The Challenge

We began the research by contacting companies by telephone and speaking to the person responsible for the training and development of engineers within their company.The jobtitle of the person we spoke to varied widely from company to company including HR Manager, Head of Engineering, etc.  They received a letter explaining the background to the study and containing definitions of the different types of engineer.

The Approach

Companies from across the UK were selected.  They all had more than 50 employees to ensure sufficient numbers of engineers who could receive the survey.  They were drawn from manufacturing, mining & quarrying, construction and engineering, utilities, transport, telecommunications, larger FE colleges and the armed forces.

Due to lower response rates, further recruitment was gained from direct mailings to subscribers of EngTips and the Engineer Magazine and also sponsorship of a newsletter for both the Engineer Magazine and STEM.

Online self completion surveys were completed by non-registered engineers.

The Results

The results have yet to be published, however, further information can be found here.

Testimonial

"It was a pleasure to work with such a professional team. David was very approachable and quickly understood our requirements; the interviewers did a great job in overcoming language barriers and maintaining the interest of the respondents despite the length of the calls."

Engineering Council