Market Research can be many things to many people. The American Marketing Association defines it as “the function that links consumer, customer, and public to the marketer through information — information used to identify and define marketing opportunities and problems; generate, refine, and evaluate marketing actions; monitor marketing performance; and improve understanding of marketing as a process.” Clearly Market Research can play a critical role in a comprehensive marketing plan.
Before undertaking Market Research efforts, it is important to identify the underlying research objectives. After doing so, a variety of research techniques & methodologies can be utilized to achieve these objectives. These can include numerically-oriented quantitative research or more in-depth, probing qualitative research. Both seek to ask questions which can better allow the researcher to address the fundamental research objectives.