About

About Us

Unveiling the Brains Behind The Survey Workshop

Our story

In 1992 Professor Manie Breytenbach established The Survey Workshop with a strong focus on research from a practical, industry-focused perspective. His approach was to take academically based research and make it affordable, practical and customised to the needs of the client.

The Survey Workshop has conducted various forms of qualitative and quantitative research for small and medium commercial and private radio stations as well as various private and government organisations, FMCG, Motor Vehicles, Agricultural Organisations, start-up businesses, small and medium businesses. We have also during our careers worked for and within the Corporate Banking Environment of South Africa. Our research is undertaken by an established team of professionals that assist The Survey Workshop on
an ad hoc project basis. Our team does not vary and all our members are skilled, highly competent and talented in their specific areas of expertise.

Our Founder

Professor H. J. (Manie) Breytenbach Ph.D. (Communication Science; UFS), spent a year at the Institute for Communication Research at Stanford University, Palo Alto, California, USA, where he enrolled in their Ph.D. program, which included hands on research and formal theoretical courses on research methodology and data analysis

He also held a Ph.D. from the University of the Free State, where he was a Professor for a number of years, lecturing research methodology at both pre-graduate and post-graduate levels. He had extensive research experience, not only in the academic context, but also within the industry itself, where he had conducted research on an elaborate range of topics for various private and government organisations.

In 1992 Manie established The Survey Workshop. He was a full member of SAMRA (Southern Africa Marketing Research Association), as well as a Samra Accredited Researcher (SAR).

Manie kept up to date with the latest developments in research technology and methodology by visiting research professionals and colleagues in Europe, Britain and Australia on a regular basis and he published various articles in both Communication Science and other scientific journals. To our tremendous loss, Manie passed away in February 2020.

Our Current Owner

In 2001 Mandy Austin M.Soc.Sc (Masters in Sociology; UFS) received her Master’s degree in Sociology from the University of the Free State, with subject majors in Sociology, Psychology and Criminology.

She has 20 years of experience in both the Quantitative and Qualitative research fields. In 2001, Mandy started an internship in Bloemfontein, under the supervision of Prof. Manie Breytenbach at The Survey Workshop, which lasted 4 years.

During those 4 years she learned about every aspect of the market research process in a very hands-on environment. Moving to Gauteng in 2004 allowed her to continue to grow and learn. Mandy has held the positions of Researcher through to Associate Director and Client Director at various Local and International Market Research companies; such as The Survey Workshop, Consulta Research and Research International (Now called TNS) (2004 – 2009) and she was the Head: Customer Experience Measurement for Nedbank Ltd (2009).

Mandy received in-depth training in and is a specialist in the calculation of Voice of Customer (VoC) and NPS (Net Promoter Scores), Balance Scorecards and KPI’s and their application within a highly competitive banking environment (ABSA, Nedbank and FNB).

She was also the liaison from Consulta Research that created a tool which was developed in conjunction with a team of industrial psychologists to measure Emotional Intelligence and identify potential leaders and train current leaders. This multi rater assessment tool was used in Nedbank’s 360 Leadership Development programme under direct instruction of Tom Boardman. In 2010 Mandy began working as an Independent Researcher and completed projects for Simba and Toyota (amongst others) whilst working remotely from Columbia and Israel. In 2015 Mandy reunited with Professor Breytenbach at The Survey Workshop as a partner. In 2016 Mandy took ownership of The Survey Workshop Pty Ltd. Mandy Austin is an Independent Member of SAMRA (Southern African Marketing Research Association).

Mission & Vision

Market research enables you to identify your target consumer, find out what they think about your ideas, products or brand and gather insights to help you target the right market for your business. Regardless of whether you’re starting or expanding your business, market research is vital to understanding your target market and increase your sales and market share and this is where The Survey Workshop can help you!

At The Survey Workshop we specialise in assisting our clients in:

Identifying potential clients
Understanding existing clients
Setting realistic targets
Developing effective strategies
Integrating data sources to enable identification of customer
profiling
Examining and solving business problems
Designing problem solving strategies and assisting with strategy
execution
Preparing for business expansion
Identifying business opportunities.

Our Mission

Our company vision is to deliver innovative, cost effective, high-quality research solutions that will assist our customers in answering
their research requests.

Our Vision

Our company mission is to provide quality, tailor-made, actionable and reliable research that is affordable.

Our Core Values

We understand that you don’t need to be at your desk to need an answer. We will always endeavour to assist you immediately with any query.
We build open relationships with our customers…our customers are our partners.
Do more for our customers with less. We will give you OUR ALL.
At The Survey Workshop we promise to be as passionate about your brand as you are.

Meet our Team

Our research is undertaken by an established team of professionals that assist The Survey Workshop on an ad hoc project basis. Our team does not vary and all our members are skilled, highly competent and talented in their specific areas of expertise.