Estimate resources and timelines required for market research projects
Resources required for the effective delivery of your research project will generally fall into one of
four categories:
Financial – money available to a business for spending on the project
Human – the resource that resides in the knowledge, skills, and motivation of people,
usually within the organisation but increasingly is becoming an outsourced commodity
Time – both the timeframe that the project must be completed by, and amount of time
that can be committed to it – man-hours
Technology – software packages or hardware products that can assist in the collection,
storage, analysis or dissemination of the research
Having a clear understanding of what resources you have, and what resources you need is critical
to ensure that the research objectives are achieved. You cannot determine the feasibility of your
research project without considering these factors.
How Much Time Does A Market Research Project Take?22
So, to be honest- it really depends. But I know that’s not an answer to a very pragmatic
question, so let me give more details here, bearing in mind that it really does depend on your
specific project.
22 Source: Dimensional Research, as at http://dimensionalresearch.com/blog/2009/06/22/howmuch-
time-does-a-market-research-project-take/, as on 5th September, 2017.
Here are suggested minimum schedules assuming stakeholders respond in a timely
manner. However, these timelines are never compressed – only made longer when you hit
unexpected roadbumps.
A typical market research project takes six-seven weeks. This is pretty standard for a small
project, say 10-30 in-depth interviews or 4-8 focus groups. Larger projects take longer, of
course. And we’ll talk about Web surveys later.
Here’s a pretty typical schedule for a single stage project with one series of focus groups or indepth
interviews – excluding unforeseen “bumps” or unique requirements:
Week 1: Project go-ahead. Write and approve recruiting guide. Identify source for recruiting
participants – internal or external.
Week 2-3: Recruit participants. Write and approve interview guide or moderator’s guide.
Week 4-5: Conduct research. This may take less than two weeks, depending on your goals.
Four focus groups all in the US can be done in just one week if everyone is available.
Week 6-7: Write and present market research report.
WARNING: The biggest schedule slippage that happens, aside from getting all the approvals in
place for the project go-ahead of course, is with identifying internal participant contacts. Using
in-house lists or asking account managers to give us their contacts for recruiting may be time
consuming and the schedule should be adjusted as needed.
Web surveys are usually faster. A typical schedule for a straightforward web survey project is
four weeks. For example a survey with only a few demographic cuts (role and geography), 20
questions or less, 1 matrix question and no open-ended questions could have a schedule that
looks like this:
Week 1: Project go-ahead. Determine goals. Identify lists for participation.
Week 2: Write and approve questions. Upload them to survey tool. QA. Run test survey.
Week 3: Adjust survey as needed based on test. Field survey.
Week 4: Close survey. Do analysis including filtering and correlating findings. Write market
research report.
If the survey is being conducted as a collateral piece to support outbound marketing efforts
such
Marketing Research Budget23
Whether you’re launching a small start-up company or beginning a new multi-million dollar
project, you must determine a budget for the required market research. However, there are so
many crucial factors to consider if you want to set an appropriate budget that will meet your needs
without over spending. So, after consulting with MarketResearch.com Research Specialist Robert
Kaminsky, here are four tips that will help you allocate the best percentage of your budget for your
market research efforts.
- Consider your overall budget to determine the right market research allocation.
Before you can set a market research budget, it is important to nail down a firm overall project
budget. Once this is set, you should allocate an appropriate percentage of that budget to market
research. The next three factors discussed will help you determine what that percentage will be,
but, keep in mind, the decided percentage should be a reasonable portion of the overall budget.
This can go both ways. For example, if your overall project budget is $250,000, do not expect to
get the answers you need out of a single $5,000 report; on the other hand, you don’t necessarily
need to fork out $100K either. - Research what is available before making any final decisions.
One size doesn’t always fit all. However, if you’re one of the one sizes that does fit, than you are
definitely in luck! There are massive amounts of syndicated research out there on all kinds of
topics, from general market overviews to some of the most detailed analyses. One of the best
things you can do to help set a realistic budget (and to keep within that budget) is to research
inventory of already published information before you consider commissioning someone to create
custom research. Much of the time, you will be able to answer many, or all, of your questions with
a syndicated report and, in turn, save a large portion of your budget in the long run, as published
information is often up to 1/10th the cost of a custom project. - If you must go custom, prepare your budget accordingly.
So, what do you do if syndicated reports don’t answer all of your questions? This is extremely
important to consider when determining your budget. If you need to commission custom research,
you will need to be prepared to adjust your budget accordingly (and your time line as well), as
custom projects can cost anywhere from $5,000-$50,000, and are completed after you request it,
making the process much more time consuming.
While the expenditures are greater, the benefits can be more substantial as well. Custom reports
are designed to provide the specific answers to your questions, so the intelligence you receive is as
extensive and detailed as you need. However, out of respect for your budget, consider this
23 Source: Market Research, as at http://blog.marketresearch.com/4-tips-for-determining-yourmarket-
research-budget, as on 5th September, 2017.
solution as a last resort, otherwise, you will be looking at an average budget of $30,000-$50,000
and at least a two-month time line from the initial project layout. - Understand what costs to expect and what information that gets you.
Market research is a big investment, both in terms of time and money. It’s not something you want
to dive into blindly. That’s why it is so important to educate yourself on realistic expectations for
what a report in your price range can give you. This knowledge will help you land the right market
research report for your needs and budget. Below is a detailed guide to the expected cost vs.
information gained in a published report:
Top-Level Reports:
o Average cost: $100 – $1,000
o Reports typically included in this price range tend to cover very basic information
about an industry. They will answer questions like how large is the industry and
who are the top players, and provide some basic insights into the fundamentals of
why the industry is what it is today.
Full-Market Reports:
o Average cost: $1,500 – $8,000 (most commonly $3,500 – $4,000)
o Reports are most commonly purchased by those who need to fully familiarize
themselves with an industry. They include a full explanation of the market and its
subcategories as well as metrics covering the market’s current state and future
projections for market development. These reports will also have current trends
and technologies, and they often have explanations of why a market will move in
one way or another over the course of several years.
Product Detail Market Reports:
o Average cost: $15,000 – $35,000
o Reports cover not only the performance of the market and its subcategories as a
whole, but they also cover the specific market values and trends of specific
products/services in the industry within specific regions or countries. For example, if
you are a pharmaceutical manufacturer and want to know how the different drug
offerings for one specific ailment are selling within each country, a Product Detail
Market Report is the best option.
Activity 8
Make a list of all the possible required resources you would require to undertake market
research.
Activity 8
Determine feasibility of market research projects
How easy will it be to implement the recommendations?
How credible are the methodology?
How useful is the research going to be?
Can other results be obtained another way?
A feasibility analysis evaluates research project’s potential for success. The following factors are
often assessed:
Technology and system feasibility
This assessment is based on an understanding of technology and system requirements, to
determine whether the business has the expertise to complete the research project. It’s important
to consider any other factors that may impact the business’s ability to complete the research
project. Particular attention should be paid to the human factor and its relationship to technology
and systems. At this point, the interest is whether the research project is both technically and
legally feasible (assuming moderate cost).
Legal feasibility
Legal feasibility determines whether the proposed research project conflicts with any legal
requirement. An assessment against the legal and ethical requirements is conducted at this point
to eliminate anything undesirable.
Operational feasibility
Operational feasibility is a measure of how well a proposed research project solves the problems,
and takes advantage of the opportunities identified during scope definition. It should consider
equally the human resources, time and work involved to ensure it is operationally practicable to
conduct the research project or to outsource it to reduce operational interruption.
Schedule feasibility
Any project will fail if it takes too long to be completed. This means that it is important to
determine whether the proposed project can be completed within a given time period. Schedule
feasibility is a measure of how reasonable the project timetable is. Given our expertise and
workload, are the project deadlines reasonable?
Prepare market research plan for approval
The final stage in the marketing research process is to report the findings. For marketers doing
small-scale research for their own purposes, communication may be quite informal. The marketer
may simply draw conclusions from what he or she gleans from the data analysis.
For more serious marketing research projects, those conducting the research will prepare a written
report outlining what was researched and offer results. Additionally, an oral presentation may be
required in which the research is explained within a slide presentation.
Considerations for the market research plan can include:
Research approaches (observational, survey, experimental)
Contact methods (mail, telephone, personal interview, online)
Sampling plans (who, how many, how chosen)
Research instruments (questionnaire, mechanical devices).
The research plan/proposal should cover
Current situation appraisal and description of need
Research objectives o Clearly identify the purpose of your research
• What are you trying to learn from the research?
• Does this meet the organisation’s goals?
Research methods and strategies
• How are you going to research this?
• Will you use personal interviews, questionnaires, focus groups, information from
other organisations or online research?
The information to be obtained
The sources of secondary information
• The methods for collecting primary data
• Identification of legal and ethical considerations
• Privacy, discrimination and potential WHS implications
Methods of analysis o How you are going to analyse your data?
• What variables will you use to analyse your data?
• List the technology you will use such as Excel spread sheet
The way the results will be used to help decision- making
The key milestones that will be met in the research process
The proposed costs of the research.
Thorough research requires you to think critically about the information you collect, evaluate its
worth and determine how to present it to others.
Market research as a project
To effectively deliver the outcomes of the research on time and to budget, it’s important to treat it
as a project. As market research is often a small scale endeavour for non-marketing managers,
below are the key project management principles you must include in your market research
planning:
Consultation and stakeholder involvement
Resources and development of time lines, budgets and other implementation plans
Gaining of approvals
Needs analyses
Scoping practices
Marketing research seeks to identify the variables that affect your product or service — such as
buyer attitude, habits, market need, competition, sticker price and promotional requirements24.
Before actual market research can begin, however, you must write a detailed proposal, or
“map,” which outlines the objectives and goals of your research. The data gleaned from this
proposal are vital to answering the questions that your lender, partners, collaborators or other
employees need concerning your marketing research.
24 Source: AZ Central, as at http://yourbusiness.azcentral.com/write-marketing-research-proposal-
12852.html, as on 5th August, 2017.
Title your project. Identify the subject of your research to your audience. Craft an explanatory
abstract that is approximately one paragraph in length. This will serve as an introduction to your
reader.
Write down your product’s or service’s problems or needs. Define the purpose for your
research. For example, if your sporting goods store is located in a neighbourhood with an aging
or sedentary demographic, you might be losing market share or revenue. The purpose of your
research might be to determine if you should relocate your business to cater to a younger or
more athletic community.
State the objective of your research and what is currently known about the problem. For
instance, if your revenue is dropping, you might want to analyse consumer need or identify
attitudes surrounding your sporting goods store. The purpose of your research might be to
determine if relocating your business to a more upscale, younger, or more athletic community
will result in increased revenue.
Indicate which research methods will be used and how the data will be collected. Include the
type of information you will provide to peers, and in which format. State if you will use focus
groups with audio or video recording. Indicate if you will mail out questionnaires or use the
Internet or phone surveys. Detail when, where and who should be at regularly scheduled
meetings at which you report the progress of your research.
Break down costs for your marketing research wherever possible. Add costs for personnel time
or focus-group facility fees. Include costs of mailing for data collection, or the costs of
producing reports.
Jot down the time frame for your research project so that your deadlines are respected by all
involved. Include time lines needed to write questions, test the viability of the questionnaire or
conduct surveys.
Write down a list of the documentation that will be presented to your peers or reviewers at the
end of the project. List any software packages, printers or copier facilities that you will use to
prepare the final report. Include the date when the findings will be presented for final review.
Proofread and edit for content, structure and legibility.
Obtain approval to implement plan from appropriate personnel as required
Gaining approval
There is little point in undertaking a project without having approvals in place. In a large
organisation there may be a lengthy approval process for any expenditure of this nature. In smaller
organisations it may be more informal. Either way, the authority to go ahead must be secured in
order to protect the interests of the business and to allow for adequate planning and budgeting
for the organisation. Here is an example of a simple approval process that may be used in smaller
organisations:
Consultation
Consultation with stakeholders is important at every stage of your research project.
As discussed earlier, stakeholders can make significant contributions when formulating research
objectives, project scope and identifying sources of valid and reliable data relevant to your project.
Plan your consultation and engagement strategy early on. This is important to make sure they are
not forgotten.
Marketing research report
The format of the marketing research report varies with the needs of the organisation. The report
often contains the following sections:
Authorisation letter for the research
Table of contents
List of illustrations
Executive summary
Research objectives
Methodology
Results
Limitations
Conclusions and recommendations
Appendices containing copies of the questionnaires, etc.
The post Estimate resources and timelines for market research appeared first on My Assignment Online.
