MRS Conference: Better Ways of Listening

Tuesday's MRS Conference included a session looking at hard-to-reach respondents and hard-to-research topics, and a number of approaches to getting the right voices heard. Our Features Editor Teresa Lynch listened in.

Paul Edwards of TNS/Research International UK filled in for Michelle Harrison of TNS-BMRB as chair. The first paper was a collaboration between Neil Samson of Opinion Leader and Jane Breeze of the COI. Walking on a tightrope: Changing the way we do research described a project to engage with adults with autism and the challenges this presented for the researcher. Samson pointed out the bravery of the COI in allowing sufficient time for the development of the techniques and strategies the researchers employed to collect the necessary data. These involved everything from printing paper questionnaires on yellow paper with blue writing to picking non-stimulating environments for holding groups (Holiday Inns for preference). The resulting research informed the development of the Adult Autism Strategy but the authors believe their methodology could be used for giving a voice to similarly difficult to reach respondents.

In the next paper, Complex conversations: New approaches in social marketing research for Tower Hamlets, Stephen Bell of Ipsos MORI described a methodology which involved training members of the community to conduct research on a peer to peer basis. Client the NHS in Tower Hamlets required a way of researching the poor uptake of screening for cervical cancer (among the lowest in the country) in the borough. The technique used had been developed initially for research among drug users and gave the researchers enhanced access to the respondent's thoughts on an area that they thought of as sensitive and taboo. They also conducted ethnographic studies with their subjects and Bell showed a film of women discussing their attitude to screening to camera. Bell concluded by saying that the peer to peer interactions had empowered both the interviewers and their respondents and had given control of the research process back to the participants.

The last group of difficult to engage respondents in this session (15-20 year olds) were covered in New media research: User-generated social media. This paper by Douglas Dunn of Tuned In Research and Debi Bester of Proximity London described a methodology used to engage young people in the activities of the RNLI; a charity which very few had heard of prior to the research. Instead of attempting to engage directly with large numbers of this age group the researchers identified 12 young bloggers, celebrities to their peers, and instigated a campaign of sending them 'Mystery packages' periodically and asking them to open the packages 'on-air'. The packages contained stimuli and resources which enabled them to communicate with their followers their ideas about youth and 'rebrand' their generation. This reportedly generated a great deal of excitement among the charity's target audience. Eventually the sender was revealed as RNLI and the bloggers invited to watch a lifeboat being launched and to communicate that experience to their followers. The overall result was a higher awareness of, and a greater tendency to engage with, the activities of the RNLI. Two years later the bloggers are still on board and are still generating fundraising ideas.

Overall this was a very good session, which should have generated a lively Q and A. Unfortunately and perhaps ironically given the theme, there was no time for questions.

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