Debbie Smith

Director

Research + Evaluation

Debbie has over 20 years’ experience in social and market research and is a respected qualitative and quantitative researcher, having conducted thousands of focus groups and in-depth interviews, in addition to a range of ad hoc and tracking population surveys. Debbie is passionate about delivering high quality research outcomes grounded in robust and rigorous design, coupled with an understanding of the unique challenges and constraints clients face to achieve the desired outcomes. Balancing these two areas to deliver the best outcomes for clients is what Debbie strives for on every project. At the Social Research Centre, Debbie leads the Social & Community Services Team.

Debbie’s public sector experience is broad including health, education, environment, infrastructure, and social services. Projects undertaken primarily focus on satisfaction and experience, or public perceptions and sentiment towards an issue or client, with a view of informing the development, testing and evaluation of communications, campaign initiatives, and service improvements. Debbie’s expertise extends across all levels of government, including numerous local governments in metropolitan and regional locations particularly throughout Queensland.

Debbie is well versed in research on sensitive topics such as domestic and family violence, coercive control, sexual consent, foster and kinship care, and sexual health. Engaging with a diverse range of people is a key component of many of these projects including people living with disabilities, culturally and linguistically diverse Australians, LGBTIQA+, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.