L-r: Jim Whaley, David Tross, James Endersby, Kelly Beaver, Richard Asquith
Photos: Jane Bain
Event write-up by Paul Edwards
The 9th June was International Archives Day (who knew there was such a thing?). But appropriately the following day saw the annual summer event of the Archive of Market and Social Research.
It was a very well attended event with past and present luminaries from the research and insight sector as well as a small number of students representing our future.
Adam Phillips reminded the room that the AMSR serves to showcase the contribution of the research industry and to enhance its status. Our aim is to digitise as much research information as possible and to make it free to access and use.
Phyllis Macfarlane updated us on the education project that the AMSR is undertaking. With only 5% of schools offering post war British history we have realised that we also have much to offer politics and sociology students. The AMSR is not only a store of fascinating facts but is an excellent way to learn how to use information sources. We are trying to help busy teachers by providing more curation of our material to encourage them to make the Archive part of their lessons. Election polls, crime and punishment and music in advertising are all proving popular subjects. Universities are showing increased interest in the Archive as a window on ‘everyday life’.
Professor Patrick Barwise opened and closed the event and took the opportunity to remind us that we are still looking for more material for the archive in paper and digital form; the more complete records we have (particularly time series) the more vital the Archive will be. We still need more volunteers from marketing to scanning. And of course we still need financial donations; as a volunteer charity our running costs are relatively low but money is needed for projects such as making the Archive easier and more productive to search. We are looking at harnessing AI for improving natural language searching of the AMSR.
The main event was a panel discussion. Our panel comprised Kelly Beaver (IPSOS), James Endersby (Opinium), David Tross (Birkbeck) and Jim Whaley (Ovation MR) – ably chaired by the AMSR’s own Richard Asquith.
As a sociologist David was researching ‘happiness’ and using the research to look for ways that this has been measured and reported. As an academic he welcomed that the Archive was free and easy to use! He confessed that teaching of research methods can be a bit on the dry side but the Archive was a way of bringing this subject to life and relevance.
James (partly with his MRS chair hat on – do chairs have hats?) described how so many people just ‘fall into’ research; a show of hands revealed a lot of sheepish fallers. He is on a crusade to make research a destination career and the Archive has a role to play in showing that research is interesting, useful, accessible and (dare I say it) fun! He also floated the idea of an AMSR award as part of the suite of MRS awards – it went down well in the room and ideas for making it real would be most welcome.
Kelly talked about the Archive’s role in preserving polling and opinion data and the importance of research in giving a voice to people as consumers and as citizens. Taking the Archive into schools and universities is a major step in helping to recruit the next generation of researchers but, just as importantly, to encourage younger people to participate in surveys.
Jim made a heartfelt appeal to make Market research something that we and the public can believe in. We should celebrate our ability to cut through the ‘fake news’ and bring trustworthy information and opinions to the table. The AMSR can play a vital role in helping the industry to take responsibility for an honest interrogation of research methods.
Is it possible to summarise such a full evening? The AMSR relies on the research industry to provide material, volunteers and funding. In return the AMSR is driving into schools and universities aiming to encourage future recruits for the industry and future willing respondents. The past really is useful to the future and worth preserving.
We mustn’t forget to thank the sponsors of the evening: delineate, Kantar, Opinium and OvationMR, as well as the Policy Institute at King’s College for providing the excellent venue. Thanks also to all the volunteers without whose generous gifts of time the Archive would not exist.
AMSR: Making History.
Follow the AMSR on LinkedIn or visit us at www.amsr.org.uk
Contributed by Paul Edwards
Date posted: 11th June 2024