Published: 01 Oct 2025
Every four months The Survey Association invites members to complete a Quarterly Industry Snapshot Survey or ‘QISS’ for short. It only takes a couple of minutes to complete and is something that we encourage all Full members to complete. QISS is currently running for the month of October.
The information and insight revealed by the survey are highly beneficial to surveying professionals and it’s another great incentive to join TSA as a member.
Quarterly snapshots
TSA has run QISS using largely the same set of questions since June 1999. It was conceived as a way of getting an instant snapshot of the business confidence levels and challenges of TSA members, and as an indicator of the sector as a whole. It’s anonymous and confidential, with the results only being published on TSA’s website. As the name suggests, it takes place quarterly, in January, April, July and October. It has evolved over the years from being a paper-based or faxed questionnaire, to a quick online poll. The results are collated and shared in real-time with members, in the ‘Members Area’ of the website.
Sector indicators
It’s a useful way of surveying changes in the sector. Throughout the year, trends are identified and the questions have remained consistent – with the more recent addition of a question on stolen equipment, as this continues to be a challenge for surveying companies. One of the key questions is whether companies are operating at Full or Below Capacity – this gives a useful insight into just how busy companies are at any given time. There are also key questions on recruitment, sales in the last three months, and also around business confidence levels for the future. The more members that take part, the better – the QISS is aimed at Full Members, but the answers will be of interest to all categories of membership.
Mapping changes
QISS results includes information on how many companies, organisations or individuals have voted in this quarter’s poll. It’s always interesting and informative to read their feedback and findings from this survey. The data compares information from the last three months to the previous three months. It asks if Turnover and Enquiries were up, down or the remained same. The results are expressed as percentages and these fluctuations demonstrate changes in business confidence and surveying activity. Other areas covered by the survey include fluctuations in their workforce (increases or decreases) or if they are expecting changes to it in the next quarter. It also asks: ‘Do you expect sales over the next 12 months to increase, decrease or remain the same?’ and ‘Which issues cause adverse pressure on your business?’
Surveying the challenges
As well as these questions, the QISS asks recipients to rank a series of adverse pressures they may be affected by – low fees, a shortage of skilled staff, competition, a shortage of orders, late payments, the delivery of projects, IT limitations, access to funding and the cost of new equipment. A final question about equipment theft asks if any survey equipment has been stolen in the last three months and if so, was the theft reported to DeterTech? DeterTech provide data analysis and share theft intelligence with police and TSA members. As an example, in the July QISS, results revealed that 7% of respondents had experienced equipment theft and reported it to DeterTech.
If you are already a member of TSA and would like to take part in October’s survey, check your emails, click on the link provided and provide valuable data to help Council continue to focus on the right issues.
Find out more about TSA membership here.
