Social
Inspiring and enabling citizens and changemakers to make a difference to the world around them
Centring citizens
Citizens are the people all around us who form our communities. They’re friends, family, neighbours, colleagues, not just customers, consumers or service-users. They have a right to participate, be heard, and be listened to no matter who they are because without them there is no society.
Celebrating society
Social issues, public policy and collective progress aren’t just something for politicians and the media to talk about. They affect all of us, they involve all of us so they need to be informed by all of us.
Creating change
Social research is about helping citizens be heard. And about helping those who work in their interests - our clients – hear them, learn from them and act positively. It’s about making sure decisions are made by, with and for the people affected.
Citizen-powered research
Our aim is to take on tough challenges, ask tricky questions, fill in the gaps. This means placing citizens, everyday people, at the heart of what we do, because they’re the ones we’re relying on.
We don’t just need to talk to people. We need to involve them. We want participants, not just respondents; research conducted with them rather than done to them.
Research needs to be a positive experience for all, even when we’re asking about difficult subjects. We aim to elevate, amplify and represent the voices of those who don’t always get listened to, and we make sure what they have to say gets heard and contributes to meaningful change.
Accessing the inaccessible
We’re a social research team, so we’re used to tackling tricky subjects with a huge variety of people. We’re familiar with subject matter that is sensitive and complex, objectives that are nuanced and talking to audiences that some might describe as ‘hard to reach’. Sometimes we’re talking about the things people care most about; sometimes we’re asking them to think about things they’d rather not.
These projects require sensitivity, care and skill from inception through to delivery. We take an inclusive approach to all aspects of project design with carefully thought out samples and consideration of the research’s potential impact on participants baked into the design.
Through innovative approaches that are sympathetic, empathetic and compassionate we can spotlight unconscious mindsets and behaviours, help people articulate motivations or assumptions they find hard to pin down and identify critical moments or opportunities.
Social knowhow meets commercial savvy
Our new social team combines commercial expertise with decades of experience leading social research programmes. We have researched a myriad of social issues, helping clients to inform policy, develop communications strategies, and highlighting the intricacies of lived experiences
We have specialist experience in finance and financial resilience, mental health, physical health, transport, behaviour change, crime, fundraising and education among other areas. The Nursery team already has a reputation for being pioneers in brand, communications and experience research across commercial, charity and public sectors. With this team, we are creating a crucible for cross-pollination of experience, techniques and thinking.
Making sense of it all
The purpose of our work is to discover the elusive hidden truths, the communication needs, the comprehension gaps, and the conscious or unconscious behaviours that shape the way citizens interact with the world.
The key to this discovery lies in considered and thoughtful analysis, and in bringing insights to life in rich, meaningful narratives that enrich our clients’ understanding and help them bring about change.
Public Sector
Central and local government; statutory and regulatory bodies
Policy | Strategy development | Target audience deep-dives | Communications development | Service design | User experience
Charities
Charities from across the spectrum, tackling health, education, poverty, environmental issues and animal welfare.
Communications | Fundraising | Engagement | Informing policy | New product development | Donor and user experience
Citizen Champions
Any organisations focused on supporting and empowering people; working on inclusion or cohesion; bringing about social change.
Understanding audiences | Exploring experiences | Understanding benefit and detriment | Raising awareness