Research for regulators
Independent quantitative and qualitative research to help regulators understand registrants, professionals, stakeholders and the wider public, shape policy, and make decisions based on reliable evidence.
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Our regulatory work spans healthcare, legal services, and intellectual property, with research for both long-standing and newer regulator clients.
Research that helps regulators understand the people and professions they oversee
Regulators need robust evidence from registrants, professionals, stakeholders, and the public. That might mean tracking perceptions over time, exploring a specific policy issue, understanding workforce pressures, or testing how standards, guidance, and services are experienced in practice.
Enventure Research has extensive experience of regulatory research, including long-running programmes in healthcare and more recent work with regulators in legal services and intellectual property. We design each project around the decision the research needs to support.
Research across the regulatory landscape
Some of the questions we regularly help regulators answer.
Registrant experience and perceptions
Understand confidence in the regulator, experiences of key services, communications, and the wider relationship with the regulated community.
Standards, education, and professional practice
Explore awareness, understanding and practical experience of standards, guidance, education and training, CPD, and other professional requirements.
Public confidence and stakeholder engagement
Gather views from patients, consumers, employers, education providers, and other stakeholders, as well as the wider public.
Policy development and consultation
Provide independent evidence to shape policy, test proposals, and support meaningful engagement around change.
Workforce, diversity, and sector change
Understand workforce profile, workplace culture, diversity, pressures, future needs, and the changing environment in which regulated professionals work.
Service improvement and strategy
Use evidence to improve services, communications, stakeholder engagement, and longer-term organisational planning.
The right evidence for the regulatory question
Annual registrant surveys can provide valuable tracking data, but many regulatory questions need a more focused approach. We can combine surveys with depth interviews, focus groups, workshops, consultation research, and wider stakeholder engagement.
Our work also includes workforce censuses, workplace and diversity research, public and patient research, education and training studies, pilot evaluation, stakeholder perceptions research, and research into regulatory risk.
Our team can support the full process: research design, sampling, questionnaire development, fieldwork, qualitative research, analysis, reporting, infographics, and presentations or webinars to communicate the findings.
See our research methods →Regulatory research in practice
Examples showing the range of regulatory questions, audiences, and methodologies we support.
Tracking the optical workforce and registrant perceptions for the GOC
Long-running workforce and perceptions research, first delivered in 2016 and undertaken annually since 2021.
Read case study →Understanding workplace experience and diversity for the CLC
Three linked surveys giving the CLC actionable evidence on workplace experience, diversity, and the regulated community.
Read case study →Stakeholder perceptions research for CILEx Regulation
Survey and depth interviews exploring awareness, trust, confidence, and stakeholder perceptions of CILEx Regulation.
Read case study →Understanding Brexit intentions among European-qualified dental professionals
Survey and depth interviews with European-qualified dental professionals exploring Brexit attitudes and workforce intentions.
Read case study →A census of the pharmacy workforce for the GPhC
A major census survey generating 18,394 responses and detailed evidence on the pharmacy workforce.
Read case study →Tracking workplace experience and diversity for IPReg
A 2026 recommission of IPReg's diversity research, expanded to include workplace culture and professional experience.
Read case study →Exploring patient views on teleoptometry for the GOC
Five focus groups and six depth interviews exploring patient acceptability, trust, and safety around teleoptometry.
Read case study →Building a detailed picture of the chiropractic workforce
A 29% response-rate registrant survey with follow-up interviews exploring the chiropractic workforce and profession.
Read case study →Gathering registrant feedback on the GDC's Enhanced CPD pilot
Recruitment and repeated monthly feedback surveys supporting the GDC's transition to new CPD rules.
Read case study →Exploring how initial pharmacy education prepares people for practice
Survey and 32 depth interviews exploring how pharmacy education prepares newly registered professionals for practice.
Read case study →Understanding stakeholder perceptions of the GOC
Depth interviews and a business registrant survey exploring stakeholder perceptions of the regulator and sector challenges.
Read case study →Independent Prescribing and Contact Lens Optician consultations for the GOC
Two major consultations using online surveys and focus groups with registrants, patients, and stakeholders.
Read case study →Public perceptions research for the GOC
A representative UK-wide survey of 2,000 adults tracking public experiences and perceptions of optical services.
Read case study →Mapping risk across the optical professions for the GOC
A substantial mixed-method programme combining primary and secondary evidence on risk in optical practice.
Read case study →What our regulatory clients say about working with us
I have worked with Enventure Research for several years on annual surveys and project-specific research. They consistently deliver high-quality work, provide excellent data analysis, are responsive and can adapt flexibly to changing requirements. Their reports have supported us in effective stakeholder engagement, policy development and service improvement. They are dependable and easy to work with, and bring an excellent knowledge of the healthcare and regulatory environment.
Tell us what you need to understand.
Whether you are planning a large-scale survey, policy-related research, stakeholder engagement, or a more focused project, we would be happy to talk it through.