Waytogo | Primary Research

Understanding how India thinks and decides

Primary research by Way To Go Consultants. We go beyond what people say to understand what actually drives their choices.

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Current Surveys

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Each survey takes between 5 and 15 minutes. Please read what it covers before you begin, so you know what you are giving your time to. You can skip any question or stop at any time.

Coming soon

UP Election Survey

What really drives how Uttar Pradesh votes

Beyond party and candidate: we look at the priorities, loyalties and beliefs that shape voting choices across Uttar Pradesh.

Time NeededAbout 15 minutes
Who Can Take PartVoters in Uttar Pradesh, 18+ (to be confirmed)
LanguagesHindi, English (to be confirmed)
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Election coverage usually asks one question: who will you vote for? This survey asks what sits behind that choice.

What it covers

  • What really comes first when you decide your vote: your own needs, your family, your community, your region or the state as a whole.
  • What you expect and from whom: what you look for in a leader and a government, and how much you trust them to deliver.
  • What you say versus what decides it: whether the reasons people give for their vote match the trade-offs they make when choices get hard.
  • How views form and change: who and what shapes your thinking, and how settled or open your choice is.

What you'll be asked

Short real-life situations with a few options each, plus a small number of background questions such as age group and district. We never ask your name or who you voted for in a past election.

What happens with the results

Findings are reported only at group level, for example by region or age group, and shared publicly when the study is complete.

Coming soon

India Mind Space Survey

How India thinks about life, work, family and the future

A nationwide look at the beliefs behind everyday decisions: about ourselves, our relationships, our money, our health and our society.

Time NeededAbout 5 minutes
Who Can Take PartResidents of India, 18+ (to be confirmed)
LanguagesHindi, English, others to be confirmed
Read survey details

India is changing fast and so is the way Indians think about their own lives. This survey maps the beliefs behind everyday decisions across the country.

What it covers

  • Eight areas of life: how you see yourself, your health, your relationships, your work, your money, your sense of purpose, your interests, and your community.
  • Who and what matters most when those areas compete for the same decision.
  • Balancing yourself and others: how you weigh "what's in it for me" against "what's my value to others".
  • Enough or not enough: whether people feel they are struggling, comfortable or secure, and how that shapes their choices.
  • Differences across India: how answers vary by age, region, city size and life stage.

What you'll be asked

Real-life situations where you choose what you would do, plus a few background questions. There are no right or wrong answers.

What happens with the results

A group-level picture of how India thinks today, published as a report and repeated over time to show how that thinking changes.

Survey eligibility, available languages and closing dates will be confirmed before launch.

Why We Are Doing This Research

The gap between what we say and what we do.

Most surveys record what people say they think. But the beliefs people state and the beliefs they act on are often not the same and the gap between them explains far more than either one alone.

Our research is designed to find that gap. Instead of asking only for opinions, we use real-life situations and choices that show what people prioritise. The aim is to understand how individuals, communities and society as a whole are thinking, and where that thinking may be drifting from reality.

What people say Stated beliefs
What people choose Real decisions
Watch & Understand

Before you take part, understand what we're looking for.

A short introduction to the research: why we ask about real-life choices, what to expect in a survey, and how your answers help us see the bigger picture.

THE RESEARCH, EXPLAINED Watch before you begin a survey
What the video explains

Small choices can reveal a bigger picture.

Our surveys are about understanding how people think and decide, not testing whether an answer is right or wrong.

Why these surveys?

Discover the beliefs and priorities behind everyday decisions.

What will you be asked?

Simple real-life situations, with no right or wrong answers.

How are answers used?

To understand patterns across groups, not to identify individuals.

Explore our surveys
The Model Behind It

Research built on The Fault Line Model.

Every survey we run is built on The Fault Line Model, a framework for understanding how people and groups think, decide and change.

The model starts from a simple observation. People, families, organisations and whole societies rarely go wrong because they lack information or good intentions. They go wrong because what they believe slowly drifts away from what is happening, and nobody notices until the cost shows up. The model calls the point where that drift breaks into the open a fault line. Its core ideas:

Everyone runs on a belief system.

What we believe about ourselves, others and the world shapes every decision we make.

Stated and real beliefs differ.

What people say they believe and what they act on can quietly drift apart, often without them noticing.

Closeness drives choices.

People weigh themselves, those they consider their own, and everyone else very differently. How close something feels often matters more than how many people agree with it.

Two questions guide every decision.

"What's in it for me?" and "What's my value to others?" Healthy decisions keep both in view.

Groups have belief systems too.

Communities, organisations and societies can drift from reality just as individuals do.

Why this matters for our surveys. Opinion polls tell you what people say. The Fault Line Model gives us a way to see what sits underneath: what people prioritise, who they feel closest to, and whether their stated beliefs match the choices they make. That is why many of our questions describe a real-life situation and ask what you would do, rather than asking for your opinion directly. There are no right or wrong answers. The most useful answer is always your honest one.

Read more about The Fault Line Model
Your Privacy

Honest answers need trust.

Taking part is voluntary, and research findings are intended to describe patterns at group level, not identify individual respondents.

Anonymous by default.

We do not ask for your name. Any contact details are optional and stored separately from your answers.

Used only for research.

Your answers are combined with others and reported only as group findings. No individual's answers are ever published or sold.

Your choice.

Taking part is voluntary. You can skip any question or stop at any time.

The full research privacy notice will be added following legal review, before surveys go live.

About Waytogo Consultants

Research with a model behind it.

Waytogo Consultants helps individuals and organisations understand how they think and decide, and act on it. This research programme is led by Vikram Tewari, author of The Fault Line Model.

More about Waytogo Consultants