The Five Basic Methods of Market Research

There are many ways to perform market research, most businesses use one or more of five basic methods: surveys, focus groups, personal interviews, observation, and field trials.

Survey:
A survey consist of straightforward questionnaires, you can analyze a sample group that represents your target market. It is most commonly used method. It helps the company a lot in getting relevant information from its target market. It do also help in determining the taste, choice and preference of the target market.

Focus Group:
In focus groups, a moderator uses a scripted series of questions or topics to lead a discussion among a group of people. These sessions take place at neutral locations, usually at facilities with videotaping equipment and an observation room with one-way mirrors. A focus group usually lasts one to two hours, and it takes at least three groups to get balanced results.

Personal Interview:
Like focus groups, personal interviews include unstructured, open-ended questions. They usually last for about an hour and are typically recorded. Focus groups and personal interviews provide more subjective data than surveys. The results are not statistically reliable, which means that they usually don't represent a large enough segment of the population. Nevertheless, focus groups and interviews yield valuable insights into customer attitudes and are excellent ways to uncover issues related to new products or service development.

Observation:
Individual responses to surveys and focus groups are sometimes at odds with people's actual behavior. When you observe consumers in action by videotaping them in stores, at work, or at home, you can observe how they buy or use a product. This gives you a more accurate picture of customers' usage habits and shopping patterns. It is though time consuming, but if gives you a natural analysis of your costumers.

Field traits:
Placing a new product in selected stores to test customer response under real-life selling conditions can help you make product modifications, adjust prices, or improve packaging. Small business owners should try to establish rapport with local store owners and Web sites that can help them test their products.