New MR Archive Names Worcester and Roughton as Patrons

In the UK, the Archive of Market and Social Research (AMSR) has appointed MORI founder Sir Robert Worcester and former Pulse Train Chairman Geoffrey Roughton as its first Founding Gold Patrons, in recognition of the contributions they have made to the charity.

Supported by the Market Research Society (MRS), the Association of Qualitative Researchers (AQR), and the Social Research Association (SRA), the AMSR aims to catalogue and preserve resources tracing the development of the market and social research industry from the 1930s to the present day - with records such as significant studies, technical developments, survey results, biographical details, and published papers, journals, books and newsletters. It collects both physical and digital records, and this data is housed by The History of Advertising Trust (HAT).

Worcester (pictured) has been appointed a Patron in recognition of his outstanding contribution to research and for his donation to the archive of significant material, in particular the back catalogue of MORI publication 'British Public Opinion'. Having founded MORI in 1969, Worcester went on to receive a KBE in 2005 in recognition of services to political, social and economic research and for his contribution to government policy and programmes. He is currently Deputy Chairman and Trustee of the Magna Carta Trust, was previously Chancellor of the University of Kent, and also held visiting professorships at the LSE and Warwick University.

Roughton's career in market research began in 1955 with Television Audience Measurement, and he went on to found MAS Research in 1957 (later absorbed into TNS). He served as MAS's Director in charge of The Londonera, which was the first major survey in Britain (and Europe) to be analysed on a computer - MAS then became the first MR company to have its own computer on its own premises. After selling MAS, Roughton joined Alan Hendrickson at Pulse Train and later became Chairman and CEO of the company, before being joined by Pat Molloy and going on to merge the company with Confirmit in 2007. He is now embarking on a new career as CEO of consultancy X-MR.

The idea for AMSR was conceived by Roughton, John Downham and Liz Nelson, and in addition to Roughton's 'generous financial contribution' to the archive, he is responsible for the scanning system given to AMSR by the former shareholders of Pulse Train, in memory of Hendrickson. The material now being scanned by volunteers before it goes to HAT is the foundation of the archive collection. Commenting on the purpose of the archive, Roughton said: 'We have a debt to the next generation of researchers to make them aware of where they are coming from. We make history by what we do; we pass it to future generations by recording it and making those records readily available... not just for researchers, but for society as a whole'.

Web site: www.amsr.org.uk .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.