There are approximately 1.6 billion children, adolescents and youths enrolled in primary and secondary schools worldwide. Around 264 million students are enrolled in tertiary (or higher) education, a significant rise from 2020’s 235 million. This equates to roughly 20% of the global population currently being enrolled in primary, secondary, or tertiary education. FieldworkHub has assisted clients in recruiting students, teaching staff and parents of school-aged children for a number of studies on EdTech, policy implementation and university-led academic research studies.
While the majority of education worldwide is government funded, with governments in most developed countries spending 5-6% of GDP on education, the private sector is estimated to be growing at around 8% per year. The global market for private educational services for children of primary and secondary school age has been estimated at $431 billion in 2025, while the global market for private tertiary education can be roughly estimated at $250-300 billion a year. The global market for work-related training, the other major component of private educational services, is estimated to be worth around $350 billion a year.
Education Technology (EdTech) is a rapidly growing area of the education market and a major focus for market research. Estimates for the annula value of EdTech vary from around $180 billion to $215 billion in 2025-26 with a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of approximately 13%–15% . The advent of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a key drive of growth in the EdTech market.
Focus groups bring together a small number of participants for a moderated discussion, either in person or online. They are particularly useful for exploring consumer attitudes, evaluating new concepts and understanding how people react to and build on one another’s ideas.
In-depth interviews (IDIs) involve a one-to-one conversation between a researcher and a participant. They are well suited to exploring complex decisions, personal experiences and sensitive subjects, particularly in B2B research or when specialist knowledge is required.
Ethnographic research involves observing people in their everyday environments, such as their homes, workplaces or shops. It is useful when researchers want to understand how products and services are used in practice, rather than relying solely on what participants say.
Online bulletin boards (OBBs) allow participants to complete research tasks and respond to questions over several days, at times that suit them. They are useful for diary-style research, gathering detailed reflections and exploring topics that benefit from considered rather than immediate responses.
Market research online communities (MROCs) bring participants together on a digital platform for ongoing research. Unlike shorter OBB studies, MROCs can cover multiple topics over weeks or months, making them useful for user engagement, innovation and tracking changing attitudes.
UX testing involves observing people as they use a website, app or digital product, often while completing specific tasks. It helps identify usability problems, understand why users encounter difficulties and evaluate prototypes or existing digital experiences.
Customer experience research examines how people interact with a brand, product or service across touchpoints. It can combine interviews, surveys, focus groups and other methods to understand satisfaction, identify frustrations and explore opportunities to improve the customer journey.
Video surveys ask participants to record short responses to research questions, usually using their smartphones. They can involve selfie videos, product demonstrations or narrated activities, making them useful when researchers want to capture reactions and experiences in participants’ own words.
Vox pops involve short video interviews that capture people’s immediate opinions and reactions, usually in public locations or remotely. They are particularly useful for gathering spontaneous feedback on familiar topics, products or brands and illustrating research findings with real voices.
Online surveys allow respondents to complete structured questionnaires on their computers or mobile devices. They are often the most efficient option for reaching larger samples, testing preferences and measuring attitudes when respondents can be recruited and surveyed remotely.
Computer-Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI) uses interviewers who follow a digital questionnaire and record responses during a telephone call. It is useful for reaching business professionals or other audiences who may be difficult to engage online, and for surveys with lots of open-ended questions.
Computer-Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI) involves an interviewer recording responses on a tablet or similar device during an in-person survey. It is useful for street intercepts, location-specific research and research where participants need to see or try a product before answering questions.
A global technology company wanted to speak to teachers and education leaders in the UK about the use of educational technology in the classroom and for remote learning during the coronavirus lockdowns. FieldworkHub was tasked with recruiting 24 respondents within a week to take part in a series of online focus groups.
Two universities were co-operating on a project to explore how groups of people work together to solve problems. FieldworkHub was asked to recruit, schedule and manage incentives for 50 groups of seven people over a seven-week period, to attend a moderated two-hour session.
The University of Cambridge created an online application system for candidates wishing to study there. They wanted to conduct remote user tests, with a sample of prospective undergraduate/ postgraduate students who were applying to top UK universities. We recruited and screened in 14 respondents in less than a week.
