Social Research > Case Study

Social Research – Quantitative & Qualitative

Cambridgeshire County Council appointed FDS in 2006/7 to carry out their budget consultation exercise for the third year running.

This year the council decided to fix the council tax increase at 5% but due to inflationary pressure and under funding, some council services required to be cut.

FDS were appointed to facilitate the consultation exercise, gaining residents’ informed opinion on where such cuts might or should be made.

2006/7 research includes:

Deliberative opinion workshop - in this half day session, 50 representative local residents are given a presentation, take part in breakout groups and have the opportunity to question ‘expert witnesses’, including council leaders. Participants’ views and preferences are monitored to understand how they change as they become better informed.

Telephone research - poll of 750 randomly sampled residents