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GfK NOP probe participation and the future of inclusive public engagement at SRA Conference

London, 21 November 2008 – GfK NOP Social Research is presenting, not once but twice, at the SRA Annual Conference 2008 on 11 December at the University of London.

As part of this review of the impact of Social Research over the past 30 years and look ahead at the future trends for the next 30 years, GfK NOP are hosting two interactive workshops.

‘Does he take sugar?’ Learnings on enabling disabled people to have their own voice in surveys

In this workshop Bridget Williams, Director, and Laura Davies, Research Manager, present GfK NOP’s latest research experiences to highlight their learning in enabling disabled people to have their own voice and an equal say in surveys.

In the UK around one in three households includes at least one person defined as disabled under the Disability Discrimination Act and the number of disabled people in the UK is growing and will continue to grow in the future due to changes in society and our aging population. It is essential that researchers take the necessary steps to ensure that as many people are able to participate in the research as possible, to ensure accurate representation of the whole UK public.

The session will explore GfK NOP’s experiences of developing and working with a Reference Network of disabled people to understand and agree how the research could be as inclusive as possible; the tools and techniques used to ensure that disabled people could participate in interviews; and the specialist training that GfK NOP Social Research interviewers undertook to ensure that interviewers and respondents felt comfortable in the interviewing situation.

The second workshop explores the changing dynamic of the research relationship

Presented by Michael Thompson, Research Director, and Josephine Hansom, Senior Executive, this workshop explores the changing dynamic of the research relationship and argues that the recent shift from the traditional ‘respondent’ role towards a more participative role needs to continue to keep social research relevant to modern life.

In a world of online forums, consumer blogs and national news broadcasters encouraging ‘Have your say’ areas against key news stories, the UK public expects to be involved in the centre of discussions as an equal partner. For example, during the 2007 floods, the BBC broadcast over 3,000 still images and 200 mobile phone videos sent in from members of the public. To remain relevant in the future, it is essential that social research reflects this cultural shift.