Andy Butterworth – Research Hero
Andy Butterworth, training & development supervisor, Verian Group
Michelle Lewis recruited Andy Butterworth in 2014 as a field supervisor, and in 2015 Caroline Baxter asked him to join the national training team.
In 2016, Butterworth joined interviewer support and also remained part of the interviewer training team. Since 2023-2026, he has been a training and development supervisor (TAD), delivering onboarding training, in-field accompaniments and face-to-face fieldwork for R6.
Andy was nominated because of his "critical, behind-the-scenes impact he has made in strengthening the reliability and performance of large-scale fieldwork systems."
1. What is the biggest challenge you have faced during your career?
I think one of the biggest challenges during my entire and lengthy career has been to persuade people to embrace step change. Change and innovation is not always greeted with open arms, and often met with: “But we have always done it this way”.
2. What will be the next big trend or development in the research industry, and why?
Definitely AI, when you consider the benefits and value it will bring in terms of automation, streamlining, and almost instantaneous insight, it will revolutionise much of what we do and change our ways of working forever. A good example will without doubt be the AI tools that will be made available to the regions in order to analyse and support the interviewer’s performance, and quality of data, plus timely delivery, which will ultimately enhance business savings as well as supporting the client in the end space.
3. Who inspires you as a researcher?
I am inspired by many people in our business, by for example the leadership and direction from Michelle Lewis, the steering and maintenance of the business by the senior leadership team, and at my level the amazing job that Julie Avery and Tracey Barnes and their teams do down here at the sharp end of data collection.
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