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Opinionpanel ResearchFirst FloorHighbury Crescent Rooms70 Ronalds RoadLondon N5 1XATel: (020) 7288 8789Fax: (020) 7288 8772Email: <becky@opinionpanel.co.uk>

Overview presentation

Becky Lewis

Research Director, Opinionpanel

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Opinionpanel is…

•A specialist, fully independent, online research agency

•Concerned with students before, during and after their time at university

•Owner and manager of the UK’s only pre-recruited panel of students, applicants & graduates.

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Opinionpanel provides…

•A full research service via a high-calibre team of researchers with in-house IT and data processing professionals

•Client access to the lives of over 70,000 pre-applicants, applicants, students and graduates

•Accountability to student marketing spend

•Well rewarded, well managed panellists providing valid and representative results.

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Mission…

To be the leading provider of insight into young people and students in higher education through online market research

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A significant market

University applicants pa -

500,000 (77% get in)

Full-time undergraduates –

c. 1 million

Of f/t u/g population – 90% from UK

(4% from EU6% overseas)

Degrees awarded tof/t u/gs –

270,000 p.a.

Academics employed in UK

universities –164,000

Sector expenditure

>£20bn

106 universities62 other HEIs

Average students per HEI - 14,000

(50 have more than 20,000)

Annual population…

Higher Education – the engine room of the Knowledge Economy

Average HEIincome - £166m pa

16-18 year olds in full time UK education –

1.5m

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Students are young and aspirational…but no elite

•Seventy two percent of 11–16 year olds think they are likely to go into higher education (Sutton Trust / Ipsos MORI 2008)

•Forty percent actually do

•Student life is vastly aspirational – yet mainstream

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An important lifetime event

A transformative time Career opportunities

Brand preferences / loyalties develop

Social capital obtained

Intellectual advancement

Independence

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Compelling evidence for internet research

The Office of National Statistics research that shows:

•65% of UK households have internet access – 56% with broadband access

•The proportion of households with internet access increases amongst those with A levels and degrees

•Amongst 16 – 24 year olds 93% have used the internet within the last 3 months. None of them have “never” used it

•Amongst 16 – 24 year olds 77% use the internet every day or almost every day and a further 19% at least once a week

•Pretty compelling evidence for justifying internet research amongst students, graduates and our core age group

Full service research

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Opinionpanel services

Sample only

Field and tabs

Omnibus Surveys

Syndicated reports

• Project design• Analysis and reporting• Expertise in student markets for clients in Higher Education, graduate recruiters, brands and PR• Dedicated project managers

Long-standing, well developed reports for:• Universities (Higher Expectations)• Banks (Student Account Acquisition Study, Student Account Retention Study)• Mobiles (Mobile Monitor)• New reports under development

• Student Omnibus = weekly•1000 students, UK representative•Over 120 universities each week•Representative by gender, uni type, age and course year•Fast turnaround

• For research agencies • Supply Opinionpanel sample to your online survey• All IT and setup included in the cost• Supply the UKs largest agencies including consumer sample specialists

• Fieldwork and data processing• Includes survey scripting• Customised tables specifications• Coding• All managed and executed by highly experienced staff, in house

Online qualitative

•Trained in-house moderators•Pre recruited groups of target students and young people•Clients can observe and ask moderators to prompt in real time•Excellent for evaluating marketing materials

(formerly The Applicant Panel)

* 14,000 pre-applicants (16-17 year olds considering HE and HE applicants)

* UCAS recruited – no open access

* Panellists sent ‘hard copy’ vouchers immediately after completing each q’aire

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Our panels - profile

* Over 60,000 students * Every UK institution* UCAS recruited * ac.uk email verified* 100+ profiling characteristics * £25 Amazon incentive

* All former members of The Student Panel (therefore identities assured)

* Earned points carry over

*Capacity for longitudinal research

•5,000+ recent grads

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Recruiting our panels

F2F top-up recruitment (5%) and mentions in press (10%)

UCAS invite 16 to 18 year olds from schools and colleges to The Future Panel and first year undergraduates to The Student Panel.

Post-graduate students

‘ac.uk’ email verification

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Our panels - benefits

•Year round access to students and recent graduates

•Unrestricted by academic holidays

•No wastage on fieldwork – you only pay for complete interviews

•Fast fieldwork – normally complete in three working days

•Select sample from over 200 profiling criteria

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• Real and unique– The recruitment process means we know panellists are who they say

they are

• Questionnaires by invite only– Unique link to closed questionnaire– Don’t over invite – 3 or 4 surveys a year

• Specialist research business– MRS Company Partners– Panellists know we’re not going to sell to them / pass on their details

• Engaged respondents– Pre-screening and known demographics make questionnaires shorter– Generous incentive– Regular feedback– ‘Tone of voice’, – Don’t ‘burn’ sample

Getting valid response

50%+

Response rate

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• Careful recruitment to panel and questionnaires– Careful panel recruitment (e.g. to whole 1st year)– Random samples from those eligible

• Research the population– Higher Education Statistics Agency provides us with high level

population statistics so we can easily create representative samples by setting quotas

• Set quotas– We routinely set quotas for gender, year and university type

• Russell Group (elite)• Other ‘Old’ universities• ‘New’ universities• Other HEIs

– Can set quotas for almost any variable

Getting representative findings

Accurate sample

surveys that represent student

population

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Functionality for panellists

Panellists can log in to edit their profile and check their points.

All panellists can see which projects they have completed and the points they’ve earned.

We have monthly articles from experts in HE or the panellists themselves. We also provide regular feedback reports to our members.

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Client interface

Clients can log in a check on the progress of their project.

Dashboard tools showing live project progress

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Questionnaires

Adverts / TV Clips in questionnaires Sliding Preference Scales

Questionnaires

Star Ratings Drag and Drop Ranking

Questionnaires

Image and Presentation Testing Image Zoom Box (on roll over)

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Panellist feedback

“It was the right length and the drag and drop options were extremely helpful and made the whole process less tedious than they can be. The topic was relevant to me as a finalist and rather enjoyable.”

“I liked the scrolling bars for the salary, and the drag and drop sections. It is a good use of user interaction over the internet”

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Online qualitative research

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Team

Research Team

IT and DP Team Non Executive Directors

Central Team

Opinionpanel is a Market Research Society Company Partner. We’re committed to upholding industry standards and complying with the MRS Code of Conduct.

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ClientsWe undertake research for many of the leading organisations in the student market, including universities, market research agencies, brands, recruiters, advertising and PR.

Agencies

RecruitmentBrands & Media

Universities / Education / Policy

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Becky LewisOpinionpanel ResearchT: 020 7288 8789F: 020 7288 8772E: becky@opinionpanel.co.ukW: www.opinionpanel.co.uk Aberdeen House22 Highbury GroveLondon N5 2EA