Real Time Research is an interesting project which is being funded by the ESRC. The project is designed to build on the expertise in research methods in other partner orgnisations and to deliver a number of events / workshops on methods and critical inquiry.

We would like to broaden what we post on Research Methods. One idea we have is to post research jobs on the blog. But before doing this it would be good to get input from readers – we would be grateful if you could take a moment to complete the survey below: -

I know it’s not research based – but I’ve found in very relaxing to watch

Experience Human Flight from Betty Wants In on Vimeo.

Check out their work here. Their work is just amazing!

What can we learn from the dabbawallahs delivery network – particularly in terms of ‘eating well’?

- 175,000 lunches are delivered in a 2 hour time frame…
- 1 error in every 8 million deliveries…

Over the last few months I have been working on projects where there’s a significant element of community, visitor and stakeholder engagement involved in the work. I thought it may be useful to share some thoughts on the research tools I have been using:

Online survey – using Survey Monkey
We have found that this is particularly useful tool to use with missed audiences who do not currently engage with the product / service.

Mini group discussions
Cost effective way to engage with different audiences. Although important to ensure one participant does not ‘dominant the group’.

Drop in sessions / workshops – ‘co-creation’
Working with users to ‘co-create’ solutions to enhance the experience. Allows users to be involved in the design of the experience and to take a degree of ownership.

Post it Note Boards
Notice boards at key sites set up and visitors are invited to leave comments on the notice boards. Cost effective and collects data which isn’t influenced by a ‘third party’

Interviews
Both closed and open ended questions. Can help to collect in-depth information about individual visitors (best carried out in context).

Photo diaries
Hand diaries and disposable camera to regular users to record their visits / use of a product / service. Allows participants to capture what is important to them. The visual data collected can be used in follow up interviews with participants.

Mapping the journey and visitor experience
Walk around environments with users to observe how they interact with the environment. Allows rich ‘contextual’ data to be collected.

Observational research
Observe how visitors people use the product / service in their world.

Expert review
Provides an outside and independent review of the experience (although it can be costly).

Feedback loops
It’s important to set up a feedback mechanism so that consultees can be kept up to date with developments. Allows users and stakeholders to be kept fully involved with the project.

Video Vox Pops
Short interviews with a range of users, staff and stakeholders. Quickly captures information in a visual format which can be easily shared.

From Tim Cox at Project Fizz:

There are many freelancer sites out there all offering the same thing, a one place stop to find freelancers or projects. But at Project Fizz we’ve done our research and found that many employers and freelancers were expecting more, as they rightly should.

We’ve found that many freelancers often feel under-valued and un-motivated when everything has an emphasis on price with many freelancers local to employers who offer the same services often find that work is outsourced to other countries to get ‘cheaper quotes’. There will often be an emphasis on price in an ever changing environment but that’s not always the case; employers are also after a high quality standard of work which is not always the case when outsourcing work for a variety of reasons.

Project Fizz doesn’t emphasis price for a project, an employer can only specify a budget range and all freelancer bids are hidden from one another to ensure that an accurate and concise bid is received on every project, not one that was placed to under-cut another freelancer. We believe that our unique selling point will ensure happy parties from both sides. Freelancers submit a cost that they are realistically happy to do the work for and employers will generally receive a higher level of work as a result due to the fact that no cost cutting is tried by freelancers to just finish the work.

We use a unique way in which freelancers make bids on Project Fizz. When signing up to the website, freelancers receive free bids in order to test the success of the website without risk. When a proposal is placed on a project regardless of being awarded or rejected one (1) bid is used for a standard proposal and two (2) for a premium proposal, this will also ensure that the freelancer uses their bids wisely and will generally result in a more complete and professional proposal to tempt the employer to accept their proposal. This will eliminate poor and unworthy proposals being submitted to employers.

It’s a completely free service for employers to post projects, no percentage of the overall project value is taken and we don’t charge a flat rate per listing as per other job portals. Instead, freelancers simply purchase bid packs as and when needed to continue bidding on projects, we have a wide range of bid packs on offer which are easy to purchase through PayPal.

When it comes to paying the freelancer the final sum of the project we offer the tools for freelancers to stipulate their payment terms and preferred method of payment. Project Fizz don’t hold funds in any sort of account; freelancers and employers have been and will always be able to communicate with one another without the need for 3rd party intervention. Project Fizz also offers automatic invoicing as downloadable PDF which can be downloaded by both parties which saves time on accounting.

If you’re an employer looking to post a new project or a freelancer looking for additional work then try out Project Fizz, we’re sure you’ll be happy with our services!

Some of the research methods we have been using to engage with visitors and audiences to visitor attractions, heritage centres and museums.

Unlock the Secrets of Your Brain at Work: Video Interview

Unlock the Secrets of Your Brain at Work: Video Interview from Forum Corporation on Vimeo.

From the Forum Corporation.

Definitely worth visiting the Association for Qualitative Research’s website.  There are some good resources including training courses run and a number of articles.  AQR.

We have just launched something new at work Activity Plan.  Come and visit us soon.