Who is the Creative Researcher?

The Creative Researcher is a home for anyone who might not consider themselves “researchers”, but who get inspired from listening to their audiences, clients, or customers. It is a place that demystifies the research process, empowering anyone to speak to their audiences, while feeling confident that they are getting the most out of it!

I hope the tools and resources available here inspire you to be a creative researcher too!

Do any of these things sound like you?

• You think talking to your customers/audience/clients is useful but you don’t know how
• You are worried about doing research “the right way”. You’re looking for objective results!
• You like the idea of research but are worried it will slow you down or cost you lots of money

If so…welcome! I’m so happy you’ve joined me here.

So…why am I here?

I started The Creative Researcher for a few reasons:

• When i started conducting research projects, it became very clear to me from the beginning that the more successful ones were successful because everyone got involved. Project managers, developers, designers, strategists – everyone who came along to interviews, observations, or anything else we were doing got real value out of the research. By the time it came to presenting the report, everyone who was there was already bought into the findings! I realised that there was a need to demystify the research process so everyone felt comfortable getting involved from the beginning!

• I have always been passionate about methodologies. Nerdy, I know. But finding creative solutions to answering difficult questions has always been a specialty of mine! I love trying to figure out what qualitative or quantitative research methodologies might help someone gain some clarity on difficult problems. I am so passionate about exploring how different methodologies might help solve different problems that I’ve been asked to speak in five different countries about it!

• I’ve seen a lot of projects plough straight ahead, wasting thousands of dollars developing ideas that flop. Whenever I’ve enquired about why they didn’t do any audience research, they often told me that it would take too long or be too expensive without a guaranteed result. I’ve always been a big proponent of the fact that audience research often helps mitigate risk and can save you tons of money in development. Why wouldn’t you want to know if your product is going to sell before you even develop it?!

WHO AM I?

i am a social/cultural anthropologist with over a decade of experience delivering research projects across a variety of sectors. I’ve worked for agencies (big and small), charities, and most recently, as the User Researcher at the British Museum and as the Senior Manager: Data & Insight at the National Gallery in London. 

Moving from agencies to non-profits such as the British Museum and the National Gallery, I had to learn how to be as cost and time efficient with audience research as possible. With limited resources and budget, but keen stakeholders, I was able to develop a variety of creative methods that allowed them to better understand their audiences without breaking the bank!

During my time as a researcher, I have designed and delivered projects that included:

• User research
• Ethnography
• Web analytics
• Social Media analytics
• Evaluation

So what does that all mean? It means my research skills include:

• Usability testing
• Interviews
• Surveys
• Website and Social Media Analytics
• Tree Testing
• Card Sorting
• Observation
• Journey mapping
• Diary Studies

I’ve also spoken at many conferences across Europe and North America, particularly about using quantitative and qualitative methodologies to gain deeper audience insight. Some of my favourites were:

•  Big Data Belfast
• MuseumNext
• Market Research Society: Data Analytics & Insight
• Museums and the Web
• Anthropology in Industry

I want to invite you to join my email list community. I’ll keep you posted on the latest resources I’m able to share, like worksheets, how-to guides, checklists, and more!

You’ll also get invitations to any free, live workshops I host online.

If you want to know more about me, I’d be happy to chat! Feel free to send me a message using the form below.

Let’s Start a Conversation