Pearson

Background

Pearson is a lifelong learning company dedicated to helping people achieve their learning goals. With approximately 18,000 employees, Pearson provides digital content, assessments, qualifications, and data to customers in nearly 200 countries. Focused on lifelong learning, Pearson is committed to creating enriching educational experiences with real-world impact.

Within its English language learning division, Pearson seeks to understand the experiences and perceptions of English test takers across multiple markets, including India, China, Canada, and the United States. As part of an initiative to highlight the fairness of its responsible AI assessment process, which is backed by language experts to remove bias, Pearson needed to conduct a large-scale survey to gather insights on test-taker experiences and perceptions of bias in English proficiency assessments.

challenge

Conducting this research presented several challenges. Pearson required a highly specific sample, targeting English test takers within particular regions, including Punjab and Haryana in India. The company also needed respondents who met strict demographic and behavioral criteria, such as individuals actively preparing for an English proficiency test. As a trustworthy company, Pearson prioritizes the highest quality data across all areas, including research. It is essential that the data they collect is accurate, reliable, and free from fraudulent participants, bots, and unverified profiles. Additionally, to support data-driven decision-making for their marketing campaign, they require a rapid turnaround to ensure timely and robust insights for the team.

SOlution

To address these challenges, Pearson partnered with Rep Data. Rep Data’s robust security measures and high-quality respondent validation processes gave Pearson confidence that their sample included real and relevant participants. Additionally, Rep Data’s expert team played a crucial role in refining survey questions to enhance clarity and ensure alignment with the target audience.

Beyond data quality, Rep Data’s 24/7 support was instrumental in the success of the project. Given the global nature of Pearson’s operations, time zone differences were a key consideration. Rep Data’s around-the-clock availability meant that issues arising over weekends or outside regular business hours could be addressed immediately, minimizing delays and ensuring smooth project execution.

outcomes

Through its partnership with Rep Data, Pearson successfully obtained a high-quality dataset of over 300 English test takers within the required markets. The data provided critical insights into test-taker stress levels and perceptions of bias in English assessments. These findings were then leveraged by Pearson’s marketing team to create impactful messaging around the fairness of their AI-driven assessment process.Additionally, Rep Data’s pre-screening and validation processes saved Pearson valuable time by ensuring that only clean, relevant responses were delivered. Unlike previous experiences where Pearson had to manually filter out incomplete or irrelevant data, Rep Data’s rigorous quality control allowed the insights team to focus on analysis and strategic decision-making. 

"With Rep Data’s robust security and fraud detection system, we are confident that the people coming into our survey meet our profiling requirements. Also, the team shares only clean data with us, ensuring there are no incomplete responses or irrelevant feedback. In our previous experience with other agencies, we had to do that manually, which took a long time. Their 24/7 help is invaluable, due to the global nature of our operation, and our fast turnaround requirements. We look forward to continuing our collaboration!"

Adita Putrianti, Market Research and Consumer Insights, Pearson