How long have you worked in the industry and Critical Research?
I’ve been a researcher for 28-years, first as an academic researcher, after completing my PhD, then as a social researcher. I became a market researcher about 20-years ago. I joined Critical Research as Director of Qualitative Research just over 10-years ago.
What has been a highlight at Critical?
When I joined Critical, we offered qual. discussion groups and depth interviews. Developing a much wider qual offering, and gently educating formerly quantitative-only colleagues about what qual methods can bring to a project, has been a satisfying process. Now, the majority of our qual. work is as part of a mixed-method combined qual. and quant. project.
What has been your biggest work challenge?
The post-Covid change from the majority of our qualitative work being face-to-face, to an environment where currently all of our qual. work is now online. Staff at all levels of seniority conduct interviews or moderate groups and, personally, and it was an interesting challenge to have to learn how to effectively conduct online depth interviews and discussion groups when the majority of my experience was in a face-to-face context. It turns out you can teach an old dog new tricks.
What are two things that you love about working at this company?
The people. I really enjoy working with people who are a) nice, b) knowledgeable, and, c) are willing to be thoughtful and reflective about how we approach a project.
The ongoing relationships with clients. The trust that is built up, sometimes over years, and over a number of projects, allows us to speak our minds, and, where appropriate, to be very direct about both the research findings and, if it differs from what the client may be suggesting, the proposed approach.
What is your last played song on Spotify (no cheating!)
I don’t use Spotify as the royalties paid to artists are dreadful, but the last song I listened to was ‘At the river’ by Groove Armada
What’s your hidden talent?
I spent my University vacations working in a juggling shop. I can juggle 4 balls whilst riding a unicycle, although it has been a while since I’ve tried.
Guilty pleasure
A smelly and noisy 22-year-old motorcycle. For those who are interested it’s a 2-stroke Gas Gas Pampera 250 – road legal but designed for slow off road meandering.
