Career decision-making, influences and information research widget

Qualitative Research on Career Pathways of Regulated Costs Lawyers

Fri, 14 Nov 2025 12:48:56 GMT

The Costs Lawyer Standards Board (CLSB), the regulator of Costs Lawyers in England and Wales, has commissioned the Careers Research and Advisory Centre (CRAC) to conduct qualitative research on regulated Costs Lawyers’ career pathways. This follow-up project builds on a survey, run by CLSB in 2024, which obtained information about the different paths that had led practitioners to their current career phase in costs law. The aim is to deepen understanding of these career trajectories and practitioners’ career thinking through a programme of interviews, which should also result in a range of case studies.

We are currently conducting interviews with regulated Costs Lawyers. Please refer to the Data Privacy Notice (DPN) for details on how we would use your information:

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Ensuring high quality in careers information

Wed, 28 Oct 2020 11:22:16 GMT

CRAC has helped Health Education England to undertake a review of the quality of career information it provides through its Health Careers unit (including the Health Careers and Step into the NHS websites). This has involved developing a new assessment methodology to consider a variety of aspects of information quality and utility, and then applying it to samples of careers material including from the two websites.

Evaluation of STEM Insight programme

Mon, 11 Jun 2018 21:50:49 GMT

STEM Learning commissioned CRAC to undertake an evaluation of its STEM Insight programme, through which school science teachers undertake a placement in industry. The evaluation, based on in-depth interviews with a designed sample of participating teachers, school leaders and placement hosts, included formative aspects as well as summative investigations to consider the impact of the placement scheme on participants, schools and pupils, and the participating employers.

Understanding how people choose to pursue taught postgraduate study (HEFCE, 2014)

Mon, 11 Jun 2018 21:04:30 GMT

With help from the International Centre for Guidance Studies, CRAC has completed research for HEFCE to understand better and help HE providers to meet the information needs of prospective PGT students, so that they can make well-informed choices. This included:

Desk research to understand better the decision-making process by which prospective PGT students choose courses, and how this is served by existing provision of information.
New primary research to understand the particular information needs of prospective PGT students currently ‘outside' the HE system (i.e. potential ‘mature' students and/or those who have been outside HE for 3+ years). These prospective applicants have some distinct information needs, and they find it somewhat harder than those close to or in HE to find the information they seek.
Illustrating good practice by universities in web-based information provision through a range of case studies.

Click here to read the report

Early evaluation of Unistats: experiences of users (for HEFCE, 2012-13)

Mon, 11 Jun 2018 21:44:53 GMT

Working with the International Centre for Guidance Studies, CRAC conducted research to evaluate the operation and value of the newly relaunched national Unistats website, which utilises the Key Information Set of data about higher education and courses. The research with users, through observed groups and survey work, revealed how people use the internet to find out about HE and especially how they used the Unistats website and other online course search and comparison services.