HELEN VILE, OPERATIONS DIRECTOR / COO

Email helen@freeformdynamics.com, phone +44 (0) 1425 626501

As Operations Director, Helen oversees all operational aspects of the business. Within this, she is a driving member of the research team and is responsible for designing the practical aspects of primary research studies, managing their execution and analysing the output from them.

In terms of experience and expertise, Helen has a strong background in the customer services arena, having run technical support and field service functions in safety critical areas such as hi-tech medical equipment and building management during her career. This experience was gained with companies such as GE Medical Systems and Satchwell Control Systems.

Helen has been involved in IT industry research and analysis since 2003. In her previous role at Quocirca, she was responsible for customer service monitoring activity as well as being intimately involved in traditional project based research studies, before moving on and co-founding Freeform Dynamics in 2005.

Current areas of focus: Primary Research Execution

Research Methodology

The term “primary research” is used to describe the execution of research studies based on gathering and analysing feedback from a relevant sample of respondents.

At one end of the spectrum, we have what’s known as “qualitative research”, which is typically based on conducting in depth interviews, usually face to face, with a relatively small number (10’s) of respondents. Interviews are typically conducted conversationally, allowing the respondent to express themselves freely.

At the other end of the spectrum, we have “structured quantitative research”, which typically involves conducting a large number (100’s or 1000’s) of interviews, based on multiple choice questionnaires executed either by phone or on-line, in order to produce a highly structured set of data that may be analysed statistically.

In between, we have “freeform quantitative research”, which blends the two approaches to gather the views and opinions of respondents on a large scale but in a more open manner. The Freeform Dynamics methodology is based on this approach and has the advantage of generating statistically valid results whilst at the same time capturing the respondents’ views and opinions faithfully in a way that the pure multiple choice question approach can never do.

The value of freeform research becomes clear when you look at the services we offer.