Abstract:

ESOMAR has sought ways to help standardise some of the procedures used in market research surveys. This does not in any way imply that we are seeking to treat Europe or any other part of the world as single homogeneous markets. On the contrary, our aim is to look for ways in which the tools we use in research can be made more comparable from one country to another so that the true diversity of the marketplace can be more readily identified. This chapter reports work carried out over a number of years. It represents an attempt to develop a common system for assessing the social and economic standing of the populations in the various countries of Europe. The system is designed for Europe, but we believe that it may also have applications in other parts of the world, either as it stands or in a modified form.