide range of services.

We are exploring decision-making and behaviour changes by individuals themselves such as avoiding seeking help, possibly for fear of adding to the burden of the NHS, or for fear of contracting coronavirus.

We are carrying out quantitative and qualitative research with the local population; this includes specific patient cohorts affected by the changes including vulnerable groups and those who face barriers to accessing services as a result of Covid-19. Our methods include online surveys, telephone surveys, videoconference depth interviews and online group discussions.

We also did an online survey for Sheffield Hallam Uni and CeBSAP (Centre for Behavioural Science and Applied Psychology) interviewing 1,000 people to explore how people in the UK were understanding and responding to health messages during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Finally, we continue to work with our clients in the health sector, such as a global manufacturer of hospital beds, to understand how they can most usefully respond. We have been researching health professionals all the way through the pandemic from countries across the world getting real time feedback via remote qualitative research methods, online surveys and communities.

Education
Education is another sector that saw a sharp change in its operation now and likely for the near future.

We have been involved in research to help understand what support/resources teachers and students need to help facilitate remote and blended learning during school closures. We’ve been reflecting on the experience so far as well as planning for September and beyond in the event of local lockdowns and an anticipated widening attainment gap amongst children.

We did some work right at the start for a consortium of well-known UK universities to understand the likelihood of international postgraduate students taking up their places in UK institutions. The value to UK higher education of international students is significant, and the potential drop-off in foreign students could have a major impact on some institutions’ viability moving forward. We spoke to more than 8,000 postgraduate offer holders about their study intentions.

We also continue a lot of our regular work with education clients, usually through the lens of the pandemic, to help inform their strategy for the future.

Utilities
Utilities like energy and water are essential for our society and their work does not stop. So, we have continued with a lot of the work we regularly do for our clients in this sector led by Ali Sims, our utilities expert.

We have been working for two companies in this sector to see if customers are happy to contribute towards social tariffs which provide those struggling financially with support in paying their water bill. Both companies are looking to widen the eligibility criteria of their tariffs to include those financially impacted by Covid-19. As well as asking customers to contribute, both companies also make contributions.

Local Government 
We conduct a robust regular survey for Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA), which has a focus on policing and community safety. The survey has also been able to inform plans for transport as lockdown lifts, and other such work areas across Greater Manchester since the lockdown. It’s great to be able to contribute directly to our local city-region.

Even more close to home we are conducting a survey for Cheadle Village (just one mile from me!) to understand the perspective of local residents, businesses and users in order to inform a potential funding bid.

Culture We currently work for a consortium of Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) funded galleries and museums. Much of the existing face-to-face work was cancelled and we have moved to more of an online approach.

Clients have been using the existing data to inform their visitor number forecasts, capacity planning and one-way/fixed routes that will be in place for re-opening. Reporting has given an increased focus on domestic and local audiences to help plan marketing for these audiences (given the lower numbers of overseas visitors expected this year).

The new survey now includes questions about how safe visitors feel on site, cleanliness, queuing, social distancing, the information received before the visit and how to improve visitor safety. Weekly benchmarking data is shared with all clients from week one (via portal), which means venues that haven’t opened yet can use data from other sites to inform their own plans, and they have quick insights on what does/doesn’t work and can change their offer as they go.

Retail
For one of our retail clients we’ve added questions to their tracker to assess how shoppers feel that retailers have responded in general and also how safe people feel when shopping in-store (this is asked of any retailer they’ve shopped with on our list – fashion and homeware):

• Thinking about the global Covid-19 pandemic, how would you rate each of these retailers in terms of their response and associated actions?
• Based on social distancing and safety measures that you experienced in-store, how safe would you feel to visit again?

This will help them to assess whether the safety measures they have put in place are perceived to be adequate versus competitors’ (and if not, what else can/should they be doing). The focus of this survey is the in-store shopping experience, so ultimately it’s to help get people shopping on the high street again and driving our economy.

Finally, we conducted a global online survey of investor attitudes for the financial company Calastone. Calastone had revealed a trend of investors buying into the market on the cheap whilst markets were subdued. The survey added more evidence and detail to this trend with risk appetite particularly high amongst younger investors. Renewed optimism in the financial markets and engagement from the young could play an important part in any economic recovery.

Final thoughts...
When we reflect on how we have contributed across such a wide range of sectors we feel extremely proud of all our staff and their work and of the research industry more broadly.

As well as this though we have managed to look after all of our staff during this time and continue to keep them all healthy and with income. This was always a priority for us, just as much as the great work we do.

Human behaviour has changed during the pandemic and we cannot rely on old assumptions. Who would have thought for example that we could lockdown so much of the UK with relatively high levels of compliance? Who would have predicted that so many would still be fearful of relatively simple activities such as shopping? As we live with Covid-19 and move on to a new stage, then we will continue to provide the insight to help organisations and businesses respond successfully to these challenges.

For nine months in 2016, I lived and worked in Poland completing something known then as European Voluntary Service (EVS). The programme is little-known in the UK, but enables all young people legally resident in Europe, aged between 18 and 30, to carry out an international volunteer service for NGOs, charities, or public bodies for a period ranging from two to 12 months. The only other prerequisite is that the volunteering must be done outside of your home nation. 

Before starting my research career, I wanted to live somewhere outside of the UK and this provided a unique opportunity to come into contact with a different culture and acquire new skills and abilities that would be useful for my personal and professional growth upon my return. I jumped at the chance then to go and live with four other volunteers from France, Portugal and Macedonia, where we worked in a local volunteer centre in the city of Kielce.  

As well as being involved in the organisation of 'International Evenings' that brought together volunteers, local students and Erasmus students, I ran weekly workshops in Communicative English and a Current Affairs discussion through a programme called Przystanek Młodych, or 'Bus Stop for Youth', which provided a free learning platform for local residents in our city, and visited local schools and universities for cultural exchange sessions and discussions on the value of volunteer work. A proudest achievement was organising a ‘Human Library’, where people were ‘books’ that you could rent out for 15-minute discussions about anything and everything to do with that person, hopefully broadening the minds of those who came along to talk and learn.

Earlier this year, before the nationwide lockdown, I was invited to return to Poland to attend a week-long conference and evaluation meeting alongside other former-volunteers because in 2018, the EVS programme was replaced by something new, called European Solidarity Corps (ESC). The overall aims of the week were to think about how better to promote ESC projects amongst young people and how to encourage and prepare volunteers to participate in them. Once a volunteer arrives, it can sometimes feel like quite a daunting experience to be dropped in an entirely different country, so we also discussed how to manage a group of international volunteers well and how to maintain motivation and commitment to these longer-term projects. 

An amazing thing about working at DJS Research is that they provide you with one day a year to volunteer for something close to your heart. My nine months in Poland were a very formative experience for me and helped shape my openness and tolerance to anyone and everyone, so I was delighted to be able to use this volunteer day (alongside some annual leave!) to head back to Kielce and discuss the merits of the programme amongst like-minded people. I’m sure everyone at DJS Research is excited to be able to use their volunteer day in the coming months as the world starts to open up a bit more; I was just lucky enough to be able to use mine right before lockdown began!

It also felt important for me to attend the conference because the UK’s participation in these multinational projects is under threat as they are partly funded by Erasmus, a scheme which might end in the UK when the transition period of leaving the EU is over. COVID-19 has obviously thrown another small spanner in the works with regards to international travel but I wanted to write this blog post to highlight the fact that free travel and work opportunities are still available.  

If you have siblings, nieces, nephews, children who are unsure of their next steps… If you personally feel like a completely new and different challenge, then take a look at what alternative options are available to you. Living in Poland changed my outlook on life. Although I had free accommodation and local travel, I survived (and thrived) on €180 each month and met some lifelong friends who still today remain important people in my life. Every volunteer project is different, read up about them, find something you love the sound of and apply! There are short-term projects available through the ESC programme too for those who feel more constrained by time. It’s a big world out there; we should definitely take the opportunity to explore it!