Have you shuddered at the prospect of filling in yet another questionnaire? Nothing seems more boring than a list of questions and tick boxes. Surveys are irritating when they tackle issues people aren’t interested in or when they are badly designed.

CAR has developed an approach to gathering information we call Informed Opinion. The idea is that if you give people good information about something you are more likely to get sensible and useful answers.

Typically our surveys are self-administered. They work best as part of a public exhibition or over an organisation’s intranet. They engage people by providing accurate and unbiased information and allow for shades of opinion rather than demanding simplistic yes/no answers.

We also design workshops for expert panels and stakeholder meetings. We interview people first to clarify the main issues and then devise exercises or simulation games to explore these issues with the group.

Projects

• User Research for Healthcare Buildings A workshop exercise run for CABE as part of the Sustainable Healthcare through the Built Environment conference, March, 2007. [Read more »]
• Urban Futures A study of neighbourhood renewal in Burnley and Luton for Building Futures, an RIBA/CABE initiative, 2005. [Download (PDF, 3Mb) »]
• Housing Futures – Informed Public Opinion Public views of development options in the South East for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 2004. [Read more »]
• User Opinion Survey Part of a conservation strategy for the University of East Anglia, 2005.
• Pre-Design Study for Clare College, Cambridge A study to define the College’s need for new accommodation, 2004.
• Cambridge Futures 2 Study of attitudes to transport options in the Cambridge Region, 2004. [Read more »]
• Cambridge Futures 1 Study of attitudes to development options in the Cambridge Region, 1999. [Read more »]
• Energy Management in Europe Survey of energy management practices in the European Union, 1996.
• HIPS /HECA Survey of all local authorities in UK on implementation of Housing Investment Programme and Home Energy Conservation Act for DETR, 1995.
• Impact Assessment Survey of UK Construction industry on take-up of energy efficiency measures for DTI, 1992 and 1993.
• Energy Management in Buildings Survey of energy efficiency measures in non-domestic buildings for DTI, 1991.
• Spec Offices Selection and use of B1 office buildings by users for Tartan, 1989.
• Tenant Involvement A survey of tenant involvement in housing associations for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 1987.

Recent publications

W. Fawcett and S. Platt. Selection and Use of B1 Office Buildings by Users, Cambridge Architectural Research Report, 1989.

W. Fawcett and S. Platt. Feedback on Tenants’ Selection and Use of Vision Park, Cambridge Architectural Research Report, 1989.

W. Fawcett and S. Platt. Pre-design Study for New Building, Cambridge Architectural Research Report for Clare College, Cambridge, 2003.

J. Palmer, S. Platt, et al. Refurb or Replace? Energy Savings Trust, 2003.

S. Platt. European Technology for Energy Management: a European Survey, European Union Save Project Report, 1996.

S. Platt. Cambridge Futures – Survey Report, Cambridge Architectural Research Report, 1999. [Download (PDF, 205Kb) »]

S. Platt. What Transport for Cambridge? Cambridge Futures 2, 2004. [Download (PDF, 359Kb) »]

S. Platt. User Survey – Conservation strategy, Cambridge Architectural Research Report for the University of East Anglia, 2005.

S. Platt and I. Cooper. The Urban Futures Game – Visualizing Neighbourhood Change, Building Futures, CABE, 2005.

S. Platt, W. Fawcett, and R. De Carteret. Housing Futures – informed public opinion, Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 2004. [Download (PDF, 100Kb) »]

S. Platt and H. Mulligan. Evaluation of Existing Environmental Systems, Cambridge Architectural Research Report for New Hall, Cambridge, 1998.

S. Platt, C. Newton and M. Wilson. Whose Home: Accountability to Tenants and Communities, Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 1990.

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