Social research... official MoneySavingExpert.com discussion 15 October 2007 at 3:34PM in Boost your income 20 replies 28.3K views

Former_MSE_Lawrence

This is a special discussion as part of the

Boost Your Income

article, all about

Doing social research

which is part of the Work, work, work section

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lynzpower

Lots of these advertised almost daily in the london metro, also see time out. there are loads of "marital problems" type ones - and they seem to pay 50 quid upwards.

I was a social researcher for a while we paid 20, for an hours interview.

xxxMistyxxx

Im a social research interviewer, its alot of fun, flexible and to be honest is really well payed.

I know a couple of reputable companies that I work for or my colleagues do and there always looking for new interveiwers all over the U.K so if ur interested pm me & il tell u were to go to find out more

Sarahsaver

Why can't you tell us on here? if it is open to all you do not have to communicate via PM. This is a public forum;)

dark_angel

I have PM'd you.

xxxMistyxxx

Ive just put together a little document about social research, hopefully anyone interested in it will find it usefull

Social research interviewers are employed by companies to go to named addresses and ask residents information on different social aspects.
The companies are independent research institutions usually working on projects for government departments like the Department for work & pensions, department for transport and many others aswell as collecting research for Universities and other Interested Parties.

This type of work involves employees working from home & in the field. Not based at any specific place.
U are invited to work on projects, the first step would then be to attend a briefing on the specific subject. Usually 1 day somewere in ur region, but can be further away and for longer periods depending on what the project is.
After the briefing you would then recieve a list of addresses and you would work from home, either phoning up respondents to get appointments to go and interview them or by visiting them in there homes & arranging the appointments that way.
Usually the area u work in is not to far from were u live.
You drive to the houses at the times u want to work & conduct interviews on a laptop computer, reading from the screen & inputting answers.
All expenses are payed seperately to work fees, i.e petrol, parking costs if necesary & train tickets to briefings.
You tend to get payed travel time and then a set amount per interview u conduct which means its not an hourly wage. From personal experience it does tend to be far higher then minimum wage, depending on the area & project.
There is the opportunity for promotion depending on success rates or number of projects u have worked on.
Alot of people work for these companies for many years as they enjoy it so much and from personal experience everyone is very friendly, helpfull and just generally nice.

Some company websites that can explain more and always have vacancies are:

The National Centre for Social research (Natcen)
http://www.natcen.ac.uk/
Specifically for this type of work u shud look here :
http://www.natcen.ac.uk/natcen/pages/au_facetoface.htm

If ur in Scotland try...
The Scottish Centre for Social Research (Scotcen)
http://www.natcen.ac.uk/scotland/index.html

or

Kantar Opertions
http://www.kantaroperations.com/
Specifically for this type of work u shud look here :
http://www.kantaroperations.com/3-6-1-face-to-face.aspx

or

Office for National Statistics (ons)
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/
Specifically for this type of work u shud look here :
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/about/ons/recruitment_training/currentvacancies/ssdfield.asp

I have done this work for 8 months & find it really interesting and good fun most of the time.

Ive tried to provide as much info as I feel i possibly can based on my own experience, to give people a good idea of whats involved. I would deffinately check out the sites for more information and ask others what there experiences are.

freeman32

Do you need your own car?

I live close to lots of public transport routes in London but the National Centre for Social Research indicated that you have to have a car as you often need to carry equipment around.

freeman32

emweaver

Which of these companies do you work for?

xxxMistyxxx

Yeah you have to carry around a laptop really incase you get on the spot interviews.

freeman32 wrote: »

Do you need your own car?

I live close to lots of public transport routes in London but the National Centre for Social Research indicated that you have to have a car as you often need to carry equipment around.

freeman32

mamazaac

These lists of addresses/phone numbers you get - have the people already agreed to be interviewed, or are you just contacting them on the offchance?

xxxMistyxxx

mamazaac wrote: »

These lists of addresses/phone numbers you get - have the people already agreed to be interviewed, or are you just contacting them on the offchance?

They send them a letter so they have the opportunity to opt out. Sometimes they have been talked to and actually agreed to it aswell. Depends on the project.