Methodology
Research you can put in front of a board and defend.
Anyone can produce a chart. The question is whether it survives a hard look. Everything below exists so that the numbers and quotes we hand you can be traced back to a real, verified person who understood what they were being asked.
Principles
Four commitments that shape every study we run.
These are not marketing lines. Each one costs us time or money on every project, which is precisely why they are worth stating.
Verified participants
Every panel member passes identity verification, device and geo consistency checks, and duplicate detection before they qualify for a study. Fraudulent and professional respondents are removed permanently.
Instruments that hold up
Questionnaires and discussion guides are reviewed for leading language, order effects and construct validity, then piloted before launch. If a question cannot survive scrutiny, it does not ship.
Documented, auditable data
Raw data, screener logic, quota fills, dispositions and analysis code are retained and available on request. You can reconstruct how any number in our report was produced.
Ethics and consent first
Informed consent, the right to withdraw at any point, and clear disclosure of recording and data use are standard on every study. We follow the Insights Association Code of Standards and applicable US federal and state privacy law.
The engagement
What actually happens, stage by stage.
Scope & design
We start with the decision, not the method. In a kick-off session we define what the business needs to know, what evidence would change the decision, and which method can realistically produce it. You get a written design covering objectives, audience, sample, timeline and deliverables before anything is fielded.
Recruit & verify
We write the screener, set quotas, and recruit from our own panel plus targeted external sourcing. Every profile passes identity checks, duplicate detection and attention screening. Participants are re-confirmed within 24 hours of their session.
Field & observe
Groups and interviews run with a senior moderator and a live client backroom, so your team can watch, react and send questions in the moment. Surveys soft-launch to a 10% cell that we review before full release.
Analyse & deliver
Two researchers code independently and reconcile, so findings survive more than one reading. You receive a topline within 48 hours of fielding, a full report with the evidence behind every claim, and a working session to turn findings into decisions.
Quality control
Four checkpoints between a stranger on the internet and your data set.
Sample fraud is the single largest threat to research validity today. We treat it as an engineering problem and screen at every stage, not just at the door.
At registration
- Email and phone verification
- Device fingerprinting and geo-consistency
- Duplicate account detection
- Profile plausibility scoring
At screening
- Security questions against professional respondents
- Open-ended articulation check for qualitative studies
- Quota and eligibility validation
- Credential verification for professional audiences
In field
- Attention and trap items
- Speeding and straight-lining detection
- Inconsistent-response flags
- Live quota monitoring with daily review
Before delivery
- Human review of every open-end
- Removal and replacement of failed completes
- Weighting and significance testing
- Independent second-researcher coding on qualitative data
Standards & ethics
The codes we work to.
Research participation is voluntary, informed and revocable. That is not a courtesy — it is the condition under which people tell you the truth.
- Informed consent before any recording begins
- The right to skip a question or withdraw at any point, without losing compensation already earned
- Clear disclosure of who sees the data and in what form
- No selling, no fundraising and no sales lead generation under the guise of research
- Client identity disclosed or withheld strictly according to the study design agreed with you
Insights Association Code of Standards
The US industry code covering respondent rights, data handling, incentive practices and client confidentiality. It governs every study we run.
US state privacy law
CCPA/CPRA in California and the equivalent statutes in Texas, Virginia, Colorado and other states — access, correction and deletion rights applied to every panel member, wherever they live.
HIPAA-aware handling
For patient and healthcare professional research, protected health information is minimised, de-identified and handled under a signed BAA where required.
TCPA & CAN-SPAM
Participants are contacted only with consent, every message identifies us and offers a working opt-out, and we never use research contact as a route to marketing.
Deliverables
What lands in your inbox, and when.
Within 48 hours of fielding
Topline findings
The headline answer to each research objective, with the evidence behind it, in time to inform decisions already in motion.
Within two weeks
Full report
Method, sample composition, findings by objective, verbatim or charted evidence, limitations stated plainly, and recommendations.
With the report
Underlying data
Recordings, transcripts, cleaned respondent-level data, banner tables and screener dispositions — yours to keep and re-analyse.
Due diligence welcome
Ask us the hard questions about our sample.
Procurement teams and research leads are welcome to review our screening protocol, panel composition and quality-control documentation before signing anything. Ask and we will send it.