Research Service
Introduction
Here at Aardstorm we can use our expertise and experience in searching the internet and other public information sources to locate the information that you require about virtually any topic. Please note that this is a literature search service; we do not conduct our own original research. Once we have located the information your require, we can then either simply tell you where to find it, or, through our authoring and document production services, we can produce a proper report, article or other form of document to your requirements based on the information we have found. We can locate information about as broad or narrow a subject as you desire, and to whatever depth you require. We can simply answer a specific question, or we can provide extensive information about broad topic. If the information is publicly available, we can find it for you. This can be a very time consuming process; while we locate your information you can be devoting your time to more important or productive work, such as running your business.
The rest of this page describes our research service in more detail, including details of our experience and facilities, details of the information we will need from you to successfully find the information you require, and a description of how we will find that information and supply it to you. See our fees summary page for details of our standard charges for this service.
Research Technique
Experience and Facilities
At Aardstorm we have extensive experience of searching the internet and other sources for information on a variety of topics. We will use that experience to find the information that you require quickly and efficiently. We have staff educated to degree level, and also our own private library, with a range of books on a diverse range of subjects. Our personal interests include science, engineering, transport, the natural world, and history, but we are happy to look for information on any topic.
Internet Search
The internet will be our primary source of information to satisfy your request. When we receive your request for a quotation for our research services, we will do an initial internet search, to discover how easy (or otherwise) the information you require will be to find. Based on this, we will then produce our estimate of how long it will take us to locate the information to the depth your require.
If you then commission us to find the information for you, we will then do a more detailed and extensive search for sites containing your requested information. We will endeavour to find several independent sites that contain your information, in an attempt to ascertain the correctness and reliability of the information we have found.
Literature Search
If we already have books relevant to the information that you request us to look for, then we will automatically include them in our search, at no extra charge. We can also look for your information in public libraries, museums, and other locations accessible by the general public. However, this will involve us in personally visiting the establishments concerned, and will therefore incur additional charges to cover our travelling costs. These additional fees will be included as an option in our quotation, so that you can decide whether we are to include these sources of information in our search.
Search Results
Once we have found the information that you require, we will, as a minimum, supply you with a detailed list of the sources (web sites, web pages, and books, etc.) that we have found. For each source we will give an indication of the amount and quality of any relevant information it contains. We will also include other sources that we tried and initially appeared to be relevant, but proved to be inadequate, so that you can also avoid them.
If you do not commission us to produce any other form of document from the information that we find, then we will provide you with a short summary of that information. In this situation, all of our search results we be supplied to you in the form of an e-mail, possibly with attachments. If you require the results as some form of more extensive document, or on paper, then you can commission us to produce this using our associated authoring and production services.
Research Process
The process used by Aardstorm to search for and locate information to your requirements will normally consist of the following steps:
1. Request Quotation
You request us to supply a quotation for locating the information you require (and probably also one or more of our other services). At this point you need to supply us with sufficient information about your requirements for us to accurately estimate the work involved in writing your document. This will include such information as:
- The type of information required, and its scope and level of detail. Do you have specific questions you want answers to, or are looking for general or detailed information about a particular subject?
- Whether you can provide any locations where we can start to search for the information you require.
- The target audience for your information – who do you expect to read or otherwise use the information, and how familiar are they likely to be with its subject?
- In what form we are to supply the information that we find to you.
If you are also commissioning any of our other services to assist in the production of your document, then you should also state your requirements for these too.
2. Supply Quotation
On receipt of your request, we will use the information you supply about your requirements to estimate the amount of work and other costs involved for us to find the information that you require. As described above, we will do an initial, brief, internet search to help us ascertain the availability of that information. If anything about your requirements is unclear, we will request clarification from you. We will then produce a firm quotation and send it to you. This will include a firm price and schedule for the work to be done (subject to no significant changes to your requirements), together with a summary of your requirements so that you can check that we have understood your request.
3. Place Order
If you accept our quotation, and decide to commission us to search for your information, you then place a firm order, and pay a deposit of 50% (less if stage payments have been agreed) of the total research and any other document and picture service fees, plus 100% of any third party fees. At this point you need to also supply us with the full specification for the information that you require, if you have not already done so.
4. Information Search
Once we have received your deposit and final requirements, we will then search for the information you require using the internet, any relevant books that we already have, and the resources of libraries, museums, or other public collections, as described above.
5. Supply Results
Once we have gathered the information you have requested, if you have not also commissioned us to produce a document based on that information, or if this is the end of an intermediate payment stage, we will supply you with a very brief summary of that information and a list of the locations that we have tried, together with details of the extent, relevance and quality of the information at each location, as described above. We will also send you our invoice for the remaining fees or stage payment due.
6. Document Production (optional)
If you have also commissioned us to write some form of document based on the information we have found, we will then examine, analyse and organise it as necessary to write and produce your document. We will also supply the normal research results sources list to you at the next payment or approval stage. See the descriptions of our authoring and production services for further details of the process beyond this point.
Communication
Throughout the research and any subsequent document production process, communication between us will normally be via e-mail; you will therefore need to supply us with a valid e-mail address that we can use to contact you. If you require one or more face-to-face meetings, we will be happy to visit you, but will charge extra for the travelling and subsistence costs incurred.