26th February, 2008

A leading vehicle manufacturer has asked us to run a van clinic in early April. This will involve several hundred participants attending a research event at a convenient location in the Midlands, evaluating vehicle models and answeiring survey questions. To be eligible for the research, participants must be the owner/decision maker of a commercial vehicle purchased brand new no earlier than 2004 (other screening criteria may apply)

For further information please contact Dave Ruston

23rd November, 2007

Plus Four have been commissioned to help evaluate an exciting new book programme which aims to raise standards amongst children. Booked Up is a national programme aimed at encouraging Year 7 children (11 & 12 -year-olds) to read and is run by the independent charity Booktrust and supported by the Department for Children, Schools and Families.

Parent or guardians who agree take part in the research will be called by one of our trained telephone interviewers from our in-house interviewing facility ‘The Phone Unit’ in Wimbledon. We have been asked to conduct a total of 500 interviews across the country. All responses are confidential - but what parents tell us will help shape Booked Up if it is funded in future years. For further information please contact Colleen Norton

26th September, 2007

The London Borough of Southwark have commissioned Plus Four to carry out over 600 interviews with local parents and carers. Southwark Children's Services wish to collect evidence from parents themselves about parenting, work and childcare in order for them to design a more appropriate, better service for families in the future. Interviews are currently being completed in all areas of the Borough and results will be collated in October. For more information please contact Dave Ruston

2nd April, 2007

To reflect our expertise in packaging and branding research, Plus Four have announced that they will be exhibiting at this years Total Processing and Packaging Show. The exhibition, to be held at the NEC between 15-18th May, is generally regarded as being the premier event for packaging designers, buyers, brand managers and communication experts. Plus Four staff will be on hand to explain the benefits of understanding what consumers think of packaging and what it takes to design an eye-catching product.

7th March, 2007

The London Borough of Waltham Forest has commissioned Plus Four to undertake a household survey of the Borough’s priority neighbourhoods. We are looking for local people to join our team and conduct interviews. The results will also inform a series of community workshops to be held later in the year.

The study is a pivotal element of the Better Neighbourhoods Initiative Programme and will allow the Council to measure improvements in quality of life for residents. As part of the project we are looking for local residents to become part of our interviewer workforce. Suitable candidates will be invited on a two day training course where they will learn about a range of interviewing techniques and be given the opportunity to carry out real-life interviews with the help of an experienced professional. If candidates reach the required standard they will then be offered the opportunity to work on the Better Neighbourhoods survey during March and April...and possibly more work in the future!

21st September, 2006

Peter Allan, Colleen Norton, Barry Jetten and Cara Allan attended the ESOMAR conference held in London on 17th-20th September. It was the second time that Plus Four had exhibited at the international congress following a successful exhibition last year in Cannes. The evidence again suggests that there was a lot of interest in our varied client base and successful track record spanning over 15,000 projects and 30 years. We had the opportunity of meeting many new faces as well as meeting up with a number of our European clients and some familiar faces from the past. See you in Berlin in 2007!

Older

Plus Four were commissioned by the London Borough of Newham to conduct a qualitative study amongst its local residents. A series of focus groups and in-depth interviews were conducted with British White and African-Caribbean residents - these groups are currently under-represented in terms of their library usage. A detailed presentation of findings was given to Council officers in August and the research is now being used to develop future service provision initiatives in Newham. The include the improvement of disability access to Canning Town library and an increase in the number of PCs in the same library. The research is also feeding into the whole regeneration programme being undertaken at Canning Town, which will include a new library.

Older

Plus Four have recently completed the latest set of interviews with visitors to Trafalgar Square. Since 2002, the Greater London Authority (GLA) have asked Plus Four to conduct an annual quantitative study to get views on the ongoing changes being made to the area. 1,000 interviews were successfully conducted on topics such as purpose of visit, opinions of local area, and usage of local facilities/amenities. For more information on conducting fieldwork contact Colleen Norton, Director of the Field Division.