Crime & Justice Online Research
Ipsos MORI is a leader in methodological development and has an established track record in conducting and delivering online research. We conducted our first online survey in 1998 and in 2005 more than 25% of all our interviews were conducted online. We regularly undertake online surveys with employees, customers, stakeholders and the general public. We are also expanding this range to include Chief Constavbles, BCU Commanders, and other senior police officers. The projects listed below are some examples of our recent work.
Chief Constables' Views on Electronic Monitoring, the Crown Prosecution Service and Anti-Social Behaviour
April-June 2005
The Challenge
The National Audit Office was keen to seek the opinions of Chief Constables in order to inform three separate 'Value for Money' studies to be conducted later in the year. These studies focused on:
- The electronic monitoring of offenders
- The Crown Prosecution Service
- Anti-social behaviour
The main challenge surrounding this work was encouraging Chief Constables to complete a survey about a variety of different issues. In order to overcome this we allowed them to delegate sections of the survey to the most appropriate officers within the force.
How MORI Helped
We advised the NAO on the questionnaire design, although the forms were sent out solely under the NAO banner. A total of 36 surveys were returned, which represents a response rate of 34%. We also analysed the data and produced a report containing all the major findings from the study.
The NAO's Value for Money study 'The Electronic Monitoring of Adult offenders' was published in January 2006 and is available at: www.nao.org.uk/publications/nao_reports/05-06/0506800.pdf
Why Online?
Initially the survey was distributed by post. However, whilst we were conducting telephone reminders we found that a number of the Chief Constables preferred to have an electronic version that they could complete on-screen and send back straightaway. Therefore, we sent both a .pdf and a Word version of the survey to respondents and as a result, received a much higher response rate than was likely to be the case had we solely used a postal method.
The National Evaluation of Neighbourhood Policing
Sweep 1: September-December 2005
The Challenge
Neighbourhood policing is a relatively new initiative designed to ensure:
- communities have a responsive and customer focused police service,
- the police force is modernised so that it is able to deal with changes of the 21st century, and
- citizens have greater involvement in determining how their communities are policed.
As part of the evaluation of this initiative the Home Office wanted to measure the impact of neighbourhood policing on police performance. The research helped to develop an evidence base for the Government's spending review cycles and provided evidence to underpin the national implementation of neighbourhood policing.
They commissioned a longitudinal study to monitor the implementation of neighbourhood policing at Force and BCU levels up until 2008.
How Ipsos MORI Helped
We advised the Home Office on the survey design and hosted the online survey. A high response rate was crucial to the overall value of the study and so we also undertook extensive telephone reminders to boost response rates. A total of 39 Force and 189 BCU surveys were returned, thus giving response rates of 91% and 77% respectively.
The Home Office is conducting its own analysis of the data which will involve looking at the results from future sweeps of the survey. Currently it is thought the survey will continue in quarterly sweeps until 2008 when there will be a report published.
Why Online?
From our previous experience we found that senior police officers prefer to complete forms online than by post. It is also advantageous for clients because surveys are sent and returned quicker so we can spend more time undertaking telephone reminders to boost response rates. Furthermore the quality of data is enhanced as it is exported automatically into SPSS and doesn't need to be input manually.