About this course
What you’ll learn
After completing this course you should be able to:
- Describe how the role and function of market research relate to the role and function of marketing organizations as a whole.
- Name the different types of business decisions in which market research is used by companies to develop strategy and tactics.
- Describe the relationship between strategic decision makers and market research.
- List the six steps in the market research process.
- Discuss the basic marketing information needs and research methods used to address these needs, including ways to collect and analyze relevant information needed in consumer, business, government, healthcare, and institutional markets.
- Acquire an appreciation of the complexities of international market research, including the ways in which research methods and interpretation can differ in global versus local market settings.
- Illustrate how market research can identify the strongest positioning and messaging that organizations can use in communicating with consumers and other audiences.
- Review the basic issues in product (and services) management, planning and development as related to the product life cycle, brand strategy, product research, and decision making.
- Identify the different types of companies that comprise the market research industry by the services they offer.
- Describe the recent evolution of market research to take advantage of emerging data sources (such as online data collection and large datasets) and analysis methods (such as text analysis, data mining, and modeling).
- Describe the ethical considerations that guide market research activity–including data collection and reporting–to clients, participants, and the public.
Who should attend?
- Market researchers in client-facing roles looking to advance their careers.
- Client-side researchers responsible for synthesizing and disseminating research results within their companies.
- Mid-level staff seeking to expand their skillset.
- Experienced researchers looking to catch up with the latest developments in communicating market research findings.
- Corporations seeking professional development options for their internal training portfolio.
- Supplier-side researchers seeking courses for new-employee onboarding.
- Mid-level professionals wanting to expand their skillsets beyond population sampling, data collection, and analysis of data subsets.
- People just entering the research field who want to understand the full process of market research from beginning to end.
Continuing Education Information
Students successfully completing graded components earn a Digital Badge (Opens in a new window) and 1.4 University of Georgia Continuing Education Unit (Opens in a new window) (CEU) from The University of Georgia.
As a graduate of the course you will be recognized by industry associations, employers, peer groups and other professionals as understanding how to translate your research findings into reports and presentations that grab your audience’s attention, address the business decision your client needs to make, and offer sound and useful recommendations. This recognition will help you advance in your company and the industry.
CAIP Canada (Opens in a new window) also recommends the course for candidates looking to fill in the gaps or gain a refresher in specific areas.
Requirements & policies
Accommodations
The University of Georgia Center for Continuing Education is committed to providing equal access to continuing education programs for students living with permanent or temporary disabilities. Learn more about the program accommodations (Opens in a new window).
Schedule
Enroll at any time and complete the course’s required graded components within 30 days.
Fees & funding information
$359 – Standard Fee
$329 – Association Discount (Members* of: Insights Association; ESOMAR; Canadian Research Insights Council, The Research Society, Intellus Worldwide, QRCA, AMAI, WAPOR-Latinoamérica, MRII Board of Directors, UGA MMR Advisory Board.)
$50 – One-Month Extension (only one extension is granted per participant)
*Membership will be verified.
Prepayment is required to be registered. The prices listed are per person (US Funds). Prices are subject to change.
Technology
Take advantage of the different features (PDF files, URLs/links to external websites, animated exercises, audio and video clips) you should use a browser such as Chrome (Opens in a new window), Firefox (Opens in a new window), Microsoft Edge (Opens in a new window), or Safari (Opens in a new window) and a fast internet connection provide the best experience. The online platform supports many popular web browser versions. To find out if your computer’s current software configuration is compatible, see System & Software Requirements (Opens in a new window).
Prerequisites
There are no prerequisites for enrolling in Introduction to Market Research and the Research Process.
Textbooks
Suggested (not required)
Malhotra, Naresh K., Essentials of Marketing Research: A Hands-On Orientation, Pearson Education: Upper Saddle River, NJ. ISBN-13: 978-0-13-340182-0 (digital subscription edition)
Included in the online course are suggested reading assignments from the above textbook. These readings are not required content and will not be part of the testing for the course. The textbook suggestions are simply intended to add additional depth to your understanding of the topic.
Details are subject to change.
People & organizations
Instructor
C. Frederic (Fred) John – Founder and Principal, Consilience Research & Consulting, LLC
Fred stumbled into the market research profession nearly 40 years ago and never found the exit. He worked for many years on the research company side, including as a Partner at Yankelovich Partners, where he managed the global network and ran a custom research group. In 2001 he crossed to the client side when he joined the global research team at MasterCard Worldwide. He set up his consultancy in 2012. Throughout his career he has specialized in B2B, corporate reputation, and financial services. Fred has been an active member of ESOMAR, serving on the Council for four years, two as Vice-President. Fred has just published “Storytelling and Market Research: A Practical User Guide (Opens in a new window)” to address what he feels is the most neglected aspects of market research: the deliverable. Many research reports and presentations fail to meet client expectations and tend to be deadly dull. The solutions proposed include identifying and showcasing the essential learning of a study and crafting a narrative using storytelling techniques. The book provides concrete ways to achieve these goals and a detailed analysis of why stories can have such a powerful impact. He is a frequent contributor to professional publications, speaker at conferences and offers training workshops on professional skills such as insights identification and the use of storytelling techniques. His latest articles are “A New Typology of Market Research” and “10 Heresies in Market Research,” both appearing in Quirks Magazine.
Supporting associations
Founding Organizations
Proud Corporate Sponsors of MRII
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