Blog
A year in research
14 August 2023
By Elisha Bentley, Research Assistant
A year ago, I decided to spend my placement year in a market research company, as research is an area within my degree that I enjoyed. As I come to the end of my year’s placement at Echo Research, I want to take the opportunity to reflect on the amazing year I have had and how this was the best decision I could have made. I have been able to develop my research skills through the range of different projects I have been involved in, along with having the opportunity to work with a brilliant team of people and some great global organisations along the way.
While working with the Stakeholder Research team, I got the chance to work for companies such as Rolls-Royce and Legal & General as part of our Britain’s Most Admired Companies corporate reputation study, along with projects for Nomad Foods and a wider tracking study on the impact of the Commonwealth Games on the West Midlands. This has given me the opportunity to further develop research techniques I learnt at university as well as learn new ones. I have gained experience across each stage of the research process from questionnaire development to analysis and reporting. I have even benefited from learning how to conduct face-to-face depth interviews which is something I will use in my final year of university and future career.
Crossing over to the Media Content Analysis team, I worked with companies such as Smart Energy, Rio Tinto and Moderna, analysing news and social media coverage for sentiment and issues relating to reputation and sustainability. I became proficient at using a number of different analytical platforms.
I have seen how the two teams at Echo evaluate reputation by combining stakeholder perceptions with insights from the wider media view. This has helped to hone my ability to find insight across multiple research streams. I have grown in confidence and have started to contribute significantly to reports to ensure that clients gain actionable insight.
Along with gaining a valuable grounding in market research, I attended multiple events throughout the year and heard some insightful discussions surrounding the future of market research and the role of ESG in the corporate world.
As I prepare for my next chapter returning to university and completing my degree, I can look back and truly be proud of all I have been able to achieve professionally and personally at Echo Research. The experience I have gained has been invaluable and has provided me with a solid foundation to explore the research world further in the future.
