What We Offer
Our Research & Advisory Services leverage our deep expertise, proprietary data sets, and understanding of the blind and low vision community to provide actionable insights to inform your business and inclusion strategies. Our unique assets and proven track record in the field offer distinct advantages for our partners:
Access to Diverse Participant Pools and Data
AFB's relationships with peer organizations and consumer groups enables us to recruit research participants from diverse segments of the U.S. blind/low-vision population, ensuring insights are representative of the broad range of user needs and experiences vs. a narrow segment.
Specialized In-House Research Expertise
Our research team is comprised of trained research professionals, all of whom identify as blind, with a combined 35 years of experience conducting quantitative and qualitative studies with blind/low-vision participants. Our expertise enables us to design high-quality and effective studies tailored to the blind and low vision population.
Insights from Lived Experience
AFB offers a unique ability to contextualize research findings through the lens of lived experience, leading to more nuanced and actionable recommendations.
Thought Leadership in the Field
AFB sponsors the Journal of Visual Impairment and Blindness (JVIB), the international peer-reviewed journal of record in the blindness field. Our involvement keeps us at the forefront of emerging research and best practices.
Services & Solutions
Our PhD-level Research and Communications teams can partner with your organization for:
Custom Research Studies
We can design and conduct custom research studies to help you gather insights into the needs, preferences, and experiences of the vision loss community, including:
Study Design and Planning
We will collaborate with you to define research objectives, determine study methodology, identify participant criteria, and develop study protocol. We will also coordinate study logistics, including obtaining necessary approvals (ie IRB), participant recruitment, and scheduling.
Participant Recruitment
We can leverage our network to recruit blind and low vision participants who meet the defined criteria, screen potential participants, obtain informed consent, and schedule them for the study.
Data Collection
We will collect data using the agreed-upon methods and means (i.e. survey, focus group, interview, virtual recordings, note-taking), ensuring data collection adheres to quality, completeness, and accessibility standards.
Data Analysis
We can help you analyze either your own data sets or AFB's proprietary data sets, such as the Barriers to Digital Inclusion Survey data and the Disability Employment Tracker, to uncover trends and provide data-driven recommendations for your specific business and inclusion initiatives. This includes:
Questions Refinement
We collaborate with you to refine your research questions, break them down into sub-questions or hypotheses where appropriate, and develop an analysis plan outlining the methods and techniques to be used.
Data Review and Preparation
We review and preprocess data sets, identifying relevant variables and data points aligned with your research questions.
Data Interpretation
We conduct an in-depth analysis using the appropriate qualitative and/or quantitative analysis methods. These findings are synthesized into key insights, patterns, and takeaways and contextualized within the broader landscape to develop actionable recommendations.
Reporting and Presentation
We prepare a comprehensive report documenting the analysis methodology, findings, and recommendations, including an Executive Summary, Detailed Report, and Virtual Presentation to communicate the findings and address questions and feedback.
Expert Advisory
We also offer Subject Matter Expert (SME) Advisory, where we provide direct consultancy to help you develop and implement inclusion strategies into your business, product, research, or marketing campaigns. This flexibility enables access to the expertise of our Research or Communications staff on an as-needed basis to provide timely and actionable support.
Work With Us
Contact AFB Client Services to discuss your needs and start planning a research and advisory project!
