Market Research Techniques

“Research is creating new knowledge”.
Neil Armstrong

Many of us always pretend that we know what all Research Techniques are, But only few know the exact types of research techniques and so………when to use what?

I as a research analyst have tried to get through different resources and to find out the best possible Market Research Techniques existing.

Plenty of resources are there which can tell us about the presence, feasibility and credibility of many research types; however people can categorize them as per their need and understanding.

I myself categorize the Research primarily in to two types; Primary Research and the Secondary Research. These are the two research types that even a layman can understand easily.

Now the question is, how exactly these two differs?……………and how and when these are used?

Before starting to know more about the Market Research types and Techniques I would like to tell you a story and I am sure while reading the story you will be able to find out that now and then we do the research work in our daily routine life ……….

It goes like this …………………….

One man went to a Market and stopped near a fruit vendor’s cart and asked for the price for 1 dozen bananas. The seller replied as 20 Rs. Man did not get convinced and he moved further and asked another vendor. As he got to know a new price all together from this vendor he simple moved further and so on…… and finally he bought the Bananas for Rs 17.

Now, I am sure that many of you would have understood that why I have shared this story with you…………Yes you are right. That man was doing nothing but a Market research for the best price for bananas for that day.

What happened got surprised or thinking that what a fool I am!!!!!!!!

But its true dear……… All of us do some or the other type of research in our daily life………the only thing that makes a difference is the reason of doing it and that’s how the types and techniques of Research differ.

Lets come back to the point where we have stopped earlier…………Types of Research.

Talking about the Secondary Research first………….Why it is called Secondary research?

It’s a type of Research where we use the data from the existing researches done by others and information gleaned from studies previously performed by government agencies, trade associations, and other Research organizations and institutes like gartner, Market research Association, MRS, AMA, Forrester Research, Jupiter Research, Nielsen, Mintel, and Decision Analyst and many more.

Secondary research is very generic however; it can be a very good tool for the web savvy people who know a little bit of how to surf the web or we can say they don’t have any other option or time to do the other type of research. There are websites, web portals; Information centers over the internet where we can get the required information paid or free and then from there we can build our own report and conclusions. Google is one of the popular search engines which provide the information as you want. Now taking out information is a skill and it comes with experience only………..so need to worry about that.

Many of the firms/companies small or big do the same and hence find out the latest trends for their business and finally drive out the useful and relevant information. However these may be the market trends and are very generic.

Companies also do the research customized to their specific needs and which is called the Primary research.

Just think of any Company who wants information regarding a particular market lets say India. Now by customizing the research technique it can gain the information about the target market. Such techniques come under the roof of Primary research. According to the resources primary research is further classified into 5 basic types as focus groups, surveys, field tests, Personal interviews and observation.

Again question arises which one is the better technique out of all………………..

Believe me; it all depends on the reason for which we want to do a research

I am sure that you must have got some idea about the Market research techniques…………..but practically carrying out a research work will definitely help us to learn more.

Anyhow I will keep sharing my knowledge in my further articles but I would like you to learn and understand more about the primary techniques…………….don’t think I have just left it in between,………..I will surely be touching it but before that I would recommend you to go through it and understand the importance of Market research techniques in our Personal and Professional life.

Remember……………Knowledge is like a tree full of leaves which gives shadow to other movers…………….So keep learning and keep sharing………….

Best Regards,

Vipul Sood