Abstract:

To most people "market research" means the concept of questioning by which a picture of the market is built up by representative methods. Even though by far the greatest number of surveys are carried out by means of questionnaires, this is not the only method of good market research. Thus observation, as against questioning, ekes out a miserable existence. The text books only mention it in passing - if at all. Our aim is therefore to highlight observation as a method of research, to distinguish it from other methods of data collection in the field and to indicate the practical experiments which some market research or similar institutes have carried out on the subject.