Terminology relevant for this career area
IMPORTANT TERM
DEFINITION
Market Research
It is a systematic process of gathering, analyzing, and interpreting information about a market, including its target audience, customers, competitors, and industry trends.
Consumer Insights
It is the deep understanding and knowledge gained about consumers' behaviors, preferences, motivations, needs and attitudes through various research and analysis methods. These insights are derived from collecting and analyzing data, often obtained from sources like surveys, interviews, focus groups, observations and market research.
Quantitative Research
It is the research method that focuses on the systematic collection and analysis of numerical data to answer research questions and test hypotheses. It involves gathering data that can be quantified and measured, allowing researchers to draw statistical conclusions and make objective assessments.
Qualitative Research
It is a research method that focuses on exploring and understanding human behaviors, attitudes, perceptions, and experiences in-depth, often using non-numerical data. seeks to uncover insights through the collection and analysis of qualitative data, which can include text, audio, images, and observations. Qualitative research is commonly used in social sciences, psychology, anthropology and various other fields.
Customer Observation
It is a qualitative research method that involves systematically watching and recording how individuals or groups of individuals behave, interact, and engage with products, services, environments or situations in a natural or controlled setting.
Neuro-Marketing
It is a multidisciplinary field of study that combines principles from neuroscience, psychology, and marketing to understand and influence consumer behavior and decision-making processes. It involves the use of neuroscientific techniques and tools to investigate how the human brain responds to marketing stimuli, such as advertisements, products, packaging, pricing, and brand experiences.
Focus Group
It is a qualitative research method that involves a small, carefully selected group of participants who engage in a structured discussion led by a moderator. The purpose of a focus group is to gather in-depth insights and opinions about a specific topic, product, service or concept.
Structured Interviews
It is a type of research or job interview in which the interviewer asks a predetermined set of standardized questions to all participants or job candidates. This interview format is characterized by its systematic and consistent approach, with the goal of gathering specific, comparable information from each interviewee.
Survey Design
It is the process of planning, creating, and structuring a survey questionnaire to collect specific information or data from a target group of respondents.
Psychographics
It is a marketing and research concept that involves understanding and categorizing consumers based on their psychological and lifestyle characteristics, values, beliefs, interests, attitudes, and behaviors. Psychographics focuses into the more subjective aspects of consumer behavior and decision-making.
Demographics
It refers to statistical data and characteristics that describe a population or a specific group of people. It includes items like age, gender, race, ethnicity, income, education, nationality, religion, languages spoken, geographic location, etc.
Concept Testing
It is a research method used in product development and marketing to assess the viability and potential success of a new product, service, idea, or concept before it is fully developed or launched to the market.
Positioning Map
It is a visual tool used in marketing to represent and analyze how consumers perceive products, brands, or competitors within a particular market or industry.
Pre/Post Studies
These are research designs commonly used in various fields, including social sciences, healthcare, education, and program evaluation. These studies aim to assess the impact or effectiveness of an intervention, treatment, program, or policy by measuring outcomes both before and after the intervention is implemented. The key feature of pre/post studies is the collection of data at two different time points: before the intervention (pretest) and after the intervention (posttest).
UX/Usability Testing
UX (User Experience) and usability testing are research methods used in the field of user-centered design to assess and improve the usability, functionality, and overall user experience of a product, website, application, or system. These tests involve observing real users as they interact with the product to identify issues, gather feedback, and make informed design decisions.
Survey Bias
It is a systematic error or distortion in the results of a survey that occurs when the design, conduct, or analysis of the survey leads to inaccurate or unrepresentative responses from participants.
Panel
It is a group of individuals who have agreed to participate in ongoing research studies, surveys, or data collection activities over an extended period. These individuals, known as panelists, are selected to be part of the panel based on specific criteria that make them representative of the target population or a particular demographic, consumer or professional group.
Social Media Mining
It is the process of extracting valuable insights, patterns, trends, and information from the vast amount of data generated on social media platform.
Mystery Shopping
It is the research method and quality assurance technique used by businesses to evaluate and measure the quality of employee performance and overall customer experience. In mystery shopping, individuals known as mystery shoppers are hired or assigned to act as typical customers and visit or interact with a business, such as a retail store, restaurant, hotel, bank, or service provider, to assess various aspects of their experience.
A/B Testing
It is a controlled experiment method used in marketing, product development, and website optimization to compare two or more versions of a webpage, email, app, or other digital content. The primary goal of A/B testing is to determine which version (A or B) performs better in terms of a specific goal or outcome, such as click-through rates, conversion rates or revenue.
Control Group
It is a group of individuals or subjects who are not exposed to the experimental treatment, intervention, or new condition being tested. The purpose of the control group is to serve as a baseline or reference point for comparison with the experimental group, which does receive the treatment or intervention.
Longitudinal Research
It is a research design that involves the repeated observation or data collection from the same individuals or subjects over an extended period of time. The primary goal of longitudinal research is to study how various factors, variables, behaviors, or characteristics change, evolve, or remain stable over time.
Experience Sampling
It is a research method used to collect real-time, in-the-moment data about individuals' thoughts, feelings, behaviors, and experiences as they occur in their natural environments. This approach involves periodically prompting participants to provide self-reports or observations at specific moments throughout the day or over a defined period.