2024 saw global energy demand grow by 2.2%, a huge jump from the 1.3% average increase between 2013 and 2023. The biggest impact on energy demand in the last 3-4 years has been the surge in demand for electricity for cooling needs, the electrification of vehicles and machinery that were once powered by internal combustion engines, and new data centres to support rapidly increasing demand for AI services. In 2024, over 80% of the increased demand for energy came from emerging economies, with this proportion expected to increase over the next 5-10 years.
The UK’s energy sector contributed around £258 billion to GDP in 2024, supporting almost 1.5 million jobs. The shift to renewables has been a major economic contributor within the UK energy sector since 2014, with extractive industries such as oil and gas experiencing a decrease of in contribution to GDP of £32 billion in 2023. Renewable energy sources (wind, solar, nuclear and hydro) now supply close to half of the UK’s electricity on an annual basis, and aroiudn two-thirds in some months.
Alongside research relating to the use of fossil fuels, FieldworkHub has supported a number of projects relating to energy conservation and renewables including rapid recruitment for an online bulletin board about renewable energy in the UK and Germany, interviews with UK consumers about smart home energy devices, and focus groups with UK homeowners and landlords about retrofitting homes to improve energy efficiency.
Focus groups allow participants to combine experiences and perspectives to explore ideas in depth. Commonly used during creative and conceptual development, they help you understand your customers’ needs, perceptions, and beliefs.
In-depth interviews (IDIs), where a moderator interviews a single respondent, can be conducted face-to-face, online, or over the phone. They are ideal for B2B research and for exploring delicate subjects with consumers and hard-to-reach groups.
Ethnographic research is a qualitative research method in which the researchers observe participants using a product or service, or carrying out other activities, in their own environment, typically at work or at home.
An online bulletin board (OBB) is an online forum for qualitative market research that enables participants to log into to carry out research tasks or reply to questions asked by a moderator at their own pace, typically over a period of a few days.
A market research online community (MROC) is similar to an online bulletin board (OBB). However, unlike an OBB, on online community may be used to serve multiple purposes, and the community may remain active for weeks, months or even years.
User experience (UX) testing is a qualitative research methodology which involves directly observing and interviewing a participant using a product or service. It is widely used for testing new versions of apps and websites before they are launched.
Customer experience (CX) testing evaluates how customers interact with a product, service, or digital platform. It helps identify usability issues and overall satisfaction to improve the customer journey and ensure a smooth and enjoyable experience.
A video survey is a type of unmoderated qualitative research in which survey takers respond to a series of instructions or questions by making short videos using their smartphone, either in ‘selfie’ mode or to record an activity.
Vox pop research involves making recordings of people, usually members of the public, responding to questions. These clips are often used in research to illustrate public opinion on widely known topics, brands, or products.
Online surveys are a cost-effective research method with great flexibility in design. Automated data handling allows the results to be available quickly and many online surveys can be completed on smartphones, helping to improve the response rate.
CATI (computer-assisted telephone interviewing) leverages technology to reach those who aren’t online. CATI interviews follow an electronic script with built in routing and type in the respondent’s answers to each question as the interview proceeds.
CAPI (computer-assisted personal interviewing) is a form of face-to-face interviewing where the interviewer reads the survey questions from a tablet device and inputs the respondent’s answers directly to the device.
An Omani corporation wanted to carry out ethnographic research on energy topics with a diverse range of target groups, including petrol station customers, independent retailers, commercial fleet procurement and operations managers, and energy managers for large buildings. We recruited almost 50 respondents and provided on-the-ground support.
We completed a full-service project for a Japanese manufacturer to understand more about the need for domestic air conditioning in and around London. We found participants for in-home immersion interviews to help the client explore the structural capacity of UK homes, price expectations and installation challenges.
A global energy leader who runs multiple rounds of in-person focus groups around the world each year tasked us with arranging research in Saudi Arabia. We were asked to find senior decision makers in Jeddah, Al-Khobar and Riyadh, all with an interest in, and working knowledge of, the energy industry in the country.
Our client, a well-known water supplier in the UK, asked us to support a study involving segments of their customer base who have not engaged with their outreach messages and campaigns in recent years. We carried out the recruitment and focus group scheduling for this project.
FieldworkHub recruited self-employed gas repair and boiler installation and servicing engineers in the UK so our client could discover how they price their services and what tools they currently use, and also test some concepts for an online pricing tool which they were developing.
Our client wanted to conduct online bulletin boards on attitudes towards energy use and generating energy at home from renewable sources. We recruited all of the profiles over a holiday weekend and arranged for our client to conduct home ethnographic interviews with some UK and German participants.
