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1. INTRODUCTION

The client organisation was a County Council seeking to develop an understanding of the public's attitude towards their Trading Standards department. The department offers two distinct services the first is the enforcement of over 70 Acts, European Directives and other regulations, the second is advice to consumers and businesses.

Local Government operations are in a constant state of change with expenditure constraints and Central Government policy changes leading Council Departments to become more business-like in the way they operate their services.

In this respect, the Trading Standards department were seeking to improve their understanding of their potential customer base. In particular, whether potential customers are aware of the department and the services, how they perceive the service and whether they allocate a particular importance to specific services within the department.

2. OBJECTIVES

The overall objective of the research was the following:-

• To assess the awareness and perception of the Trading Standards Office with consumers in the local area. On this basis, the project would have the following objectives:-
• To assess the level of spontaneous and prompted awareness of "The Trading Standards Department"
  • as opposed to "Weights & Measures" etc.
  • among consumers in the local area.
• To identify the perception held by consumers of the services offered by the Trading Standards Department.
• To assess consumers understanding of the mix of civil and criminal activities.
• To quantify the views of consumers in respect of which functions are of greater importance
  • i.e. how and where resources should be allocated to satisfy the greater consumer needs.
• To determine the initial stages of the process undertaken by consumers when they have a relevant civil or criminal problem to resolve:-
• Where do consumers go to find information?
• Which sources do they use?
• What are the major stages prior to contacting Trading Standards? The research was structured in order that the Trading Standards department could address the following issues:-
• What proportion of consumers are spontaneously aware of the Trading Standards department and what proportion are aware when prompted?
• What are consumers perceptions of Trading Standards and which functions do they feel are most critical?
• What are the processes undertaken by consumers when they feel redress is required, prior to contacting Trading Standards?

3. METHODOLOGY

3.1 Research Process The basic methodology for this research would be to interview consumers within the relevant County boundaries.

The first stage involved the design of a questionnaire to meet the research objectives and appropriate to the analysis required. Following design and agreement on the structure of the questionnaire, we developed proposals to interview a sample size with socio-economic and demographic characteristics, similar to those held by the region as a whole.

The method of interviewing was face to face 'street' interviews as this would allow the interviews to raise the issues of spontaneous awareness without stating the Department's identity.

The sample size in this project was governed to some extent by the budget available, with a sample of around 1000 interviews, considered to be sufficient to generate a reasonably high degree of accuracy with the results and yet be within budgetary constraints.

Following completion of the field research, AMA were able to collate and analyse the information.

3.2. Questionnaire Content

The major contents of the questionnaire were as follows:-

• Are consumers aware of Trading Standards or do they require prompting?
• What services do they perceive are supplied by Trading Standards?
• Do consumers appreciate the difference between criminal and civil proceedings?
• What importance level do they attach to the various services?
• Which sources of information do consumers use prior to contacting Trading Standards.

4. LOGISTICS

The timescales for a project of this nature are largely dependent on arranging and implementing a field interview programme. For a project involving around 1000 interviews with full analysis of findings, is likely to take around 6-8 weeks from date of commencement.

The total cost of this project would be around £8-10k. The major constituent part of the cost is the consumer interviews, though analysis time is also dependent on the number of interviews completed.

5. OUTCOMES

The outcome of the research was a revealing insight into consumer awareness and attitudes towards the range of services and priorities facing Trading Standards. As a result of the survey, changes in the approach to publicity and priority of activities were implemented. In addition, the Department were able to secure funding from the Local Authority for the provision of specific services that were deemed critical as a result of the research programme.

Research findings were also quantified to provide the Authority with a benchmark level of awareness and attitudes which could form the basis of comparison for assessments of changes in consumer perceptions in future surveys.