Marketing Research

Abstract

Marketing research is the planned, systematic collection, collation and analysis of data designed to help the management of an organisation to reach decisions about its operation and to monitor the results of these decisions. Although the terms ‘marketing research’ and ‘market research’ are often used synonymously, market research is in fact concerned with the measurement and analysis of markets rather than the marketing process in these markets. The Market Research Society suggests that ‘market(ing) research provides information on people’s preferences, attitudes, likes and needs to help companies understand what consumers want’.