Market Research in Practice

Book excerpt: Market research has never been more important. As organizations become increasingly sophisticated, the need to profile customers, deliver customer satisfaction, target certain audiences, develop their brands, optimize prices and more has grown. Lively and accessible, Market Research in Practice is a practical introduction to market research tools, approaches and issues. Providing a clear, step-by-step guide to the whole process - from planning and executing a project through to analyzing and presenting the findings - it explains how to use tools and methods effectively to obtain reliable results. This fully updated third edition of Market Research in Practice has been revised to reflect the most recent trends in the industry. Ten new chapters cover topical issues such as ethics in market research and qualitative and quantitative research, plus key concepts such as international research, how to design and scope a survey, how to create a questionnaire, how to choose a sample and how to carry out interviews are covered in detail. Tips, and advice from the authors' own extensive experiences are included throughout to ground the concepts in business reality. Accompanied by a range of online tools, templates, surveys and guides, this is an invaluable guide for students of research methods, researchers, marketers and users of market research. Online resources include a range of tools, templates, surveys and guides.