Decoding human behaviour

Want to discover and understand how people behave (and why)?

Need real-world human behaviour insights for your next project, campaign or behaviour change challenge?

You may have heard of behavioural science before. The study of what people do and why they do it - behavioural science is a powerful way to capture and measure human behaviour.

For communications or marketing professionals, adding some behavioural science research to your toolbox can take your messaging to the next level.

However, if you’re just starting out, it can seem overwhelming.

Eye-tracking? Facial coding? Behavioural observation? Large multi-variate studies? It’s easy to feel confused, or not know which methodology is the right one for you.

We’re here to help.

TRA’s human behaviour experts have looked at over 30 different behavioural science methodologies and broken them down into one simple guide.  

This guide is designed to help you understand when to use what methodology. You can then choose to use this methodology either alongside, or instead of, traditional qualitative and quantitative research approaches.

Before launching into a new project, it’s important to understand the tools available and to select the right one for the job. Complete the form in the sidebar to download your guide.

Guiding principles  

Alongside the different methodologies, we've outlined guiding principles to help inform your behavioural science research. These include capturing actual behaviour rather self-reported behaviour and testing and trialling in a real-world context where possible.