Revealing the Human Story Behind the Statistics
In a world overflowing with polling data and statistical analysis, decision-makers are missing the crucial “why” behind the numbers. At Current Context, we bridge this gap by providing regular, timely qualitative research that reveals what people are actually thinking and feeling in real-time.
Our innovative subscription service delivers weekly insights on breaking news, emerging issues, and major events through direct conversations with real people across the UK. We don’t just tell you what people think—we help you understand why they think it, giving you the essential context needed to make better decisions, shape more effective communications, and stay ahead of emerging trends.
Why Current Context?
- Speed and Relevance: When headlines are breaking and quantitative data shows public opinion shifting, we’re already capturing the stories, reasoning and emotions that explain those movements.
- Affordability: Through the Current Context model, we’ve democratised access to high-quality qualitative research—making these valuable insights accessible to everyone from government departments to charities and corporate communications teams.
- Continuous Insight: For less than the cost of a single traditional focus group per year, we provide ongoing insight into the human stories behind the statistics—turning gut feelings into informed strategy.
- Expertise: Our team brings deep understanding of the UK’s political, news and consumer landscape, ensuring we deliver timely research that helps you better understand the environment you’re operating in.
Join us in transforming how organisations understand public sentiment, moving beyond what people say to why they say it.
Current Context FAQs
Q: What exactly is Current Context?
A: Current Context is a subscription-based qualitative research service that provides regular insights into what people are thinking and feeling about current events, news stories, and important issues. We conduct weekly interviews with real people across the UK to reveal the “why” behind quantitative polling data.
Q: What specific problems does Current Context solve?
A: Current Context solves several key challenges faced by organisations:
The challenge of making strategic decisions without understanding the ‘why’ behind public sentiment
The high cost and slow turnaround of traditional qualitative research
The ‘so what?’ question that follows quantitative polling data
The reliance on assumption and gut feeling when interpreting public opinion
The need for quick, responsive insight during rapidly evolving news cycles
Q: Is Current Context a complete replacement for traditional focus groups?
A: No, Current Context complements rather than replaces traditional focus groups. While our service offers tremendous value and efficiency, there are distinct differences. Traditional focus groups—where participants interact in a room with a moderator who can pursue dynamic follow-up questions—remain the gold standard (the “A+”) for certain research needs.
Current Context gets you very close to this experience through larger groups of 1:1 interviews, providing insights at a fraction of the cost and with much faster turnaround. The key difference is that we can’t conduct real-time, dynamic follow-up questioning in the same way a live moderator can during an in-person session.
Where Current Context excels is in providing regular, consistent qualitative insights that would be prohibitively expensive to gather through traditional focus groups.
Q: Is Current Context a replacement for quantitative research and polling?
A: No, Current Context is not a replacement for quantitative research—nor should organisations view it as an either/or choice.
Free public polls and private quantitative research provide valuable top-line figures and statistical trends that show what people think and how opinions are distributed across the population. Current Context complements this by providing deeper insights into why people hold these views, revealing the reasoning, emotions, and lived experiences behind the numbers.
The most powerful approach is using both methodologies together. When you combine public and private quantitative research with our qualitative insights, you gain a much richer, more comprehensive understanding of public sentiment. This combined approach enables organisations to truly understand the public, craft compelling narratives that resonate, and ultimately drive meaningful change.
Many of our clients find that Current Context helps them extract more value from their existing quantitative research by providing the context and human stories that bring the statistics to life. This combination of breadth (quantitative) and depth (qualitative) creates a foundation for more effective communication, policy development, and decision-making.
Q: Who conducts your research?
A: Our research is conducted using Qualifyr, an innovative platform developed by Talbot Mills Research that allows us to rapidly deploy qualitative research and gather authentic responses from participants. All research is designed and analysed Current Context with deep understanding of the UK’s political, news and consumer landscape.
Q: How is this different from traditional polling or focus groups?
A: While polls tell you what percentage of people think something, we tell you why they think it. Traditional qualitative research is expensive, slow, and project-based. Current Context provides continuous, timely insights through a cost-effective subscription model, making qualitative research accessible and affordable.
Q: Who is Current Context designed for?
A: Current Context is designed for any organisation that needs to understand public sentiment beyond just numbers. Our service is particularly valuable for:
Media organisations seeking to understand what stories truly resonate with audiences and how issues are being understood
Public affairs consultancies seeking to move beyond social media listening and gut instinct to understand how policies and issues truly land with the public
Government departments and bodies wanting to track how their policies are being received and interpreted by citizens
Charities and NGOs looking to shape more effective campaigns with insight into public understanding of their cause areas
Corporate communications teams needing early warning of emerging issues and insight into how corporate actions are perceived
Think tanks and research organisations wanting to enrich policy research with regular insight into how complex issues are understood by the public
Industry bodies representing sectors more effectively with ongoing insight into member and public sentiment
Q: How do I access the reports?
A: Subscribers receive access to our secure members area where all reports are published. Reports can be viewed online or downloaded. You’ll receive notifications when new reports are available.
Q: How quickly do you turn around research after a news event?
A: Our weekly trackers run consistently throughout the year. For major breaking news, we can typically deploy research within 24-48 hours and deliver insights shortly thereafter, giving you timely understanding of public sentiment when it matters most.
Q: What are the advantages of the online 1:1 interview approach used by Current Context compared to traditional focus groups?
A: Our online 1:1 interview methodology offers several significant advantages:
Elimination of group dynamics: Without the influence of dominant personalities or groupthink that can occur in focus groups, participants express their genuine views without being swayed by others’ opinions.
Reduced social pressure: People are more likely to share honest, unfiltered thoughts on sensitive topics when they’re not concerned about judgment from peers in the room.
Greater diversity of participation: Online 1:1 interviews enable participation from people who might be reluctant to join group sessions or face geographical or mobility barriers.
Flexibility in scheduling: Individual interviews can be conducted at times convenient for each participant, rather than requiring everyone to be available simultaneously.
Comfort and authenticity: People often feel more comfortable speaking from their own environments, leading to more authentic and relaxed conversations.
Reduced self-censorship: Without peers present, participants are more likely to express unpopular opinions or admit to socially undesirable attitudes or behaviours.
Q: Who does Current Context work with? Do you have any restrictions on clients?
A: In principle, Current Context is available to a wide range of organisations seeking to better understand public sentiment. We believe that high-quality qualitative research can help improve decision-making across the public, private, and third sectors.
However, we are guided by our values and maintain the right to decline working with organisations or on projects that:
- Engage in discriminatory practices or promote intolerance
- Operate in ways that may cause significant societal or environmental harm
Additionally, we expect all clients to use our research findings ethically and responsibly. Our insights are provided to inform better decision-making and understanding, not to manipulate or mislead the public.
We assess each potential client relationship individually and reserve the right to decline or terminate service at our discretion if we believe an organisation’s activities fundamentally conflict with our values.
Our goal is to help organisations understand public sentiment to create positive change, and we prefer to work with clients who share this constructive approach.
Q: Can we use Current Context reports in our public campaigns or publicity materials?
A: Current Context reports and insights are provided exclusively for the internal use of our subscribers. All content produced by Current Context—including but not limited to reports, analyses, quotations from research participants, visualisations, and data—cannot be reproduced, published, distributed, or used in any public-facing materials without our prior written consent.
If you wish to cite or use Current Context insights in public campaigns, marketing materials, social media, press releases, or other external communications, please contact us to discuss your specific requirements. We evaluate such requests on a case-by-case basis and, where appropriate, can provide written permission with guidelines for proper attribution and usage.
This restriction helps us maintain the integrity of our research, respect the privacy of our research participants, and ensure our insights are represented accurately in public discourse. It also protects the value of the subscription for all our clients.
For clients interested in regularly using insights externally, we can discuss how we can accomodate this as part of your subscription.