Qualitative Research Contract Job Trends

Qualitative Research
UK

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs requiring Qualitative Research skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 29 December 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
29 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 513 493 524
Rank change year-on-year -20 +31 +82
Contract jobs citing Qualitative Research 80 43 71
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.22% 0.13% 0.16%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.25% 0.15% 0.19%
Number of daily rates quoted 65 28 55
10th Percentile £322 £331 £325
25th Percentile £400 £356 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £427 £450 £425
Median % change year-on-year -5.11% +5.88% -22.73%
75th Percentile £500 £550 £558
90th Percentile £580 £591 £629
UK excluding London median daily rate £425 £428 £475
% change year-on-year -0.58% -10.00% -9.52%
Number of hourly rates quoted 0 2 3
10th Percentile - £20.58 -
25th Percentile - £20.69 -
Median hourly rate - £21.25 £20.07
Median % change year-on-year - +5.88% -
75th Percentile - £21.69 £45.07
90th Percentile - £21.73 £60.07
UK excluding London median hourly rate - £21.00 £20.07
% change year-on-year - +4.63% -

All Process & Methodology Skills
UK

Qualitative Research falls under the Processes and Methodologies category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring process or methodology skills.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 32,495 29,409 38,112
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 88.07% 88.28% 88.01%
Number of daily rates quoted 20,479 17,921 25,423
10th Percentile £300 £308 £306
25th Percentile £406 £413 £419
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £528
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -0.47% -4.09%
75th Percentile £615 £638 £650
90th Percentile £725 £738 £743
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -5.00% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,043 952 1,523
10th Percentile £14.75 £15.62 £14.25
25th Percentile £17.69 £20.30 £18.93
Median hourly rate £25.15 £32.50 £43.75
Median % change year-on-year -22.62% -25.71% +25.00%
75th Percentile £51.65 £62.50 £65.00
90th Percentile £68.75 £74.72 £77.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £23.58 £30.78 £45.00
% change year-on-year -23.41% -31.60% +43.91%

Qualitative Research
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Qualitative Research relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.

Qualitative Research job vacancy trend in the UK

Qualitative Research
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Qualitative Research.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Qualitative Research

Qualitative Research
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Qualitative Research over the 6 months to 29 December 2025.

Daily rate histogram for Qualitative Research in the UK

Qualitative Research
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Qualitative Research.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Qualitative Research

Qualitative Research
Top 13 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Qualitative Research within the UK over the 6 months to 29 December 2025. The 'Rank Change' column provides an indication of the change in demand within each location based on the same 6 month period last year.

Location Rank Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Matching
Contract
IT Job Ads
Median
Daily Rate
Past 6 Months
Median Daily Rate
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
England -18 60 £432 -1.20% 89
London +5 36 £475 +2.70% 35
UK excluding London -32 31 £425 -0.58% 66
Work from Home +11 25 £439 -2.50% 26
North of England - 10 £411 - 16
Scotland +11 9 £450 -21.74% 4
South East -3 8 £420 -11.68% 21
North East - 7 £364 - 1
South West - 5 £425 - 9
Yorkshire - 2 £475 - 4
Wales -1 1 £475 +195.03% 2
East of England -19 1 £427 -5.11% 7
North West - 1 £415 - 11

Qualitative Research
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities by Category

The following tables expand on the one above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. They cover the same employment type, locality and period, with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each category:

Applications
1 5 (6.25%) Adobe XD
1 5 (6.25%) InVision
1 5 (6.25%) Sketch
2 4 (5.00%) Microsoft Excel
3 1 (1.25%) Zeplin
Business Applications
1 2 (2.50%) Salesforce CRM
Cloud Services
1 10 (12.50%) Figma
2 6 (7.50%) SaaS
3 5 (6.25%) Miro
4 4 (5.00%) Azure
4 4 (5.00%) Power Platform
5 1 (1.25%) Google Analytics
Database & Business Intelligence
1 4 (5.00%) Power BI
Development Applications
1 5 (6.25%) Axure RP
General
1 27 (33.75%) Public Sector
2 20 (25.00%) Social Skills
3 11 (13.75%) Finance
4 9 (11.25%) Analytical Skills
5 7 (8.75%) Banking
6 5 (6.25%) Marketing
6 5 (6.25%) Organisational Skills
7 4 (5.00%) Influencing Skills
7 4 (5.00%) Presentation Skills
8 3 (3.75%) Local Government
8 3 (3.75%) Social Science
9 2 (2.50%) Digital Healthcare
9 2 (2.50%) Law
9 2 (2.50%) Legal
10 1 (1.25%) Digital Health
10 1 (1.25%) Manufacturing
10 1 (1.25%) Pharmaceutical
Job Titles
1 47 (58.75%) User Researcher
2 14 (17.50%) Senior
3 13 (16.25%) Designer
4 8 (10.00%) User Experience Researcher
5 7 (8.75%) UX Designer
6 6 (7.50%) Analyst
6 6 (7.50%) Senior User Researcher
7 5 (6.25%) Service Designer
8 4 (5.00%) Lead
8 4 (5.00%) Senior Designer
9 3 (3.75%) Consultant
9 3 (3.75%) Insight Analyst
9 3 (3.75%) Quantitative Researcher
9 3 (3.75%) UI Designer
9 3 (3.75%) UI/UX Designer
10 2 (2.50%) Business Analyst
10 2 (2.50%) Data Analyst
10 2 (2.50%) SC Cleared Business Analyst
10 2 (2.50%) Senior Analyst
10 2 (2.50%) Senior User Experience Researcher
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 2 (2.50%) Lightning Web Components
Miscellaneous
1 9 (11.25%) Product Ownership
2 4 (5.00%) NHS
3 2 (2.50%) AI Agents
3 2 (2.50%) Digital Wallet
3 2 (2.50%) Mobile App
4 1 (1.25%) Data Protection Act
4 1 (1.25%) Security Posture
Processes & Methodologies
1 65 (81.25%) User Research
2 64 (80.00%) Quantitative Research
3 40 (50.00%) Actionable Insight
3 40 (50.00%) Agile
4 39 (48.75%) Usability Testing
5 37 (46.25%) User Experience
6 36 (45.00%) Service Design
7 35 (43.75%) User-Centered Design (UCD)
8 23 (28.75%) UX Design
9 16 (20.00%) Analytics
9 16 (20.00%) UX Research
10 15 (18.75%) Decision-Making
11 14 (17.50%) Ethnography
12 12 (15.00%) Focus Group
13 11 (13.75%) Front End Development
14 10 (12.50%) Product Strategy
15 9 (11.25%) Contextual Inquiry
15 9 (11.25%) Diary Studies
15 9 (11.25%) Market Research
15 9 (11.25%) Requirements Gathering
Programming Languages
1 5 (6.25%) Python
1 5 (6.25%) SQL
Qualifications
1 16 (20.00%) Security Cleared
2 15 (18.75%) SC Cleared
3 9 (11.25%) Degree
4 4 (5.00%) BPSS Clearance
5 3 (3.75%) Postgraduate
6 1 (1.25%) Master's Degree
6 1 (1.25%) PhD
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 23 (28.75%) Accessibility
2 16 (20.00%) Actionable Recommendations
3 1 (1.25%) GDPR
3 1 (1.25%) GMP
3 1 (1.25%) GxP
3 1 (1.25%) WCAG
Vendors
1 9 (11.25%) Microsoft
2 6 (7.50%) Salesforce
3 5 (6.25%) Adobe
4 3 (3.75%) Google
5 1 (1.25%) Cognizant
5 1 (1.25%) Hotjar
5 1 (1.25%) Qualtrics