
Survey Research Methods Centre
Purpose + Mission
Our Survey Research Methods Centre is a specialist unit that provides expertise on a wide range of survey methodological matters to researchers across the company, and direct to clients. We ensure our clients benefit from cutting-edge thinking in survey methodology, delivering survey estimates of the highest possible quality while eliminating all unnecessary costs in obtaining them.
Our areas of expertise cover the full research journey including:
- Sampling
- Questionnaire design
- Response rate maximisation strategies
- Mixed-mode approaches
- Innovative data collection techniques, and weighting.
Approach
We embed excellence in survey methodology throughout Ipsos Public Affairs and more widely by:
- Advising clients on methodological matters by sitting on advisory panels and working groups for surveys, or as nominated methods expert
- Providing survey methods advice to colleagues who manage large-scale surveys across Ipsos Public Affairs
- Conducting experiments to identify improvements to ongoing studies
- Regularly presenting at methodological conferences, and maintaining strong links with the academic community to keep abreast of new methodological developments
- Providing survey methods training to our staff, and to clients directly
Our work is guided by the Total Survey Error framework: we focus our efforts on minimising all risks to quality, rather than just those that are easily addressed.
Integrated solutions
Our work is highly varied - reflecting the diverse nature of surveys across Ipsos - and covers a wide range of topics, policy areas, and methodologies. Examples of studies we support methodologically include:
- KnowledgePanel
- Birth cohort studies, including Next Steps (for the Centre for Longitudinal Studies), and Children of the 2020s (for the Department for Education)
- Health surveys, including the GP Patient Survey (for NHS England), and the Infant Feeding Survey (for the office for Health Improvement and Disparities)
- Surveys of vulnerable audiences, for example our work with people referred to food banks (for the Trussell Trust) on Hunger in the UK
- Other large-scale Government surveys, including the National Student Survey (for the Office for Students), the Active Lives Surveys (for Sport England), and Food and You 2 (for the Food Standards Agency).
Senior leadership team
Dr. Tom Huskinson, Co-Head of the SRMC, Ipsos Tom has nearly two decades experience in social research. He has led a range of methodological projects for government clients, including investigating options for moving a face-to-face survey online, sampling frame feasibility work, and questionnaire reviews. Tom holds a PhD in Social Psychology, and a first-class degree in Experimental Psychology. |
Eileen Irvin, Co-Head of the SRMC, Ipsos Eileen has nearly a decade's experience working in research, developing and delivering large-scale, mixed methods surveys. She is experienced in questionnaire review and redesign, methodological experiment design and delivery, reporting and analytics, with a particular focus on push-to-web. She also delivers training on research metrhods, including questionnaire design and cognitive testing. | |
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Client case-studies
- An experiment investigating the incentivisation of early responses in a push-to-web survey (for the Food Standards Agency).
- A mode trial study examining the feasibility of moving the face-to-face Childcare and early years survey of parents (for the Department for Education) to a push-to-web design.
- Conference presentation for the Royal Statistical Society, on how the GP Patient Survey stays robust during times of rapid change.
- Conference presentation for the General Online Research Conference, with the Care Quality Commission, on the feasibility of moving postal to push-to-web for the Adult Inpatient Survey.
Insights
- Mixed-mode best practice guide
- Push-to-web best practice guide
- Mobile-first best practice guide
- Survey Research Methods Centre Update
- Learnings from transitioning the British Election Study from face-to-face to push-to-web
SRMC Podcasts:
- What’s now and next for face-to-face survey research?
- What can we learn from doing experiments on existing surveys?
- What the future is for push-to-web methodologies?
- How does cognitive interviewing make our research better?
Joint SRMC and ONS podcasts: