Dipsticks Ups Sticks, Launches Travel Research Practice

North of England-based Dipsticks Research will move to new offices in the Autumn to accommodate rapid growth; and has launched Radar, a new travel and tourism consultancy to track travellers' perceptions both before and during their holidays.

The new service will employ SMS, andGPS to improve understanding of the travel experience, along with X-Ray Spex technologies, which record video and sound. The firm is also working with the University of Newcastle to utilise the latest neuroscience techniques such as eye tracking and measurement of physiological responses, in travel situations.

Holidaymakers will be invited to take part in SMS surveys during their holidays, providing instant feedback on their experiences. On reaching their destination, GPS will track travellers' movements, and X-Ray Spex glasses will enable the travel experience to be witnessed at first hand.

Chief Executive John Raglan explains that these new techniques are providing sufficient interest to lessen the problem of respondent recruitment. The firm has also negotiated a deal with a mobile operator so that respondents won't have to pay for SMS messages and is offering £20 voucher incentives.

Raglan adds that Radar will also be examining other issues facing the travel industry such as eco/green concerns, financial protection for the customer, and the differences between online, high street and call centre reservation experiences.

Meanwhile, the agency will be leaving its current headquarters in Keenley to move to offices in nearby Hexham Business Park. Its CATI station is already based at the park in a space which will provide enough room to house all core operations and new staff.

Raglan said that the firm had outgrown its current offices: 'My wife Fiona and I formed the company around our kitchen table in 1997, and it has grown so strongly over the last decade to the point that square footage (currently around 1,600 sq ft) is not sufficient to accommodate continued expansion.' The new offices will provide double this floor space.

With five directors and 38 full-time employees, Dipsticks also employs 90 temporary CATI telephone interviewers, 48 fieldwork supervisors and more than 600 fieldwork interviewers. Last month the company featured on the BBC2 Newsnight programme when Jeremy Paxman interviewed the founders for a documentary about Tony Blair's legacy on rural issues.

The firm is online at www.dipsticksresearch.com while the new Radar division has its own web site at www.radarresearch.co.uk.

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

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