Mori to link up with government in 'power to the people' research

by Sam Matthews, Brand Republic 04-Jul-05, 08:00

LONDON – Mori is launching a participation unit that encourages people to engage in dialogue rather than taking a snapshot of their opinions and is set to ink a deal with the UK government for a research project to give 'power to the people'.

The government is keen to use the unit because its techniques such as peer interviewing, where members of the public interview respondents from similar backgrounds, will increase politicians' involvement with the public at a grass-roots level.

Patricia Hewitt, secretary of state for health, said the government is "building democracy beyond the ballot box" with these new research initiatives.

Mori has appointed research directors Bobby Duffy and Jaime Rose to run the unit.

Duffy said that participative techniques were "no better or no worse than traditional research", but they can help "shift power to the citizen, resident or service user".

"There is real interest for it at the top of government and real interest at a local level," he said.

In addition, Mori also said it is conducting a blind trail for the Home Office to assess the value of the unit using citizen and professional research methods to answer the same set of questions.

The comparison of research methods will be presented at the Social Research Association's annual conference in December.

Mori's new unit is online at www.mori.com/participation.

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