How do ideas for market research arise? First of all, someone has to know something about the capabilities of market research before they can think of it as a possible solution. Most people know something about market research in a general sense. They know it can be used to find out how many people do something or think something. But do they fully appreciate that it can be used to work out how much people are prepared to pay for each feature of a product? Do they know that you can work out the importance of issues that influence customer satisfaction without asking the customer how important each issue is? If you don’t know what something can do, it is fully understandable that it may not come to mind.

1. A Problem Defined Is A Problem
Half Solved
A White Paper By B2B International Market Research
By Paul Hague, Nick Hague and Carol-Ann Morgan

2. How Ideas For Market Research Arise
The idea of market research arises within the mind of a
manager, who has developed an idea or has come across a
problem that needs a solution. Purely based on his or her
judgement, it may (or may not) be determined that this “new
idea or problem” is a candidate for market research.
Once the idea is formed, it may undergo a period of gestation,
as shown in Figure 1 below. During this period, the idea or
problem is further developed and may even be bounced
around through the other professionals, who help scope and
define the research.
We believe that in order for someone to think of market
research as a solution, first he or she must have some prior
understanding about the capabilities of market research;
without this knowledge it is not fully understandable what can
be done through research and therefore it is less likely to
come to mind as a solution.
It may be weeks or even months before the idea or problem is
presented to a market research agency. Often, by the time the
idea reaches the agency, there is greater urgency to find out
the information, pressing agencies to work quickly. As a
result, time may impact the research solution simply because
there is less time, limiting what can be done in a given period.
Nonetheless, we suggest that the person who generates this
idea for research is a manager; as managers are often
responsible for making decisions and market research is
designed to reduce risk in decision making.
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Figure 1: The Gestation Period For A Market Research Idea

3. The Market Research Brief – A Statement
Of The Problem
As a general rule, a market research study is
only as good as the brief.
When developing a brief, the sponsor should include answers to the
following questions in order to scope the issues effectively for the
researcher:
The brief is an oral or written statement from the research
sponsor, which provides detail on the objectives and
background of the research, enabling the researcher to design
an appropriate program for the study.
No matter whether the research is carried out by a vendor or
in-house, the brief is very important as it influences the
methodology the researcher will choose for the study. The
more thorough the brief the better, particularly for an outside
vendor, who in comparison to an in-house researcher has less
access to resources within the sponsor’s organization.
The research brief should be a dialogue and even the most thorough
brief covering all the issues we have listed will generate some
additional questions from the researchers.
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4. The Market Research Proposal – The
Return Of The Brief
The researcher, after receiving the brief, will write a proposal
to the sponsor which will indicate an understanding of the
requirements, the objectives, research method, timing, and
pricing of the research. The proposal acts as a contract,
considering that the research program will be of significant
financial value.
Armed with the brief, the researcher now knows what the
client is looking for and must balance four factors in arriving at
an appropriate design.
At this proposal stage, a questionnaire has not been designed
yet, and so not every aspect of the research study will be
determined during the submission of the proposal. Although
the proposal acts as a contract, there must be flexibility on
some aspects of the research; as the research progresses
and information is revealed, it may be necessary to change
the objectives. It is likely that the methodology will remain the
same, as this aspect of the study is the determinant of price.
The research brief should be a dialogue and even the most
thorough brief covering all the issues we have listed will
generate some additional questions from the researchers.
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5. The Market Research Proposal –
Information & Accuracy
Information: Within the proposal, the researcher must
clearly provide some order to the decision outcomes, research
objectives, and specific questions that may be asked to
participants.
Accuracy: How accurate does it need to be?
Of course, most research sponsors would answer “very
accurate”, or as “accurate as possible”, but the greater the
accuracy the greater the cost (typically the cost is significantly
greater). However, a research program does not always
require a high level of accuracy to meet the objectives.
Such as in the examples below, accuracy becomes more
important based on the data being measured:
Additionally, the researcher must describe what information
will be included in the project and what will be left out; this will
indicate the objectives the researcher expects to reach in the
study. As the researcher is considering these objectives, this
will impact on the considerations he or she may have when
deciding on the choice of method.
At this stage, it is best for the research sponsor to consider
the outcomes, objectives, and questions, and which
methodology would work best according to these levels of the
study.
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Therefore, the required accuracy must be linked to how the
resulting data will be used – the nature of the decisions which
the research will guide.

6. The Market Research Proposal – Budget &
Timetable
Budget: What budget should be made available for the
Timetable: Two factors determine the research timetable:
research project?
•
The researcher, driven by methodology, would argue
whatever budget is required to meet the research objectives,
get the desired information, and finance the method needed to
produce data at a defined accuracy level.
In reality, there are other factors of consideration, such as the
availability of funds and the affordability of the research.
However, if the decision includes capital expenditure, for
example $30 million, then a research budget of $60,000 was
spent in comparison to $30 million. Likewise, if the investment
has low cost implications there is less reason for investing in
research.
Another justification includes the series of future decisions the
research will contribute to, so considering the long-term payback should determine the budget.
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Deadline – This is driven by external factors, including
the sponsor’s requirements and time frames.
•
Length of time required to carry out research activities –
This is determined by resources, and experience with the
methods in use in order to provide realistic estimates on
how long each stage of the research program will take.
An example of a typical research timetable is shown below:

7. What To Expect In A Proposal
•
The proposal must bring clarity, add to the understanding and make an authoritative claim for the recommended research
method.
•
The quality of the proposal will impact whether an agency wins the project; grammatical and spelling errors may reflect
negatively on to the agency’s working standards and cause the sponsor to disregard the proposal.
A proposal on average is 10 pages in length and typically includes…
•
In this section, the researcher provides an introduction to the research subject, background leading up
to the research, and an understanding of the sponsor’s objectives.
•
In this section, the researcher will provide an overall statement about the objective of the research,
followed by a more detailed outline of the many research objectives the study constitutes.
•
This is the most important section of the proposal; if the researcher approaches the methodology in the
wrong way, the objectives of the research may not be reached.
Method
•
The researcher will provide an overview of the research approach, including types of method (e.g.
qualitative vs. quantitative), types of interviews (e.g. telephone vs. online), quotas for certain groups of
respondents (e.g. country, company size, etc.)
Timing & Costs
•
Here the researcher lays out the timetable for the research and the costing
An Introduction
Objectives
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8. Key Takeaways
When developing a brief, the sponsor should include answers
to the following questions in order to scope the issues
effectively for the researcher:
The researcher must prepare a proposal that takes into
account four important factors: the information required; the
accuracy of the information required; budget; and the research
timetable. Keeping these four factors in mind, a proposal is
written that covers:
•
An understanding of the problem
•
Objectives (overall and in more detail)
•
The method to produce to the desired objectives
•
The timetable
•
The researcher’s credentials
•
The cost of the research
Quality of the proposal matters, and may impact the agency’s
ability to win the project.
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9. Thank you for reading our White Paper on Scoping Market Research Projects.
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