Research for Development
TNS provides primary research services for a range of public and private sector development partners, primarily in Sub-Saharan Africa, but also in parts of the Middle East. We provide high quality survey execution services and qualitative resources throughout the project life-cycle, from formulating successful intervention strategies to evaluating outcomes and impact.
We either become the data collection implementation partners for our clients or we provide a full service project including design and reporting.
Our main areas of focus are
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Impact assessment and evaluation
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Large-scale household and business surveys
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Ethnographic, qualitative and deliberative research
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Behaviour change and communications
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Market research for development
Research for government authorities and para-statals
We bring innovation into government research and offer global benchmarking and best practice methods tailored to each individual country.
Within WPP, TNS is a global leader in research for Governments around the world, and we build global teams to answer your research query. Examples of our work around the world can be found at TNS BMRB, TNS Australia, TNS Infratest.
Our key methods in this area are:-
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Policy and project formative research and impact assessment and evaluation
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Large-scale household and business surveys
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Ethnographic, qualitative and deliberative research
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Behaviour change and communications; As part of the WPP Government and Public sector practice we offer an integrated approach with communications agencies and other Government providers.
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Citizen and public service satisfaction and quality of life improvement
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Public sector employee engagement and transformation
Political Research
We survey registered voters to measure voting intentions, develop winning political strategies underpinned by a comprehensive understanding of what drives political behaviors, and delve into the drivers and barriers to democracy.
The type of work we conduct in this area are
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Electorate market and electorate potentials
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Political values and political types
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Political reputation and image research
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Current political opinion research
When required, we team up with experts in political modeling from our teams in France and Germany, and for strategy execution with other members of our WPP group of companies more broadly.
We apply a number of research methods and tools to the political context such as
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The TRI*M Party Performance Monitor (PPM) - Measures the reputation of political parties with voters
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Conversion Model – understands the likelihood to convert from one party to another and the factors that would drive that conversion
Commercial CSR and sustainability programs of commercial companies and foundations
Using our TRI*M sustainability index and a range of other frameworks and tools, we support commercial companies to improve and measure the impact of their CSR and sustainability programmes.
Large-scale and complex household and business surveys
We conduct household and business surveys and large, complex data collection exercises and offer a range of data collection, analytical services and methods including specialist analytics. We have developed robust methods of ensuring quality even in very challenging environments.
Ethnographic, qualitative and deliberative research
Qualitative research connects governments with citizens, development organizations with beneficiaries, and companies with customers and we use it to develop policy and actions, explore the mechanisms through which projects make impact, understand long-term benefits and outcomes, develop appropriate projects, products, communications and interventions and track how attitudes change over time.
Behavior change, social change and communications
Many of the most important social issues in our region relate to behavioral change. We use the latest thinking in behavioural theory and behavioural economics to underpin our holistic, systematic approach. Our methods help clients develop, implement and evaluate behavior change programmes, design effective and efficient services and develop interventions to influence change. Our partner communications agencies are often involved with some of our work in this area.
Our TNS Behaviour Change Institute has been at the forefront of incorporating behavioural theory into research practice at an international level. Below is an example of one of our analytical tools.

We use a combination of research techniques (direct research, ethnography, desk research,social media analysis) to map out all the factors – personal, social and environmental – that might be influencing a particular issue or behaviour.
TNS has worked on behavior change in many areas, including the following:-
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Hand-washing and broader sanitation related behaviour
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Neo-natal health
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Maternal health
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Adoption of agricultural practices and products
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Family planning
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HIV prevention
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Water conservation
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Energy
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Energy conservation
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Health eating and nutrition
We work with experts from TNS BMRB in the UK in the Behaviour Change Research for Governments.
Policy and project impact assessment and evaluation
We help governments and development organizations develop appropriate policies and projects with responsive and robust evaluation exploring policy implementation (formative evaluation); policy delivery (process evaluation); policy impact (impact assessment); and return on investment (economic analysis).
TNS has developed a framework for our work on evaluations that is rigorous and impartial and brings clear results, utilizing mixed methods and data sources, with conclusions based on clear chain-of-evidence.
Our specific services include:
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Provision of fieldwork for impact assessments, including selection of control and treatment groups
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Development of monitoring, evaluation and learning frameworks
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Evaluation
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Impact assessment
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Cost benefit analysis
Effective Communications
Effective communications is key to successful policymaking and public service delivery. Whether recruiting and motivating public sector staff; moving public services online; persuading citizens to make healthy choices; working towards development goals; or increasing voter turnout, governments and development organizations need to understand and engage citizens.
Communications is one of the key levers in the policy mix alongside regulation and incentives. Communications should therefore be at the heart of the policymaking cycle - from formative research through creative execution to monitoring and evaluation.
TNS helps public sector and donor funded clients develop compelling communications which is based on real insights into the influences on people’s behaviour, both automatic and reflective. We use a tool box both from the development world and tools developed in commercial advertising development and tracking research to provide extensive impact on development and government communications.
This applies to both behavior change and brands in the “social marketing” space/ Focusing in on brands in particular, social marketing organizations can benefit from a deep understanding of the emotional drivers of brands. The TNS tool, Needscope, successfully helps social marketers improve the strength of their brands. For more information click here. Development partners such as Population Services International, have successfully applied Needscope for improved brand positioning.
Being part of the WPP Government and Public Sector practice, TNS works alongside partner WPP agencies in media planning, creative, and digital to ensure the delivery of holistic communications programmes for government and development clients. WPP is a world leader in marketing communications services, with 179,000 employees in 110 countries. WPP includes leading companies in advertising, media investment, social and market research, public relations and public affairs, branding and design, direct and digital marketing and field marketing.
Thus as TNS we can provide world class integrated research and communications services to clients. Some of our work is available on the WPP Public Sector Practice site.
Citizen and public service satisfaction and quality of life improvement
We help governments improve services through recommending areas of priority and improvement and tracking the impact. Our Public Sector Improvement Model has been developed to guide this work and we employ a variety of methods to understand and track customer satisfaction including our bespoke TRI*M tool, which enables global benchmarking of performance in citizen satisfaction.
Public sector employee engagement and transformation
As part of reform in many countries the understanding of current views, attitudes and behaviors of staff is vital to inform the transformation process. Our employee toolbox consists of a variety of resources to help our clients meet their business objectives and develop effective strategies to change behaviors
Market research for development
We apply cutting edge market research tools for the development and measurement of markets for products and services in the development sector.
- Our approaches in Innovation and Product Development to the development of successful products. Market research approaches have been successfully applied for example, in the development of appropriate lavatory technology, cook-stoves, solar lighting, products and approaches in the area of MNCH, mobile services for nutrition. Research is used to identify opportunities, create product or service ideas, optimize products, and successfully launch and validate products.
- A household panel, run by TNS for Kantar which is the umbrella organization of the research agencies within WPP, of 1,000 households is currently running in Kenya and Nigeria. This measures use of products at home, and can be applied to the purchase and use of socially marketed or beneficial products.