A net 59% of the 246 researchers interviewed for the study in November think the economy will improve; 51% say the same for their own companies and 34% for the research sector overall. This compares with 21%, 37% and 10% respectively in the prior wave of the survey (conducted in May 2013 ).

Average forecast growth for the next 12 months is 8.5% – which is perhaps overly optimistic. But as RSM notes: “Whilst researchers generally overestimate likely growth in our survey it is perhaps significant that forecast growth in this wave is higher than the range reported in each of the last six waves.”

The full report is online here.