What's the Question?

'What's the Question?' offers a practical approach and powerful tools that will help you design a good market research study. When we say "good," we mean a study that produces results that can actually be used as a basis for making marketing decisions.

We will show you how a thorough problem analysis beforehand can make the difference between usable and useless research. We describe the search for the true market research problem: the right research questions. The search helps clients better understand what information they really need. We explain step-by-step how to arrive at the right research questions.

Then we explain how to choose the methods and techniques that will best serve your purposes to answer these research questions. The book provides a refreshing look at what can and cannot be researched, and which methods are the most appropriate. Misunderstandings are corrected, and myths are debunked. You'll end up with a realistic idea of what you can and cannot achieve with market research. “A problem well stated is a problem half-solved.” (Charles Kettering, 1876 – 1958, inventor of such things as the electric starter which is still in use today.)

In this book we present a practical approach to setting up market research, using models and tools that can be used in many types of situations. Do not expect a cookbook that will almost always lead to the optimal result if the right amounts of the right ingredients are combined in the right way. Setting up a market research study also requires a dose of creativity and analytic ability. Furthermore, there is more than one way to get the job done. Our approach will help you discover these ways and make a considered choice. “Don't just buy it, but study it thoroughly and then apply it to your own professional practice!" (Prof. Dr. Edward Groenland, Professor of Business Research Methodology, Nyenrode Business University) “This book is about the essence of market research and about how to tackle market research problems." (Wiebe de Ridder, Managing Consultant, USP Marketing Consultancy) For whom is this book?

In writing this book, our thinking focused largely on those who are asked to set up and carry out a market research project or have it carried out by others. The book is written from the perspective of the agency researcher who has to make a research proposal. It is, however, not really relevant whether it is written from the perspective of the client or of the research agency because the line of thinking is the same.

We assume that a research proposal must be composed. For clients who need to draw up a briefing and for those who help them, this book will provide concrete leads for ways in which the research problem can be structured and for what information is needed. Students who in doing an internship assignment or a graduation project must set up their own research study, often run into difficulties creating the design. Their coursework has dealt with operational elements such as making a questionnaire and selecting the sample, but the analysis of the problem was not dealt with in depth.

After some consideration, they come up with a long list of research questions that may be relevant to answer. But choosing the most relevant research questions and then choosing the best methodology to answer them is quite a challenge. Particularly for those students who are dealing with this for the first time, the structured approach we provide in this book will help create clarity about what they actually need to research before they start work on their project.