Do You need…
Who We Are
Do You wants to shake up the research industry by partnering with brave clients who want to do the same.
We are improving the research and consultancy process by being explicitly inclusive and experimental in our work, engaging people in the way that works best for them.
Do You creates safe spaces for people to be themselves – the people we research, the clients we partner with and anyone else we encounter along the way - because this makes for better research.
We want everyone we come into contact with to ‘Do You’ so that we can learn, and get better at Doing Us.
Research
We take an explicitly inclusive and experimental approach to research, creating bespoke solutions for clients to ensure we engage the people we’re researching in a way that works best for them. Do You curates teams to fit the brief, pulling from our wide pool of amazing collaborators.
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“Do You were introduced to us when we didn’t really know what we needed…but we needed them! Ella and the team helped us navigate testing a new brand, and we’re so grateful for their professional, knowledgeable and patient approach. The results gave us the confidence to move forwards with the project. I can’t recommend them more highly.”
India Bennett, Senior Brand Manager
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Working with Do You Research on the evaluation of a small community engagement project around encouraging diversity in vaccine research has been a wholly positive experience.
Filled with ideas, and solutions to challenges, they were utterly professional. Always meeting their deadlines, yet good-natured and flexible if I missed mine. They really were a pleasure to work with. Thank you!
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“Ella from Do You has worked as a consultant for Policy Lab for 8 years and has been an asset to a number of projects. The experience Ella brings is extensive and her approach is rigorous whilst being creative and adaptable. She worked closely with us on the film ethnography for The Windrush Review and was instrumental in helping us deliver films and a dynamic report that brought the review to life. I would recommend her to anyone wanting resilient and highly professional support on research projects.”
Kyna Gourley, Head of Ethnography, Policy Lab
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“I engaged Do You, recommended by a highly respected colleague and friend, to work on a pilot research project for the Career Development Centre to gain some insights from our key Employers.
Do You brought a very collaborative approach to the project, spending time to understand the context, the research ask and the Business School, leveraging their significant research experience and background to build the best approach. They asked insightful questions about the brief, to understand what the team wanted to achieve.
The research project was executed in a thoughtful and thorough way. It was particularly important for us to feel confident about the credibility and approach of the researchers with our employers, some of whom were very senior. The team created the trust and confidence important to execute depth interviews across the subject matter. Feedback from our employers suggested they found the interview process was enjoyable and thought provoking.
Reporting delivered data that focused upon the key areas flagged at the outset. This was a pilot research piece, highlighting important as well as future areas of focus and research. I would highly recommend Do You as a research partner”
Joy Bussell, Director of Career Development, Saïd Business School, Oxford University.
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“Do You are expert in health- related ethnographic research specialising in listening to the voices of under-represented groups which need to be heard and factored into evidence-based policy.
They were instrumental in supporting an important research project on community health in ‘Let’s Talk Crawley’ that explores the future of health from the perspective of people living there.”
Tina Woods, Founder & CEO, Collider Health
Theo Francis, co-founder of Colour of Research, Founder of GuineaPig
“Ella is one of the most visionary, talented and truthful researchers I have met in our industry. She has consistently dedicated her career to amplifying unheard voices, dismantling biases and unapologetically ruffling feathers to help bring about positive change. Partnering with someone who is mission driven and genuinely cares about the impact of what you are doing is a rare pleasure every time”
Speaking
Whether it’s conferences or events, or coming into your organisation to inspire fresh thinking… we love to speak!
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“Ella very kindly agreed to chair a key SRA webinar on social class aspects of diversity and inclusion in the research profession.
Before the event she was extremely active and helpful in identifying panellists, and her chairing on the day was terrific - very engaging, insightful and at times entertaining! She made a huge contribution to the success of the event” - Graham Farrant, Chief Executive, the Social Research Association.
Training
We relish sharing Best Practice in training so that it can be applied by more people and the research profession improves as a result. Whether your team needs some one-off support or long-term engagement, we can help. Qualitative methods and processes, film ethnography and researching seldom heard audiences are our core training offer.
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Our founder Ella runs the film ethnography module of training on the advanced qualitative methods course for the Market Research Society (MRS).
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‘Overall, the training was incredibly productive, and lead to useful discussion that helped inform both our current research and our wider practice as academics...As well as informing our own research practices, this training also encouraged critical self-reflection to all of our work, which is especially helpful to our research project.'
REPLACE: (REbuilding a sense of PLACE) research team, University of Essex (UKRI FLF funded project)
Chloe Fowler, Chair of Association for Qualitative Researchers
“Ella is a proactive and passionate member of the AQR Board. The initiatives (most notably concering Safety Guidelines for Qual Researchers) have added value to our members and ensured that we remain the ‘go to’ for qual thinking and doing. A thinker and a doer, she’s incredibly committed, fun and wonderful to have alongside us.”
Facilitation
Whether working with the general public or around a boardroom with senior stakeholders, we offer experienced facilitation to fit your needs. Be it a discrete project or more in-depth design and facilitation, Do You can offer valuable input.
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“Ella is an excellent facilitator. She has a friendly and familiar tone with the public, which means she quickly builds rapport and this allows for great conversations and debate to unfold” - Michelle Mackie, Head of Qualitative Research and Engagement at Ipsos UK.
“In my 25-year research career I have met some amazingly talented researchers who should go into the research industries Hall of Fame and Ella is, without a doubt, one of them. She is super smart and talented, but beyond this, she is a true trailblazer. Ella smashes down the walls for those who most in the research industry ignore; she gives voices to those who are often marginalised and she flies the flag for these groups. If you want to understand diversity, working-class audiences or so called ‘hard-to-reach’ audiences hire Do You - it is one of a kind.”
Steven Lacey, Founder of the Outsiders, MRS Social Inclusion group, MRS Unlimited
Consultancy
We approach consultancy through the lens of research, applying our skills and knowledge to scratch beneath the surface and find answers for your organisational challenges.
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“Do You designed and led a workshop that aimed to challenge our team to think about our current approach to equality, diversity and inclusion and how we could improve. Do You was inspirational to work with, fostered a relaxing and warm environment and delivered a very innovative, fun and engaging session that challenged us and generated a range of ideas for improvement and tools to influence change. They took time to develop a bespoke session for us that has since led to some tangible actions for our improving inclusion strategy.”
Gabriel Roberts, The Health Foundation
Troublemaking
We’ve been on a mission to shake up the research industry for some time.
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The Unequal Truths podcast speaks to researchers who, like our founder Ella, entered the industry from low-income backgrounds and have successfully navigated the market research industry to build a career. In this podcast they share their stories - what they learned on their journey and what we can all learn from their experiences - to help the research industry become more inclusive.
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Do You is committed to creating safe spaces for people in research. We consider this from every angle – not only for the people we are researching, but also the people conducting the research. Our founder, Ella produced the Association for Qualitative Researchers (AQR) Safety Guidance, which offers support for all qualitative researchers to improve both the physical and psychological safety while working in the industry.
Launched in February, 2023, the Do You podcast explores what ‘safe’ looks and feels like for a variety of people with different professional and lived experiences. Our guests each share how they experience and create safety within their own practices, and how they create space for themselves to ‘Do You’.
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Our founder Ella sits on the board of the Market Research Society (MRS) Social Inclusion Group and speaks regularly on issues of social inclusion for industry bodies and clients alike.
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Click here to read coverage of the launch of Do You in Research Live
Read about Ella’s experience of running the business while travelling Europe in this article.
Watch the MRS Social Inclusion panel where Ella discusses ethnography on the frontline.
Hear Ella’s thoughts about what is currently happening in the Independent Research Sector in this article.
Our Founder
Ella Fryer-Smith has been working in research for over 15 years across the public and private sector, with experience in both agency and client side roles. Specialising in qualitative research methods, particularly film ethnography, the role has taken her around the world, observing peoples everyday lives, exploring everything from toilet roll, white goods and how people manage their money through to helping policy makers navigate the future of health services and travel.
She has long been an advocate for equity, diversity and inclusion in research, appearing at many industry conferences, writing thought pieces and advocating for change. Ella is the Vice Chair of the Association of Qualitative Researchers (AQR) board and sits on the Market Research Society (MRS) Social Inclusion Group.
Do You was founded with the intention of drawing on all this experience, collaborating with the amazing researchers she has met along the way, mixed with a clear focus on inclusion to deliver exceptional research, consultancy and training.