New UK Agency Targets Rural Response

In Wales, two executives from insights company Trajectory have launched a qualitative recruitment and research agency called Field Mouse Research Ltd, focused on 'underrepresented and often hard-to-reach rural dwellers'.

Co-founder Sarah Morris put the idea for the new firm to Paul Flatters, CEO of futures consultancy Trajectory and a Founding Director of polling agency Deltapoll - Morris says she will continue to work part-time for Trajectory in a marketing role until Field Mouse is operating at full capacity.

Field Mouse, described as 'The Long Tail of Rural Research', will help clients to understand the 20% of the UK's population who live in rural areas which make up 97% of its land area. Morris says after working in London for many years and then moving to a hillside in Mid Wales in 2013, she realised her 'growing network of rural-dwellers could fill a gap in the market research industry by providing rural respondents for focus groups and depth interviews'.

The new company is based near the Welsh-Shropshire border town of Montgomery in Powys, but is also developing a network of trusted recruiters in other rural areas of the UK, including Northumberland, Yorkshire, East Anglia and the Scottish Highlands. The firm will provide focus group venues, hosts and catering, and arrange transport and accommodation for visiting researchers - as well as full project management when required.

The pair plan to operate 'an extensive network of rural recruiters and qualitative researchers across the UK, with a national database of respondents', within a year, and Morris concludes: 'Field Mouse believes every opinion counts, whether its from London or Llandudno, and Paul and I are committed to ensuring that rural voices are heard'.

Field Mouse can be found online at www.fmresearch.co.uk .

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