Types of research

Heist is renowned for its four types of research services:

Secondary and Desk Research
Off-the Shelf Research Packages
Syndicated Research Projects
Bespoke research and consultancy

Our project range can be split into a number of key areas, each of which include a number of different types of studies.

Course Development/Portfolio Reviews
Student Recruitment Marketing
Service Satisfaction Studies
Employee Research
Strategic Consultation
Off-the-Shelf Packages
Syndicated Projects
Research Methodologies

Course Development/Portfolio Reviews

Market Demand Assessments
Market Opportunity Assessments
New course development studies
Competitor Analysis
Naming and content reviews

Student Recruitment Marketing

Decision-making research
Professional Prospectus Reviews
Professional Website Reviews
Advertising Effectiveness Studies
Marketing/Communications Audits
Segmentation and profiling studies
Decliners, Acceptors, Retention Surveys
Open Day Benchmarking
Campaign Analysis

Service Satisfaction Studies

Student Satisfaction
Accommodation
Student Support
Catering
Conference
Library/computing
Alumni

Employee Research

Staff Satisfaction Surveys
Stress/Lifestyle Surveys
Employer Branding

Strategic Consultation

Brand development research
Repositioning studies
Concept testing
Stakeholder Consultation

Off-the-Shelf Packages

Having carried out research in the sector for more than 20 years, Heist can offer the convenience and value of off-the-shelf research products. These products take best practice research approaches and standardized surveys to deliver your core research needs. Questionnaires may be purchased so you can run your own surveys or we can run them on your behalf.

Off-the-shelf research products include:

The Decliner Survey
The Acceptor Survey
The Application and Enrolment Survey
Open Day Evaluation
Professional Prospectus and Website Reviews using our best practice grids

Syndicated Research

Syndicated research is a cost effective way of accessing large scale primary research projects covering relevant topics in higher education marketing and recruitment. In 2010 we launched the Heist Research Alliance, which offers organisations the chance to sign-up for 3 syndicated projects every year, influence the topics and receive great discounts.

Click here for further details on the Heist Research Alliance.

Research Methodologies

Heist use a range of methodologies to deliver our clients research objectives. We also strive to offer innovative methodologies which reflect the changing media habits of our target respondents and to make the research process more exciting for the participants.

Methodologies include:

Desk Research – data analysis, secondary analysis, literature reviews, communications audits, geo-demographic profiling
Quantitative Research - web, e-mail, telephone, face-to-face, hall tests
Qualitative Research – mini-depth interviews, depth interviews, focus groups, structured feedback sessions, social media research