Education Market Research: 5 ways to get the best out of your participants.
In education market research, participant engagement is a major factor in gaining the insights you need. Engaged participants care about the research, give thoughtful opinions, and genuinely want to feel involved.
As an established education market research agency, we’ve learned the best ways to motivate participants, get their buy-in and gain the insights you need. In this post, we’ll share 5 of our many tips for boosting engagement. Learn about our education market research services on the dedicated page.
1. Make it fun and engaging
No one wants to take part in education market research that they perceive as boring or dull. Keep in mind, though, that we all have different ideas of fun, so try to understand your audience before designing engaging activities. OUr participants often tell us that they find the process of taking part in research engaging and they find it helpful to discuss interesting issues which they may not have considered in-depth before taking part in one of our projects.
2. Keep the language easy to understand for your audience
Education market research surveys should be clear and easy to understand if you’re to get the best insights. Write the questions with your target audience in mind. For example, the language you use for students will be different to what you use for teachers. Avoid jargon or technical language if they’re unlikely to understand. If conducting interviews, open questions can often get the best responses.
3. Build a sense of community
When doing education market research through online communities, it helps to foster engagement. Be sure to welcome everyone personally, reply to all comments and encourage others to take part. If it’s focus groups, welcome everyone individually and let each person introduce themself.
4. Recognise that people are different
In education market research, it's important to understand that each participant has their own personality. This is especially evident in focus groups and interviews. Some people are very talkative and have opinions, while others can be more reserved and shy. In focus groups, be sure to manage participation fairly. Try to stop talkative participants from interrupting, and invite quieter ones to speak. As for interviews, keep in mind some people may get nervous, while others are more reflective and may need time to consider their answers. In such cases, forwarding the questions beforehand - or following up afterwards - may help.
5. Build rapport and be personable
As the person running education market research, make sure you put participants at ease. Be warm, friendly and approachable. Thank them for their participation and reassure them if they get nervous or have difficulty answering questions. Show interest in their responses and compliment them for their input. By building rapport, you’ll find you’ll get better responses.
Conclusion
These are just some of the many ways we can get better insights out of participants when conducting education market research. With over 12 years in business, we’ve learned all there is to know about recruiting participants and gaining the best insights. Check out our case studies and contact us today to discuss your project.
How can we help?
If you would like to ask our advice, book a
no-obligation 30 minute consultation with us to discuss your research requirements or to simply have a chat and find out more about what we do.
Alternatively, use the briefing form to start discussing a new project, give Jill Elston a call on +44 (0)7703 462179 or email us jill@insightfulresearch.co.uk