About this research
What this is
This is a study into what happens to people after they qualify as coaches. It asks about your training, what you hoped coaching would be for you, what you have done since, and where you are now.
Who is running it
This research is being carried out by The Coaching Revolution Ltd, a UK training company working with qualified coaches. Contact details are at the bottom of this page.
Why it's being done
Research into the coaching profession tends to be narrow. Most studies survey the members of one professional body, or the graduates of one training school, or a small group recruited to answer one specific question. Each produces a picture of a particular slice of the profession rather than of the profession itself.
This study is open to anyone who has completed coach training, wherever you trained, whichever body accredited it, whether or not you belong to a professional body, and whatever you are doing now. Very little research reaches people outside professional body membership. This one sets out to.
Who can take part
Anyone who has completed coach training. That includes people coaching full time, people coaching alongside other work, people who coach as part of an employed role, people who have moved on to something else, and people who never got started. All of those experiences matter equally to the findings, and the picture is incomplete without any of them.
What you get from taking part
Nothing personally, beyond the chance to reflect on how your own coaching work has gone, and a copy of the report if you want one. The benefit is to the profession. Most research into coaching reaches only one body's members or one school's graduates. This study aims to give an open picture of what happens to people after they qualify, across every route into coaching, so that training providers, professional bodies and people considering coach training can see what really happens.
What taking part involves
The survey takes around 20 minutes. It has a mix of tick-box and written questions. You can save your answers and come back to finish later.
A small number of the early questions are required, because the findings won't make sense without them. Most of those include an option for "I don't know" or "I don't remember". A few ask for plain facts, such as the year you trained and the country you work in, and have no alternative answer. Everything after that is optional, so skip anything you'd prefer not to answer.
Anonymity, and what it means
Your responses are anonymous. You are not asked for your name, and nothing you enter is linked to your identity.
Because responses are anonymous, they cannot be traced back to you. That also means they cannot be found and removed afterwards.
If you stop part way through
Your answers are saved as you go, so you can stop and come back to finish. That also means an unfinished response may be included in the findings if you have answered most of the questions. If you would rather your answers weren't included, please don't take part.
How your answers will be used
Findings will be published as a report. Anonymous quotes from written answers may appear in that report, in articles, in talks, and in a book. Quotes will never include anything that identifies you, your clients, or your employer.
If you name a company or an individual in a written answer, that information will be used to understand patterns. It will not be published in any form that identifies them.
Aggregate findings may be shared publicly. Raw response data will not be published.
The report will be published on The Coaching Revolution website, where anyone can read it for free. It will also be shared on LinkedIn, sent to every participant who asks for a copy, and offered to professional coaching bodies.
If you want a copy of the report
At the end you can give an email address to receive the report when it is published. That address is stored separately from your answers and is used only to send you the report. It is not connected to your responses and it is not added to any mailing list.
Data protection
Responses are stored securely and processed under UK GDPR. The lawful basis is legitimate interest in research into the coaching profession.
We do not store IP addresses with your response, and nothing you enter is linked to your identity.
Anonymous response data is retained indefinitely. This study is intended to repeat every two years, and holding every wave allows changes in the profession to be tracked over time. Deleting earlier responses would make that comparison impossible.
Email addresses given for the report are deleted once the report has been sent.
Is this connected to anything you're selling?
No. This survey does not sell anything and taking part puts you under no obligation. At the end there is an optional link to a free book, which is entirely separate from the research and which you can ignore.
Questions
If you have questions about the research, contact research@thecoachingrevolution.com.