"We have really enjoyed working with Ruth over the past year on our Windrush Day small grants programme. Ruth has done a brilliant job of helping to design impact measurement tools, working through data and providing clear evaluation reports. Ruth has always been quick to respond and has worked flexibly throughout to meet the needs of the programme. We have particularly appreciated her report writing style which is clear, concise and accessible. We have also valued her use of interviews and case studies to allow projects to tell their stories in their own words. We look forward to working with Ruth on other evaluation projects in the future."

Lindsey Donoghue, Church Urban Fund

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"Working with Ruth Stevenson at Ruthless Research on our Freelancer Report has been a pleasure. She is dedicated and highly knowledgeable as well as warm and friendly, which was vital when connecting directly with the survey respondents to create case studies. She is considerate of needs, evolving ideas and patient with the inevitable hold-ups. Her research is thorough and presented in a user-friendly document, which has helped build our future action. We would love to work with Ruth again, confident that her work is excellent and that she is an invaluable asset to any research project."

Jenny Kumar, Literature Alliance Scotland.

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"Working with Ruth has been a pleasure, from the commencement of her work with us she has ensured and spent time to deeply understand both our needs in evaluating a complex and broad cultural programme as well as the place the context that it is been delivered within. She has engaged both within primary and secondary forms of data and has shown a sensitivity to all those involved in our programme.”

Kat Boyle, Inverclyde Creative Producer

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"Calm, confident and astute, Ruth makes light work of research requests and always delivers a comprehensive report. My go-to research person!"

Sally Clarke, HelpAge International

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"OPFS commissioned Ruth to use her expertise to summarise the results of a wide-ranging survey of parents across Scotland to create a single parent tailored report. The final briefing included a very  accessible representation of the findings which pulled out the key points in a clear and understandable way.  OPFS now has a document which we can use to highlight some of the key issues affecting single parents to influence policy. The turnaround in the commissioned work was exceptionally fast and Ruth is very pleasant to work with! We have no hesitation in recommending Ruthless Research to anyone looking for qualitative and quantitative research solutions."

Marion Davis, One Parent Families Scotland

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"The Challenging Violence Against Women Project of Community InfoSource (CIS) is a team of men working in partnership with men to tackle issues of gender inequality by promoting gender equality and human rights. We have our own internal evaluations but we sought the help of Ruth to help us evaluate the work that we do to show the impact that we are doing to our funders mainly The National Lottery Fund. She examined our documents and carried out extensive interviews with the staff, volunteers and clients and came up with the findings which clearly showed our areas of strength and weakness. Her strategy in carrying out the interviews and going the extra mile using some platforms to accommodate non-English speakers was very impressive. She then presented her findings in a presentation which was attended by more than 30 external participants including our funder. Her external evaluation contributed towards securing continuation funding for our project."

Hassan Darasi, Community InfoSource

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"Ruth developed a comprehensive External Impact Evaluation Strategy for our European wide network, Amateo. The strategy, developed in consultation with our team members, is providing a clear approach to evaluating the impact of our work, funded by Creative Europe over four years. The rigour of her approach is already paying dividends, helping us to learn from and act upon the results. Ruth has made a significant contribution to the work which addresses not only our organisational needs but those of key funders and stakeholders. Ruth brings expertise, integrity and commitment to her work and responds in a constructive and timely manner to our requirements."

Jim Tough, Amateo

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"Scottish Recovery Network has worked with Ruth on a number of very successful research projects. She is a very skilled interviewer who is able to get to the information, views and perspectives needed. Feedback from those interviewed is always that they were surprised by how much they enjoyed the interviews and what they got out of being interviewed. We highly value Ruth’s skills and what it contributes to our understanding of our work."

Louise Christie, Scottish Recovery Network

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"I have worked with Ruth Stevenson on a number of key AVA projects. I have found Ruth to be a ethical professional who is respectful of women's circumstances and needs. She works hard to create supportive interviews and focus groups so that women can share their experiences in a trauma-informed and non-invasive way. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend her for other work with women who are facing multiple disadvantage or who have lived experience of trauma and mental health issues."

Ruth Mason, AVA

 

"Ruth was brilliant to work with.  At all times I felt that she was going to produce a thorough, questioning and honest evaluation of our project and she did just that.  It’s a difficult role to play within a multi-faceted, many partnered project, but she gently found a way of engaging with everyone in ways that elicited detailed feedback whilst keeping within the ethos of the project.  I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Ruthless Research to others and should another opportunity come up at See Think Make, Ruth would be our first port of call."

Sarah Longfield, See Think Make

 

“We commissioned Ruth to undertake a short evaluation of a research project we had undertaken and found her a joy to work with. She was very friendly, professional and produced high quality work, always keeping us informed about how it was going. As a result of her evaluation we have a much better understanding of the impact we have had and the challenges that remain.”

Joe Levenson, Young Women's Trust

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"Ruth was a joy to work with on the evaluation for our independent commission. Not only was her work of a very high standard, she was totally flexible and understanding when our deadlines shifted several times. We look forward to having the chance to work with her again"

Donna Covey, AVA

 

"We commissioned Ruthless Research to create a stakeholder survey and to help us compile a written report on a multi-faceted project involving many delivery partners. The clarity and depth of the questions were excellent, and the number of responses to our stakeholder survey exceeded expectations due to Ruth’s system of gentle reminders. Ruth waded through a wide range of evaluation data sources and found effective ways of presenting the information. What we valued most was her clear, expert guidance through the evaluation and reporting process. She was very good at checking in with us about next steps – this regular contact helped make sure we got the outputs we wanted in good time and to match our needs. Ruth took the pressure off us at a time when we were still busy delivering the final elements of the project. Our confidence was well-founded – she stayed right on top of things and managed the process to make sure all milestones were hit. She was very thorough and meticulous throughout, which really helped when we were making all the final tweaks to the document. Just the support we needed – thanks, Ruthless Research!"

Amy McDonald, Connecting Scotland’s Sounds project, National Library of Scotland

 

"We were delighted with the work that Ruthless Research was able to carry out for us, working to meet our objectives within a tight timetable and budget, navigating potentially sensitive areas, and ensuring we had a concise, clear and easily communicable report to share at the end of the process."

Beth Bate, Scottish Film

 

"Ruth helped us shape the content of our post-Festival 2016 evaluation report, making sense of the many facts and figures this entailed, always scrupulously checking that these were correct. Ruth had endless patience in our back-and-forth conversations and showed professionalism, empathy and a strong attention to detail."

Emma Mortimore, Hippodrome Silent Film Festival (Falkirk Community Trust)

 

“It has been a real pleasure to work with Ruth on our evaluation project.  She is highly professional and approaches all aspects of her work with a genuine interest and can do attitude.  It was hugely beneficial to find, following discussion and agreement, that we could hand the project off to her and trust it would be completed to the highest standard.  All of our stakeholders that she engaged with reported that she was engaging and a pleasure to talk to.  Her insights into the findings have been invaluable.”

Philippa Cochrane, Scottish Book Trust

 

"Having worked with and been impressed by Ruth previously she was our first port of call when we decided to carry out a review our organisation’s membership scheme. As a sector development organisation talking to multiple stakeholders we pride ourselves in being able to communicate clearly and concisely. One of the joys of working with Ruth is that she also places importance on excellent communication. Although our project felt quite complicated to us, in our first meeting Ruth was quickly able to understand what we wanted to achieve and articulate in simple terms our options for how to go about it. She is clear and precise in everything she does, from providing a detailed but easy-to-digest research proposal – which helpfully included a full breakdown of costings and timescales – to producing a fantastic end of project report which has proved a vital tool in informing our work. Ruth is a hugely experienced and committed researcher whose reliability, rigorous ethics and calm, friendly manner make her a pleasure to work with. She exceeded our expectations and we would have no hesitation in commissioning her again in the future – in fact we wouldn’t look anywhere else!"

Helen Bain, Youth Theatre Arts Scotland

 

"Working with Ruth has been incredibly useful to us by allowing us to evidence the impact of our work.  Her approach is simple yet thorough and she provides exactly what she states she will.  Having worked with Ruth on two separate occasions I would not hesitate to recommend her as a researcher and evaluator - and as a collaborator.  Ruth has a particular passion for equality and the arts and this ensures that she is informed and interested in the work she does - her ability to engage with the subject matter brings greater value to the finished work."

Mairi Taylor, Birds of Paradise Theatre Company

 

"We commissioned Ruth to explore the views of a range of partners in a recovery initiative. Ruth was very successful not only in securing the interviews but also in putting people at ease and encouraging them to share their experiences and views.  The project resulted in a concise report which highlighted what was working well and why and what we needed to focus on in the future."

Louise Christie, Scottish Recovery Network

 

"On behalf of the directors of Blipfuture CIC, may I thank you for the fantastic work undertaken on the recent Blipfoto Membership Survey.  The survey you designed not only met, but exceeded our expectations.  The analysis of the responses has proved invaluable to our understanding of members views and has placed us in a great position to introduce a membership scheme that will place Blipfoto on a sound financial footing. There was a very positive response from the membership to the survey.  Comments from those that took part in the survey showed that they found it very easy to complete, allowing them to express their views through the answer options provided.  The analysis you provided is very comprehensive and well beyond my expectations from previous surveys undertaken on behalf of my employees.  The quality of your work means that should anyone need similar services, I would have no hesitation in recommending your services in the future."

Graham Colling, Blipfuture CIC

 

"Ruth has done a fantastic job delivering our evaluation. Ruth has worked independently to deliver the project on time, on budget with limited support. With our team under staffed and lacking in resources the opportunity to work with a researcher who is abled and skilled in the ability to project manage and deliver is not to be underestimated – I’m hugely grateful to Ruth for delivering this project."  

Suzanne Page, Gingerbread

 

“Based on previous positive experience of Ruthless Research the company was our preferred go to for carrying out the two-year endpoint evaluation of our Sparks@TheYards project. Ruth is extremely impressive in the way she takes a brief, interrogates it and uses her inclusive evidence based approach to achieve maximum returns from all stakeholders. We now have an outstanding final report that highlights the significant achievements and distance travelled by beneficiaries of the project, and one that will enable us to better secure future funding.”

Sam Anderson, Forth Sector

 

"We selected Ruth from a number of possible researchers to lead work in relation to the future development of recovery based approaches in Scotland. We were able to work collaboratively to refine a method which was best suited to our research question. It was a pleasure working with Ruth who was flexible and pragmatic in her approach and proficient in delivery. I would have no hesitation in working with Ruth again in the future."

Simon Bradstreet, Scottish Recovery Network

 

"Ruthless Research has been a source of great encouragement to me. Ruth's detailed evaluation package for the Scottish Association for Music Education's fourth IT event provided highly pointed and useful data from the delegates and has enabled SAME to make well informed decisions for future events. Her work was outstanding, delivered professionally and with great attention to detail. Ruth Stevenson brings her bright and caring personality to the task in hand and is a pleasure to work with."

Graeme Wilson, Scottish Association for Music Education

 

"It was a  pleasure to work with Ruth Stevenson. Her professional attitude and competent research techniques ensured that the service was able to obtain valuable primary and secondary research material. Ruth took time to understand and consider our needs,  and  produced an excellent report . Her recommendations have helped to focus discussions and make decisions based on evidence form a wide range of stakeholders. I would have no hesitation asking Ruthless Ruth to undertake further projects for our service in the future."

Tim Rogers, Lancashire Music Service

 

“We contacted Ruth to help our small but growing organisation develop a more accurate pricing package for two new services we recently developed: a Corporate Art Sponsorship programme and a Collection Management scheme for NHS Health Board’s extensive art collections. These were exciting and innovative programmes but we had very little experience with regards to effectively and confidently rolling them out or with approaching potential clients. We needed the facts and figures to back up strategies and our pitch and Ruth’s report enabled this. Ruth’s thorough research and analysis took all the guess work out of it for us. An extensive number of interviews were conducted with all relevant stakeholders to explore expectations, viability, purchasing decisions and pricing models, as well as barriers to engagement from the potential clients. The final report was extremely helpful, clear and easy to understand and Ruth completed it with a sense of urgency as we had a board meeting approaching that I really hoped to present it at. I highly recommend Ruth for her friendly demeanour, professionalism, value for money and accomplished research and writing ability.”

Trevor Jones, Art in Healthcare

 

"Ruth was a pleasure to work with when she facilitated two focus groups for Asthma UK. She helpfully advised on recruitment methods, and when leading the focus groups demonstrated a clear understanding of our priorities and what we wanted to research. Ruth put participants at ease while ensuring they contributed fully to the discussions that took place, and quickly generated thorough and insightful reports from the focus groups, which made clear and relevant recommendations."

Katherine Dickinson, Asthma UK

 

"Ruth Stevenson has recently undertaken an evaluation of a programme for my NHS team. The work required her to meet very quick deadlines, which she did in a most efficient and effective manner. Her final report was very well written and presented. Throughout the project we really appreciated the way in which Ruth always kept us informed of progress."

Mary Ross-Davie, NHS Education for Scotland

 

"Ruth was great to work with. She 'got' what we wanted to do and how we wanted to do it and then tailored her approach for the best fit. She juggled the requirements of being, participant, active audience and objective evaluator. Ruth is an excellent communicator and really 'good with people' - negotiating her way around our complex array of stakeholders. We were really pleased with her work throughout, she didn't just tell us what we wanted to hear but we were able to use her findings to reflect and develop our work. Ruth has earned her excellent reputation."

Aidan Moesby, Artist, Devising Psychosis Steering Group

 

"Ruth has been a great find for our organisation. We were initially impressed by her friendly, encouraging and professional style. This, along with her expertise and breadth of experience in the field of research, and her clear understanding of how arts organisations operate, have proved invaluable to our work. Ruth has helped us successfully achieve our research aims with efficiency and creativity and I would not hesitate to recommend her services."

Helen Bain, Promote YT

 

“The work Ruth completed was fantastic. Ruth was very easy to work with and very patient with some demanding and changing tasks. The work was completed very thoroughly; on time and created a great resource for Media Trust to use and grow from in the future. We would definitely recommend Ruth to anyone carrying out evaluation pieces.”

Sam Gillett, Media Trust

 

"Ruth worked with us on the research for our new play in development "Couldn't Care Less". This involved literature and policy research, interviews and questionnaires, data analysis and processing audience feedback. Ruth was great to work with. She was extremely thorough in every area of her work and we felt that we gained excellent value for money. Her knowledge and passion for the arts and social issues was a huge asset. Working with Ruth took all the stress out of doing the research for our play, she presented all of the research so clearly and it was really easy to use. Ruth understood our needs quickly, was flexible, very efficient with the budget we had, and was a very valued member of our team. We look forward to working with Ruth again in the future and wouldn't hesitate to recommend her to others."

Liz Strange, Strange Theatre

 

“Ruthless Research worked with us on a funding application for digital content development and we were very happy with the service we received.  The objective of our survey was clearly understood and expressed in the survey and the results were easy to interpret and use as part of the application.”

Diana McMicking, Jupiter Artland

 

“Ruth worked with ARK to design and undertake a stakeholder audit around our branding and communications. Ruth turned the project around quickly, delivered on time, and provided excellent value for money. She was a pleasure to work with and her final report was excellent – I have already recommended her services to others.”

Dorothea Arndt, ARK (Absolute Return for Kids)

 

“Ruth was contracted by Audiences Central in February 2012 to carry out a high level evaluation of our major audience development programme, Audiences Black Country. She threw herself into the work immediately, and delivered a very high quality report of great use to us as consultants as well as to our funders. I would recommend Ruth without hesitation for the skills and insight she brings, and more than that, she was a pleasure to work with.”

Joanna Davies, Audiences Central

 

"Ruth's work for Fife Youth Music Forum was detailed, creative and searching, and provided the Forum with a sound basis to progress its work.  Her report was detailed and extensive yet written and produced in a style which made it accessible and useful to the reader.  Ruth's pleasant manner and efficient and effective style of work justified the Forum's choice of her as commissioned researcher and mapper."

Graeme Wilson, Fife Youth Music Forum

 

"Ruth carried out a piece of research for Forth Sector. She displayed excellent knowledge of the sector and produced a detailed and concise report.  All completed on time and within budget. Would happily recommend Ruth to any other organisation."

Susan McLaughlin, Forth Sector

 

“Ruth delivered a performance evaluation for the Traditional Music Forum and also wrote our Communications Strategy, both pieces of work which were well done, delivered on time and on budget.  Top qualities: Great Results, Personable, Good Value."

David Francis, Traditional Music Forum

 

"I enjoyed working with you because I found your approach professional but flexible and approachable at all times. You delivered when you said you would and produced good documentation as you went along. It felt like you were part of the team."

Sarah Yearsley, Engage