JACQUI LOUW
Social and Market Research Director
Consultant and Advisor
ABOUT ME
I am an independent social and market researcher with over two decades’ experience leading and innovating social and market research projects within government and commercial sectors.
Deep experience in customer experience measurement, education, health and human resources research.
Strong reputation as a researcher, having published in academic journals, presented at international conferences and participated in government research committees.
Expert advisor to senior management, using research insights to inform organisational decisions and influence outcomes.
Demonstrated commercial and business acumen with an entrepreneurial spirit, having created innovative research solutions and successful research consultancies in South Africa and Australia.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
"Do not go where the path may lead.
Instead, go where there is no path and leave a trail"
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS
With strong hands-on skills in social and market research as well as experience in management consulting, I bring creative and robust research solutions to the table.
LEAD School Effectiveness Project for Independent Schools Victoria (ISV):
Developed ISV's school stakeholder research programs surveying the opinions and school experiences over 250,000 parents, students and staff.
Secured the participation of 70% of independent schools in Victoria.
Developed the innovative LEAD Balanced Scorecard Benchmarking Report.
The research is a key driver for school improvement programs for independent schools and is still ongoing.
Turned LEAD into a highly profitable service for ISV.
I also developed ISV's Human Resources and Salary Benchmarking Reports, School Financial Benchmarking Reports and numerous other research projects.
Gained recognition as a trusted advisor and expert within education research:
Appointed to research and government committees such as The Australian Department of Education Longitudinal Survey of Australian Youth (LSAY) Strategic Advisory Committee; The Childhood to Adolescence Transition Study (CATS) for the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute; and the ACARA MySchool Survey Expert Working Group as the national representative for independent schools.
Initiated joint research project with the University of Cambridge:
Managed a major research project to confirm the content, face and construct validity of the LEAD Survey tools.
Presented results at the International Congress for School Effectiveness and Improvement in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Published the research in the Australian Journal of Education in 2016.
Founded market research agencies and won high-profile clients:
Conducted numerous large customer experience, opinion research and data analytics projects for clients such as:
TES Global to develop Times Higher Education’s World University Rankings, Manpower Solutions, The Australian Electoral Commission, DoctorDoctor, The Couta Group, Taylor and Grace, Independent Schools Victoria, MedQia, Unijobs, The Global Academic Executive, UNSW, VicHealth, Renault, Roberts Research, and the Australian Research Council.
Volunteering and pro-bono charity work:
Provide pro-bono research and am a serving member of executive committee of The Koala Kids Foundation, a charity that supports families and children undergoing cancer treatment.
CAREER
MANAGING DIRECTOR AND FOUNDER
IMO Analytics (2015 to present)
JH Louw & Associates (before 2008)
Full service, end-to-end quantitative and qualitative research and management consulting agency.
Conduct high-quality online quantitative customer experience and perception surveys and focus groups.
Design innovative research solutions, methodologies, questionnaires, in-depth statistical analyses, accurate and user-friendly reporting with actionable insights.
High-profile clients such as TES Global, Australian Electoral Commission, Manpower Solutions, Renault, The Couta Group, The Koala Kids Foundation, UNSW and schools such as Wesley College, Mount Scopus Memorial College, Mentone Girls Grammar and Huntingtower.
Collaborate with research colleagues and specialists such as the branding agency Taylor & Grace, JWS Research and am a member of the IRG (Independent Researchers' Group).
RESEARCH DIRECTOR, SOCIAL AND GOVERNMENT
Roy Morgan Research (2017 to 2018)
Business development and project direction of large social and government research projects.
Wrote numerous large government and social research proposals.
Provided high level research advice and expertise.
Established and maintained productive working relationships with clients.
MANAGER, RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS
Independent Schools Victoria (2008 to 2015)
Managed the delivery of large social research and analysis programs to improve the educational effectiveness of a diverse range of schools.
Developed and managed the LEAD School Effectiveness Surveys - the Parent, Students, Staff, Governance and LEAD Benchmarking Reports. The LEAD School Effectiveness Surveys are comprehensive, detailed strategic tools which provide schools with ways to measure and track their school effectiveness from stakeholders’ perspectives, namely parents, students, staff and school board members.
Successfully turned LEAD into a highly profitable service for ISV.
Increased participation in the surveys to 70% of 210 private schools in Victoria.
Conducted thousands of surveys with over 250,000 respondents.
Refined and continually improved the surveys and associated reporting.
Collaborated with Cambridge University to validate LEAD, presented a paper an international conference and published a peer-reviewed paper on our LEAD work (see publications).
Developed ISV's Human Resources and Salary Benchmarking Reports, School Financial Benchmarking Reports and numerous other large research projects.
SKILLS
QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
End-to-end - questionnaire design
to reporting
DATA ANALYSIS AND COMMUNICATION
Statistics with visual data story telling
CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE AND OPINION RESEARCH
NPS and other useful metrics
STRATEGIC CONSULTING
Pulling it all together
Actionable insights
TEAMWORK AND LEADERSHIP
Collaborative working style
INDUSTRY EXPERIENCE
SCHOOLS
HIGHER EDUCATION
HEALTH AND GOVERNMENT
EMPLOYMENT AND HR SERVICES
AUTOMOTIVE
TRADES & PROFESSIONS
Contact me to hear about these and other industries I have worked in and consulted with
EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCE
MASTER OF PHILOSOPHY (MPHIL)
University of Cambridge, UK
Wolfson College and Cambridge Judge Business School
First Class for research dissertation on consumer behaviour
Presented paper on research dissertation at the American Marketing Association (AMA) Educators’ Winter Conference, 1994
MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION (MBA)
University of Witwatersrand, South Africa
(Graduate School of Business)
First nursing graduate to do an MBA in South Africa
Distinction for research dissertation
BSC (NURSING SCIENCE)
University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa
Raymond and Marjorie Dart Medal for the most distinguished nursing graduate
South African Nursing Association and Juta Research Prize
Tara Hospital Psychiatric Nursing Prize
Research published in the South African Journal of Nursing
FULL MEMBER - The Research Society
The Research Society - formerly known as Australian Market & Social Research Society Limited (AMSRS) - is a not-for-profit professional membership body of over 2,000 market and social research professionals who are dedicated to increasing the standard and understanding of market and social research in Australia.
SOME PUBLICATIONS
Click on the links below for examples of my featured work.
See my CV for the full list.
November 2016
Australian Journal of Education, SAGE, Nov 2016
Authors: Antoniou, P, Myburgh-Louw, JH, Gronn, P
THEORY - DRIVEN AND EVIDENCE-BASED APPROACH TO SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT: THE INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS VICTORIA LEAD SURVEYS
January 2015
Proceedings of the 28th ICSEI Congress (International Congress for School Effectiveness and Improvement), Cincinnati, Ohio, January 2015
Authors: Antoniou P, Louw, J and Gronn, P
INTERESTS
ARTS
Going to art galleries, theatre, museums, Netflix bingeing
READING
Books, real and virtual
SOCIAL
Good robust conversation, leisurely dining, current affairs, long walks with friends and my dog
MUSIC
Playing guitar, singing, listening to as many genres as possible
LET'S CONNECT
I love what I do and I’d love to help you.
Send me a message and I’ll get back to you ASAP.