Community Research & Insight
We help places, events and organisations understand what communities truly think — not just what they click. Face-to-face research that captures nuance, emotion and lived experience.
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"The things dashboards and online surveys often miss."
With over 25 years of market research experience across events, tourism and environmental sectors, Evidence Agency specialises in face-to-face research and thematic analysis that captures what numbers alone cannot.
Based in the UK, we work with local authorities, destination organisations, cultural bodies and event producers - turning public opinion into clear, usable insight that supports better decisions.
We are also part of the team behind Barrow Underground Music Society, a not-for-profit venue supporting emerging artists and underground culture - keeping us genuinely close to audience behaviour, participation and place-based identity.
What drives us
We believe that the most important community opinions are rarely captured through an online form. People express nuance in conversation. Emotion lives in context. Place-based identity is felt, not ticked.
Face-to-face research done well builds trust between organisations and the communities they serve. It surfaces the insights that lead to better planning, more meaningful events, and environments people genuinely connect with.
Our work spans major events, tourism experiences, corporate conferences and cultural programmes in the UK and internationally, including projects in the Lake District, Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle, Bristol, Glasgow, The Scottish Highlands, Barcelona, Gibraltar and Las Vegas.
We are most interested in how rigorous, human-centred research can give communities a genuine voice in the future of places, tourism, events and environmental change.
What we do
We design and deliver research programmes that are rigorous, practical and grounded in the reality of how people actually experience places and events.
Structured fieldwork conducted where communities actually are - at events, in public spaces or within the places we are connecting with. Captures what digital surveys often miss.
Purpose-built digital surveys and questionnaires designed for and targeted at specific audiences via social media marketing — fast, focused and can be integrated with wider qualitative programmes.
Structured engagement that gives communities a genuine voice in decisions that affect them with findings presented clearly to decision-makers.
Live event, post-event and ongoing evaluation and economic impact programmes for festivals, tourism destinations, cultural venues and public spaces. Evidence that demonstrates impact.
Expert qualitative coding and analysis of open-ended responses, interviews and consultation feedback — turning messy data into clear narrative insight.
Experienced management and mentorship of fieldworker teams for large-scale research programmes requiring a skilled coordinated presence on the ground.
Who we work with
Audience research, experience evaluation and post-event impact assessment for cultural, sporting and community events.
Visitor insight, destination perception studies and place-based research for DMOs and tourism bodies.
Public consultation, community needs assessment and policy evidence for councils and regional bodies.
Audience development research, participation studies and programme evaluation for arts and heritage organisations.
Community attitudes research around environmental change, place stewardship and natural heritage projects.
Delegate experience research, stakeholder surveys and evaluation for conferences and corporate events.
Visitor and community research for heritage sites, regeneration projects and place identity programmes.
Impact measurement and community voice research for charities, arts organisations and social enterprises.
How we work
Every project starts with understanding your question not just designing a questionnaire. We work closely with clients to ensure findings are genuinely useable.
We work with you to clarify what you really need to know, who you need to hear from and how findings will be used in decisions.
Choosing the right mix of methods - face-to-face, in-situ, telephone, online, postal — based on your audience and context not habit or convenience.
Skilled fieldwork, managed and quality-checked throughout. We often employ local researchers and are present on the ground not just overseeing from a distance.
Rigorous thematic analysis that goes beyond the numbers to surface the insight behind the data including what people really meant.
Plain-English reports and presentations designed for the people who will act on them not just the people who commissioned them.
Get in touch
If you care about insight that reflects real people in real places, we would be happy to hear about your project and support your organisation.