Market Research Methods

Market Research Methods

There are a great deal of market research methods, each one with its own advantages and disadvantages. Here they are:

1. Telephone Surveys - Telephone surveys are one of the best known survey methods. This consists of banks of telephone interviewers with auto-dialers anticipating when the next interviewer should get off the last call. There's a sudden beep in their phone and their PC screen starts at the first page, the interviewer asks the questions exactly as it's written on the screen and lists the possible answers, the respondent selects one and the interview inputs the information and the screen automatically switches to the next screen/question.
2. Telephone Focus Group - This is a prescheduled group of respondents that are scheduled to meet on a conference call line at a certain time. There is a moderator who will lead the discussion about a certain topic.
3. Web Questionnaires - This is probably the fastest growing category of market research. In most cases an e-mail is sent to a number of possible respondents along with an offer for some type of financial incentive.  Typically the first few questions is a screener which will qualify the potential respondents. Those that do not qualify will be given a message indicating that they did not qualify, while the others will go seamlessly from screener to the heart of the questionnaire and they will be asked a number of questions, maybe will be shown product concepts to rate, or they could be taken through a series of [trade-off exercises].
4. Web Focus Group - Invitations are generally sent out via e-mail and potential respondents are asked to answer a series of questions screener and if they qualify for the study they are offered an incentive to attend a focus group at a particular time/date. The qualified respondents join the focus group and the web moderator leads a discussion that might include their behaviors, their unmet needs in predefined areas and they may even produce product concepts for comments. Visual aids are typically used to clarify processes or the looks of a product concept.
5. Web Bulletin Board - This is an interesting type of research because it's a group discussion over a day or two, where respondents can respond to other respondents' comments on a given topic. Periodically the web moderator will pose a question, or present a concept which respondents are asked to comment on.
6. In Depth Interviews - most frequently In Depth Interviews take place at a central facility such as a focus group, in order to control the environment and to have the possibility to have visual aids for display. This allows a great deal of probing as there is only one respondent. 
7. Dyads or Triads - You can think of these as very small focus groups. Unlike with focus groups, sometimes there is a relationship between respondents (i.e. husband and wife, or boss and employee, or copier purchaser and copier user).  This allows the moderator to drill into the differing opinions within the same organization to understand different viewpoints within the same group of people (it can show an inside look at the pros and cons of a complex purchase decision..
8. Focus Groups - This is a very well-known market research technique, although very few people have actually seen one take place. Typically consisting of 6 - 10 respondents, the real benefit is the interactions between respondents as different topics are discussed.
9. Mail Surveys - This is a type of research that has been on the decline over the last decade as response rates have continued to decline. There are still certain situations in which a mail survey is a very good option, but steps have to be taken to ensure that the response rates are reasonable. 
10. Panel Studies - This is a newer type of research in which a group of respondents answer some qualifying concepts and those that are qualified are asked to join a group of other respondents and they're asked to participate periodically in various research studies. 
11. Web Enhanced Phone Interview (WEPI) - This is a great method for certain applications because in employees the benefits of both phone and web into one market research method.  In this case a respondent is recruited and screened and then an interviewer conducts a telephone interview while using a special web site that only the respondent and the interviewer can see. This allows the use of impressive visual aids along with the benefits of speaking live on the phone with the respondent.