Gathering accurate and focused data for informed analysis and decision-making

Meeting your objectives

Accurate, sufficiently detailed and objective data is the foundation of effective analysis and decision-making. In many situations, being able to present such evidence is a pre-requisite for getting a project off the ground, or expanding it, or obtaining the necessary funding. If you want to build a publicity campaign around statistics, it’s also important that the data used can stand up to scrutiny.

However, it’s all too easy to make fundamental mistakes when gathering data and undertaking bespoke research which means that the resulting information will not meet your requirements and you will have wasted valuable resources in the process.

Perpetuity can help you ensure that your research methodology is robust and tightly focused on meeting your specific objectives.

Ways we can help

Whether you need help with gathering or using data effectively, research project design, asking the right questions, reaching the right groups, or all of these, we can help. We have expertise in qualitative and quantitative methodologies. Our areas of expertise include:

Data management

·         Collection – helping you to decide what data to collect and how to collect and input it in the most effective way for analysis

·         Cleansing – cleansing your data to remove any that is not required or has been inputted incorrectly

·         Coding – giving codes to existing data to make it easier to use to answer your questions

·         Storage – securely storing your data for you or advising you on your own security processes, data accessibility, managing large or shared databases

·         Data Protection – advising you on what data to share and with whom to ensure you are in line with legislation

·         Training – providing training on all aspects of data collection, inputting or analysis

Project management

·         Project design – clarifying your aims and objectives, ensuring the design leads to valid and reliable results and effectively managing the project to ensure it comes in on time and to budget

·         Literature review – carrying out a review of existing literature to establish what information on your chosen topic already exists. This can be used to assist and guide further research

·         Interviews/questionnaires/surveys – arranging the delivery of focus groups, face-to-face interviews, telephone interviews, as well as postal, telephone and web surveys. We select methods that will achieve a good response rate and write questions to ensure you meet your objectives

·         The sampling framework – working with you to develop an appropriate sample, in terms of size and composition, that will effectively represent your targeted population

·         Analysis – analysing new research findings or indeed existing data in order, for example, to identify trends and patterns, predict future risks, understand the geographical spread, identify differences between groups, the impact of interventions or events.

·         Report writing – understanding your needs, the balance between discussion, description and analysis, the use of charts and tables, the inclusion of appendices and an executive summary, tailoring the report to meet your requirements.

Specific projects

·         The illicit trade in stolen goods: The aim of this study was to understand how a range of Fast Moving Consumer Goods were stolen from the supply chain. Working in 18 countries, and based on interviews with manufacturers, suppliers, agency workers, law enforcement including Customs and private security, as well as  thieves we traced what happened to goods from the point they were manufactured to their arrival on the shop floor examining security weaknesses. The findings provided insights into a much ignored area that attracted widespread attention including from a multi national that used the study as a basis for examining its own approaches to security.

·         An assessment of crime and disorder in and around an Underground Station: We assessed the level of victimisation among underground and bus users. We surveyed the local community and supplemented this via interviews and focus groups. Crime data was mapped and analysed to determine the crime hotspots, identify any temporal changes and provide a baseline measurement. We also assessed design issues in the area. A range of recommendations were provided to help address the local crime and disorder issues.

·         Establishing whether drug services for the young meet requirements: We conducted a review of young people’s services to establish to what extent services are having, and can demonstrate, a positive impact for service users. Findings from reviews of performance monitoring data and consultation with young people and professionals were used to establish to what extent services were delivering in line with identified needs, DAT strategic priorities and national targets. Research evidence was used to inform planning, commissioning and service level agreement (SLA) development.

The Perpetuity promise

Clients benefit from our team’s excellent academic credentials, bringing rigorous research methodologies to their approach, coupled with a broad range of practical experience.

Our researchers have worked for a wide range of public and private sector clients with widely differing objectives, budgets, time-frames and are just as at home interviewing business people and senior decision-makers as representatives of local communities and ‘hard to hear’ groups such as offenders and victims.

Want to know more?

To find out more about how we would develop an approach to meet your specific needs, email prci@perpetuitygroup.com or phone 0116 222 5555.