Developing Your Research Skills Further

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From the course by University of California, Davis

Research Proposal: Initiating Research

125 ratings

University of California, Davis

Research Proposal: Initiating Research

125 ratings

Course 1 of 4 in the Specialization Market Research

Market Research is a growing and important field that is used in many industries around the world. Given all the data that is collected whether by organizations, industries, social media, governments, etc., it’s important that someone can review and sift through all the noise to provide valuable insights. And that’s where you come in as a market researcher. This course will only scratch the surface and provide you a foundational understanding of this field. In this course, you will be able to define market research and identify some tools used in the industry. You will be able to discuss the importance of secondary and internal research in terms of the planning process. You will be able to define what primary research is and identify the various ways to conduct primary research. You will be able to focus on an actual research plan or proposal for your peer review project. You will be able to compose a response to a request for a proposal or research plan and be able to address the various components of the proposal and package it in a professional manner.

From the lesson

Secondary and Internal Research

In this module, you will be able to recognize the importance of secondary and internal research in the planning process. You will be able to assess the value and credibility of the secondary and internal data you have at your disposal. You will also be able to identify a starting point should a new client approach you. You will recognize the pros and cons of each method of research. And you will be able to budget appropriately and decide what type of market researcher you need or want to be for a given project.

Introduction to Secondary and Internal Research1:07

The Importance of Secondary and Internal Research6:20

Secondary and Internal Research in the Planning Process6:34

Starting Cold with Secondary and Internal Research6:58

Pros and Cons of Secondary and Internal Research5:14

Three Levels of a Professional Market Researcher6:45

Budget Considerations While Initiating Market Research5:18

Developing Your Research Skills Further2:54

Meet the Instructors

Jim Fong
Director, UPCEA Center for Research and Marketing Strategy
UC Davis Division of Continuing and Professional Education

Welcome back. Now that you've collected and studied your secondary and internal research,

it's time to incorporate it into the plan.

This initial research will make you more

informed and help you better understand the landscape.

It will enable you to recommend additional research if

necessary and shape a proper proposal.

In the next module,

we will discuss whether primary research is needed to shape your proposal response,

given the constraints and what you've learned through your desk research.

In developing your proposal,

perhaps you see the value of going beyond level

one and just living with the client requests.

Maybe you see the value and importance of internal and secondary research,

but may need to develop those skills to take your performance to the next level.

In this lesson, I'll recommend how you can improve or

develop the research skills necessary to excel in this profession.

At the end of this lesson you'll be able to use these resources to help you further

develop your research skills and achieve higher levels for a career in market research.

Let's dive in.

There are many great tutorials online about

doing competitive research and secondary research.

There's a lot of vendors that provide great tutorials and workshops and webinars.

I know that UC Davis Extension uses Burning Glass for example,

and Burning Glass provides a lot of support.

My team uses a program called Chmura.

We have people participate in Schumer webinars.

Chmura is spelled C-h-u-m-r-a.

There are other packages like EMSI,

otherwise known as Economic Modeling Specialists, Incorporated.

Those are all market research database sources.

All three groups provide different types of secondary research data.

Burning Glass focuses more on labor and job analysis.

Chmura and EMSI focus more on labor statistics and forecasts.

These I've named are all paid data sources.

Therefore they provide a lot of support.

There are other secondary research sources.

There are also different ways to do secondary research as well.

There is the effective gathering of information online using basic search engines.

You can find a lot of good resources on YouTube about how

to do competitive analysis or how to gather information,

how to summarize information,

how to summarize secondary information and so on.

In terms of other secondary research sources,

there are many great websites.

I have listed some of those in your Resources.

Start with that list and apply yourself to learning what you need to know,

how to strengthen and develop your skills where you have weak spots.

I outlined many in that document,

but I will mention a few here,

such as emarketer.com, that provides a wealth of

information around digital media and digital trends.

There's a whole library of research under marketresearch.com.

You could buy research sources there and you can look at the table

of contents in the first few pages and summaries and things like that.

Businessintelligence.com offers a series of webinars to get to know their data.

So there's a lot you can do to develop

your skills that increase knowledge of market research.

There are also more formal learning situations such as internships and finding a mentor.

Given the wealth of opportunities to develop your market research skills further,

your prospects are bright should you want to advance in this profession.

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