Abstract:

This paper presents data from two surveys conducted in the Spring and the Autumn of 1972 plus three case histories. The Spring Survey studies the role of sampling in industrial market research in the U.K. as employed by the manufacturing and service industries themselves. The Autumn survey supplemented- the Spring survey and confined itself to re-contacting some of the earlier respondents to assess the size of their industrial market research budgets, the use of their industrial market research budgets, the use of market research companies and consultants and the sampling frames known to have been' used by the market research companies and consultants on behalf of the market researchers in industry. The paper finishes with three case histories. The first case history deals with a study of the micrographics market using a sample of industrial and commercial establishments drawn from local taxation lists. The second case history concerns itself with a sample of small businesses-drawn-from the Yellow Pages unduplicated lists. And the third, and final, case history covers minority sampling in agriculture employing the mailing list of a farming journal.