The Market Research Society defines market research as the 'means used by those who provide goods and services to keep themselves in touch with the needs and wants of those who buy and use those goods and services'.
Market research is a cost-effective way of finding out what people believe, think, want or need to do. It is the collection and analysis of data from a sample of individuals or organisations relating to their characteristics, behaviour, attitudes, opinions or possessions. Essentially, by talking to a small proportion of people you can find out about a far larger number.
Market research can help you to:
· Test new concepts;
· Assess your customer needs and their reaction to your product or your competitors' products;
· Learn about and monitor customer satisfaction with, for instance, your attraction, a holiday destination, services etc.;
· Learn about and monitor your employees' satisfaction with their roles;
· Target your marketing more effectively, especially identifying your key customer segments;
· Provide background information to support business planning and investment decisions;
· Flag up potential strengths and weaknesses in your business.
How is research carried out ?
There are two main types of market research data:
· Qualitative
· Quantitative
Qualitative research does not measure things; it is about understanding things. It answers questions such as 'what', 'why' and 'how', but it cannot answer the question 'how many'.
Qualitative research is the way in which people's attitudes and beliefs can be explored and ideas can be generated. Often, qualitative research is used for testing people's reactions to a potential new advertising campaign, or exploring people's attitudes to a product.
Quantitative research is designed to provides us with answers to 'how many' and 'to what extent' questions. Here it is important to gain an accurate viewpoint of the target population, and so these projects typically involve large scale surveys using sampling techniques and standardised questionnaire materials.
Although these two methods can be used alone, in practice it is often necessary to conduct both qualitative and quantitative consultations on a given subject. For example, an initial qualitative stage may help us to find out what we should be asking respondents in a survey, or conducted afterwards can help to explain the underlying reasons for some survey results.
The most commonly used methods are:
· In-depth interviews, usually unstructured interviews (no predetermined questions) based upon a topic or themes. The interviewer interacts with the person involved in the discussion and encourages him to freely express his thoughts on a product or subject of interest.
· Focus groups or group discussions are similar to in-depth interviews due to the fact that they are unstructured, but bring together a number of relevant respondents, typically between eight and twelve. Led by a moderator, the main role of a focus group is to learn and understand what people have to say about a topic and understand their reasoning. Participants in focus groups are also usually asked to discuss how they feel about a product or organisation, concept or idea and how this forms part of their lives. Focus group participants are often chosen because of common backgrounds or experience on the topic under discussion.
Data
Data can be classified as either primary or secondary. Primary data is usually collected first hand for a specific market research project.
Examples of primary data collection are:
· Face-to-face interviewing, with a pre-designed questionnaire, either in the street, at the business premises or in people's homes. Face-to-face interviews take less time than postal surveys but are slower than telephone research in terms of setting up and carrying out the research. The biggest disadvantage of face-to-face interviewing is cost.
· Research by telephone is a fast-growing form of data collection, that is usually less expensive per interview than face-to-face and can provide data more quickly. Telephone research is not suitable for lengthy interviews but is ideal for smaller-scale, fast turn-around projects.
· Postal and self-completion research is the cheapest form of quantitative research, although it can take a relatively long time to collect data by post. Self-completion questionnaires must be kept simple and the researcher has little control over who completes the form, how many people return the form, or how accurately the given information is.
· Omnibus surveys are useful for businesses with small budgets and relatively few questions to ask because questions can be 'piggy-backed' on to a larger survey. Data is collected at a lower cost than for a stand-alone project.
Secondary data, however, is already in existence, usually from published sources but has not been collected in direct response to a problem that has arisen. Useful sources of secondary data include published statistics and research reports by organisations such as Mintel, Keynotes, the Dorset Tourism Data Project, the Southern Tourist Board, Southwest Tourism, the British Tourist Authority and English Tourism Council, trade journals, government published statistics (via your local authority or the Office for National Statistics) and magazines or newspaper articles.
Need further help with research?
Then please contact the MRG team