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Research Operations

The machinery behind fast, high-quality studies.

Research operations is the recruiting, logistics, and project work that runs underneath every study. It is also the reason Accelerant can move at sprint speed without dropping sample quality.

Most teams feel the bottleneck here. The method is sound, the questions are right, but recruiting stalls, scheduling slips, and the timeline blows out. Accelerant runs that layer as a full-service in-house operation, integrated with trusted external partners for transcription, sample, and logistics. You get one team accountable for getting participants in the door, on time, and verified.

Use research operations inside a full-service engagement, or pull it on its own when your team owns the study but needs the operational horsepower to run it.

What it covers

What research operations covers

Every piece integrates with your team’s process or plugs into Accelerant’s full-service workflow. You decide how much you hand off.

Participant recruiting

Targeted recruiting against your screener and quotas, drawn from the Agora USA proprietary panel and trusted external sample partners. White-glove recruiting for hard-to-reach and low-incidence audiences.

Scheduling and coordination

Sessions booked, confirmed, and re-confirmed. No-show management and live backups so your researchers are never sitting idle.

Incentives

Incentive structures set, managed, and paid out, with the compliance and tracking handled for you.

Hosting and logistics

Platform setup and session hosting for moderated, hybrid, and unmoderated studies. Tech checks before each session.

Transcription

Accurate transcription through integrated partners, turned around on your timeline.

Sample sourcing

Proprietary panel first, vetted external sample where the audience demands it, with quality control across both.

Project management

One point of contact owning the field plan, the timeline, and the status. You always know where the study stands.
Who it is for

Who research operations is for

In-house insights teams that need capacity

You own the research, you know the questions, and you do not have the headcount to recruit, schedule, and field at the pace your roadmap demands. This is the team you add without adding to payroll.

Agencies and suppliers that need fieldwork

You sell strategy and analysis, and you need a reliable partner to execute recruiting, logistics, and fielding under your brand. Accelerant runs the field so you keep the relationship.

Teams that want ops only, not full-service

You are not looking to outsource the study. You want the recruiting and the project machinery, a la carte, and you want it to hold the same quality bar as your own work.
Why it matters

Operations is what protects sample quality and speed

Sample quality does not come from the method. It comes from the operation underneath it. Who gets recruited, how they are screened, how no-shows get handled, how fast the field closes. Get that layer wrong and even a well-designed study returns weak data, late.

Accelerant treats research operations as the discipline that everything else depends on. The Agora USA proprietary panel gives a verified starting pool. Integrated partners cover transcription, sample, and logistics where specialized capacity is needed. Rigorous quality control runs across both. That is how studies stay fast and the data stays trustworthy at the same time.

This is the same engine that makes Rapid Research possible. Tier 1 unmoderated studies in about one week, Tier 2 hybrid in about one to two weeks, Tier 3 moderated and strategic in about two to four weeks. None of those timelines hold without the operation behind them.

Quality control

Quality control, built into the field plan

Quality is checked while the study runs, not patched after. On quantitative work, Accelerant validates survey data for accuracy and screens out bad responses before they reach your analysis. On qualitative work, sessions and transcripts get reviewed against the screener so you know the right people were in the room.

The result is data you can act on, from a field process you can trust.

Adaptive management

Built to flex with the study

Complex studies break in predictable places. Low incidence, tight quotas, compressed timelines, multi-market fielding. Accelerant plans for those failure points up front and adjusts in real time when fielding shifts.

In-house capacity plus a trusted partner network means the right resource is matched to the job, so you get the result on time without paying for capacity you do not need.

A year-long product effort, run on Accelerant's operational support

“We have been working on this product for over a year and you’ll be able to find many elements that are direct translations from the insights Accelerant Research’s team provided. It wouldn’t have been possible without your support.”
VP, Consumer Insights and Innovation, digital bank, financial services

This is what reliable fieldwork compounds into.

FAQ

Common questions about research operations

Can I use just your recruiting or operations, without a full-service engagement?

Yes. Research operations is available a la carte. Many in-house teams and agencies use Accelerant only for recruiting, fielding, and project management while they run the rest of the study themselves. You choose how much to hand off.

What does Accelerant handle versus what my team handles?

You can keep study design, analysis, and reporting in-house and hand off the operational layer: recruiting, scheduling, incentives, hosting, transcription, sample sourcing, and project management. Or hand off the whole study. The split is yours to set, and one point of contact owns whatever Accelerant runs.

How do you keep quality high when fielding fast?

Quality lives in the operation, not the speed. Recruiting starts from the Agora USA proprietary panel, participants are screened against your quotas, no-shows are backfilled live, and data is validated while the study runs. Specialized work like transcription and external sample goes through trusted partners with quality control across both. Fast and verified are not a tradeoff when the operation is built right.

Where does your sample come from?

The Agora USA proprietary U.S. consumer panel first, recruited and managed in-house. Where an audience requires it, Accelerant adds vetted external sample partners, with consistent quality control across every source.

Can you recruit hard-to-reach or low-incidence audiences?

Yes. White-glove recruiting through Agora USA is built for harder audiences, with lower incidence rates and faster fill than generic aggregated sample typically delivers.

How fast can research operations field a study?

It depends on the tier and the audience. Tier 1 unmoderated studies run in about one week, Tier 2 hybrid in about one to two weeks, and Tier 3 moderated and strategic in about two to four weeks. Research operations is what holds those timelines.

Do you work with agencies and other research suppliers?

Yes. Agencies and suppliers use Accelerant as their fieldwork partner, executing recruiting and logistics behind their own client relationships.

Need recruiting, fielding, and logistics that hold under speed?

Tell us what you are running and your timeline. We will show you exactly which pieces Accelerant can take off your team's plate and how fast we can field it.

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