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Thanks Ruth Devolution? 3 variations on a theme Between the 23rd and 25th of February 2000, Ulster Marketing Surveys carried out research to ascertain the views of the business communities of Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, with regard to the impact of devolution on the prospects for business, and attitudes towards the possibility of the UK joining the EMU. In each country, 100 senior business people (directors / proprietors of private sector companies) were interviewed by telephone from Ulster Marketing Survey’s Belfast-based Telephone Research Centre. At the outset, all business people were asked if they thought that their respective Assemblies would be good or bad for business. Whilst in neither Scotland nor Wales did a clear majority consider that their assemblies would be "good" for business, (46% and 48% respectively), there was an overwhelming endorsement from the Northern Ireland business community for the Northern Ireland Assembly: 79% said it would be good for business, with only 1% taking the opposite view (20% were undecided). Overall, it was the Welsh business community that seems to be least happy with the impact of devolution: 23% of Welsh business people thought their Assembly would be bad for business, compared to 14% of Scottish business people. Asked how they would personally vote if there were another Assembly Referendum tomorrow, the Welsh business community was most divided: a narrow majority of 54% would vote in favour, whereas 37% would vote against (9% did not know). In Scotland, the picture is still one of very divided opinion, although support for the Assembly rises to 59% compared to 27% who would vote "no". Against this background, and in view of the much greater cultural and political issues at stake concerning the Northern Ireland Assembly, it was intriguing to find that the Northern Ireland business community is overwhelmingly in favour of the idea of devolution through the Assembly: 82% said they would vote in favour, compared to only 6% who would vote against the Assembly (12% did not know). (It is important to bear in mind with regard to the Northern Ireland results, that this question was asked at a time when the Assembly has been suspended by Westminster as a result of General de Chastelain’s reports concerning IRA decommissioning. However, the Assembly remains in being, pending a current review of the position.) One of the other key issues of great importance to businesses, and which concerns the degree of economic control to be exercised by central Government, is European Monetary Union. At present, the UK remains outside the EMU, notwithstanding the launch of the European currency, the Euro. In both Scotland and Wales, majorities of business people are of the opinion that the UK should not join EMU, and this opinion was most stridently expressed in Wales, where 60% of senior business people were opposed, compared to 52% in Scotland. In Northern Ireland, business opinion was much more divided, with no clear majority one way or the other, although the balance of opinion went along with the opposition recorded by their Scottish and Welsh counterparts. When asked for their views of the impact on their own businesses if the UK switched to the Euro, the three business communities consistently emerged as uncertain, and divided. However, perhaps the most salient finding is that 3 businesses in 10 (across all 3 regions) definitively feel that a switch to the Euro would actually be bad for business: further analysis of the findings shows that service sector companies are much more apprehensive about the prospects under the Euro than are manufacturing businesses.   Best Value & Local Government Consultation by Aubrey McCrory
Local government journals place emphasis on consultation in Best Value. Specific tools such as residents’ opinion polls, customer satisfaction surveys, community meetings, focus groups and citizen’s juries to name but a few, are seen as convenient consultation mechanisms. The issues of those perspective is sought, the citizen, customer or interest group, and the manner it is obtained are significant but the bottom line is all Local Councils must consult if they are to provide Best Value Services. Consulting through quantitative methods such as residents’ or customer polls has traditionally involved speaking to significant numbers of people at relative sizeable cost. Large representative samples can be most effectively used to give statistical validity to results or recommendations. From this type of consultation Councils can learn what large numbers of people think and do in relation to topics and issues, and over more importantly sub groups and trends can be discerned. Such forms of consultation also reflect and reinforce the voter focus of democratic Councils. The Best Value process includes a number of aspects for consultations; determining a Council’s vision, priorities and strategy, assess service performance and quality, and to an extent reporting Best value. Generally quantitative consultation is more relevant to setting priorities and reporting broadly on developments. Assessing service performance and quality tends to be "in the eye of the beholder" and undertaken via a customer focused quantitative stage at the outset. This also facilitates subsequent exploration of issues through qualitative methods, such as focus groups, community meetings or citizens jury’s to identify why respondents hold a particular point of view. Best Value is at the minimum a five-year process. In light of this the gathering of citizens or customers attitudes, behaviors and attributes should be considered ongoing and conceived, as an additional tool to inform not replace Council decision-making. The aim should be to develop a consultation continuum with mechanisms to identify trends, check issues and engage citizens and users. Engagement of citizens and users can occur as Larne Borough Council has seen through a mixture of corporate and service specific consultation mechanisms. The emerging issue is how Councils draw consultation information together at the corporate level, how key issues and core concerns are identified and fed into the decision making process and how they are reflected in performance. Best Value is not concerned with weakening the link between Councils and their district provided through the electoral process. Best Value is about modernizing local government, "the renewal of local democratic government, leading local communities and serving local people" raising the importance of the citizen and customer in councils doing more to lead and serve. Ensuring consultation is useful, valid and reliable depends on the consultation tools applied to the various factors that Best Value encompasses. When consultation is the mechanism for changing the culture of service planning to be more strategic, to measuring improvement and judging the success of services quantitative methods will be to the fore. Hard questions demand dependable answers. Property by Richard Moore, Managing Director
Whilst it is now a busy commercial thoroughfare linking Queen’s to the Ormeau Road, University Street retains much of its Edwardian and academic atmosphere, and its proximity to the leafy glades of Botanic Park and the bistros (pubs!) of Botanic Avenue enhance its appeal to all who work there especially during the summer months.
Moses wouldn’t recognize the place now, but hopefully he’d feel proud that his artistry on the ceiling roses continues to set off our Boardroom admirably. Evaluation and Research Methodologies in the Public Sector Evaluation and research methodologies are employed in a wide range of settings and there is no one specific approach that is appropriate in all cases. The Brand Name approach is to design methodologies that are most appropriate and cost effective in relation to the issues under study while maintaining a fundamental rigour and robustness. Our experience and networks are wide enough to allow us to review practice internationally from which we distil the essential elements of good practice against which to compare the policy, programme or project under review. Evaluation and research studies aiming to search out and document causes, effects and impacts can comprise a combination of methods and techniques. We experience in all the main research and evaluation tools from personal interview and group discussion to case study, participant observation and literature/secondary data review and analysis. Ideally, an evaluation should establish exact measures and, if this is not possible, other indicators that may illustrate issues and dimensions that are not directly measurable. This is not to say that evaluation and research should rely solely on quantitative indicators since this will inevitably give only a partial view. Rather, the point is that effective and comprehensive evaluation and research generally requires a balance of quantitative and qualitative indicators and measures. This is particularly the case where the objective of the exercise is the assessment of programme or project impact in difficult and sensitive areas. Our Evaluation and Research services include: Evaluation and Research Training Training courses can vary in length, intensity and level of achieved competence depending on the particular needs of the client and the level of participant ability. Training is available, for example, in the following areas: policy, programme and project evaluation issues and techniques qualitative and quantitative research issues and techniques user/consumer/client satisfaction survey design and implementation development of monitoring and evaluation frameworks ex-ante evaluation techniques including the use of feasibility studies and economic/investment appraisals Our training takes account of adult learning processes and utilises approaches designed to secure the maximum learning benefit to participants and their organisation. We therefore minimise lecture style presentations and maximise learning by doing. This is achieved by the use of case study exercises that engage participants in individual and collaborative activities designed to facilitate the transfer of their learning into practice. Company Associates For further information please contact:  Fact File Here UMS takes its opportunity to explain those terms that market researchers use daily. In this edition we concentrate on terms related to quantitative research: Quantitative Research is orientated towards finding numerical data. For example if a study is required to quantify the number of people in the population, or a subset of the population which has particular characteristics or views, then a quantitative study is appropriate. This type of research can be conducted using postal, face-to-face or telephone interviewing. Having decided on quantitative research you need to think carefully of which interviewing method is appropriate and also how to construct your sample. Omnibus Survey - Allows questions to be asked on a number of different topics over a continuous period of time. Omnibus Survey: Omnibus can be a very cost-effective means of putting a limited number of questions to a very large sample, whilst retaining high quality sampling and questionnaire design. CAPI (Computer Aided Personal Interviewing) - The use of portable computers to record real-time information from interviews thus reducing the need for data-entry procedures and saving valuable research time. Data is available following the completion of fieldwork. CATI (Computer Aided Telephone Interviewing) - The use of computers to record real-time information from telephone interviews, again reducing data-entry procedures and saving valuable research time. Data is available immediately following the completion of fieldwork. Sample - Virtually all research surveys involve asking questions of a limited number of people drawn from a given population. Within defined statistical parameters, the inference is then made that what is true for the sample is true for the population as a whole. Quota Sampling - The construction of a sample so that it matches the demographic structure of the population as a whole. Random Sampling - Allows each possible informant in the population the same chance of being selected for interview. Weighting - Sometimes a ‘new’ sample can be imbalanced when compared to known demographic structures for the population as a whole. Weighting can sometimes be applied to correct for this, although strict statistical guidelines must be followed and clients must always be informed. At UMS weighting is very rarely applied to survey data. Coding - the allocation of numbers or letters in a questionnaire to facilitate analysis. With open-ended questions this is done after fieldwork is complete. Internet Wars
Top 10 Television Advertisements According to research carried out by UMS in February the following are the ten most popular television advertisements:
Appointments
Ruth Torrens has also been appointed Research Executive. A Cambridge graduate, Ruth has recently taken a Diploma in International Affairs from the Paul Nitze School of International Studies, John Hopkins University Bologna Center. Her role within Catalysis involves policy evaluation and social research mainly in the public sector. Promotions Clare Durkin has been promoted to Associate Director. Clare processes more data than anybody else in Northern Ireland, and still finds time to design research surveys on everything from aardvarks to zips! Margaret Hedley is now Assistant Field Manager. A tremendously experienced supervisor of interviewers, Margaret's close support of Olwen Davies (Field Manager) in all aspects of our field administration and management has been reflected in this development. Glenn Hall has been promoted to Senior Research Executive. Glenn enjoys a growing reputation as a very thorough qualitative and quantitative researcher and has made a big impact since first joining us some 5 years ago as a placement student. These significantly augment the team at Ulster Marketing Surveys and underscore not only our corporate ambitions, but also our continued commitment to providing extensive and high quality service. Millward Brown Ulster • 115 University Street •
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Welcome to the first edition of Ulster Marketing
Surveys News publication, ‘The Red Door’, it’s your chance to find out about what
goes on in 94 and 115 University Street. As one of the new faces at UMS it has been
a learning experience putting these articles together. I hope you will find them
both interesting and informative. Thanks to those who contributed especially to Aubrey
McCrory of Larne Borough Council whose article on ‘Local Government Consultation’ can
be found on page 2. If you have any suggestions for inclusions in ‘The Red Door’ or
indeed feel you have something you could contribute to our ‘Guest Spot’ please get in
touch.
When Best Value was introduced
in 1997 the Labour Government effectively
questioned the relationship between the 26 Local Councils and their
districts, creating an impetus for Councils to enhance their local
relationships. The most immediate and effective development of these
links appeared to be through consultation. However, the extent and
nature of consultation activities will greatly affect the Best Value
outcome.
When we were refurbishing the Boardroom at 115 University
Street recently our decorators uncovered the untidily scrawled signature
of the original plasterer, one ‘Moses Boyd, 1909’. The street has
its origins as a pleasant well-to-do Edwardian boulevard close to
Queen’s University, constructed during the heyday of Belfast’s dizzying
growth around the turn of the century. (I am a pedantic statistical
breed that maintains that the 21st century hasn’t started yet).
Our staff numbers mean that we now fill No 115 to
the gunnels, so we were pleased when nearby No. 94 became available,
a building in very similar style, and with a delightful stained
glass lady on the landing. No. 94 houses our expanded Telephone
Research Centre and our Qualilab Viewing Facilities, and is under
the caring and watchful administration of James Lordan, Telephone
Research Manager. A previous occupant was Lashbrook Advertising,
in which many of Belfast’s advertising graybeards served their apprenticeship!
The recent announcement by AltaVista facilitating
cheaper Internet access eliminating potentially expensive phone
bills has signaled the beginning of the battle of the Internet service
providers. Of course such developments can only be good for the
customer but will this encourage more people to get on-line? Ulster
Marketing Surveys has kept its finger on the pulse yet again measuring
home access to the Internet and frequency of use from August of
1999 to February 2000. Surprisingly according to our data there
has been no up turn in the number of homes logging on during this
period. 12% of the population have access to the Internet at home
in February, the same percentage had access in August 1999. Perhaps
altavista has done exactly what the market needs to encourage our
Internet industry to become more like that of the States, where
the public view being on-line not as a luxury but a necessity. Equally
with regard to frequency of use the figures have not changed from
August to February. Approximately 10% of the population uses the
Internet once a week, whilst another 3% use it once a month and
another 3% less often than once a month. With free ISP’s remaining
popular it is possible that the cost of phone calls continue to
mean those with Internet access restrict how often they log on.
Only time will tell if the tempting offers that other ISP’s have
had to come up with in response to altavista will make a difference
to the number of people who have home access to the Internet across
the Province.
John Kennedy has been appointed Research
Executive. A Queen's graduate in geography, John also has
a post-graduate degree in Environmental Science. His responsibilities
include Council Care a research service provided to our local
authorities featured on our social omnibus.![[ logo: Millward Brown Ulster ]](/img/footer/mbu_logo_small.gif){kind=logo}