Is market research a waste of time?

Date of publication: June 15, 1994

Author: David Buswell

Abstract:

The purpose of this paper is to be provocative, whilst at the same time taking a serious look at some of the issues which can lead to market research being deemed a waste of time. As market researchers, we are unlikely to be of the opinion that the craft we follow is pointless and makes no contribution to the future prosperity and well-being of the financial services industry, but this need not prevent us from examining some of the difficulties we face in establishing the credibility and usefulness of market research. The concerns I address in this paper are:  the raised expectations of research users' the problems associated with forecasting future events accurately the role of the researcher - number cruncher or strategic guru? our dependence upon respondents and their reluctance to become engaged in the research process the appropriateness of certain techniques and research methods the development of a partnership between clients and agencies the importance of reporting the results. This paper is a mixture of my own views and those of buyers of financial market research in the UK. Their opinions were collected in two mini-group discussions which addressed the question "Is market research a waste of time" and some of their comments are quoted verbatim. The paper concludes that market research is in the greatest danger of being considered pointless where the expectations of research users are too high and the strategic input of researchers is too low.

David Buswell

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