Secondary Marketing Research Certificate

The Secondary Marketing Research Certificate (SMRC) is a self-directed, self-paced guided exploration of core business resources. It is a collaboration between the UTSA Libraries and the Alvarez College of Business. SMRC is currently offered to UTSA students enrolled in selected MKT 3083 Marketing Research courses.

Purpose:

• Introduce you to research strategies, core resources, and search tools for common business and market research questions
• Help you better understand the advantages and limitations of secondary resources
• Sharpen your search skills

You will qualify for the Secondary Marketing Research Certificate if:

• You explore the SMRC resources. Browse each resource to familiarize yourself with the types of content, navigation, and available tools. Visit Methodology/About Data sections to understand how the data are collected in different resources. Find answers to Questions to Explore. Take as many notes as you like. You don't have to turn in your notes.
• Successfully pass a quiz in the course Canvas (80 % or above, the best result from two attempts, 20 randomized questions from a question bank).
• Answer a feedback survey in Canvas.

Topics include:

• Researching companies and industry 
• Overview of market research databases
• Consumer demographics and psychographics 
• Overview of Census.gov 
• Advanced Google searching and alternative search engines

You will need to explore the resources in this guide on your own. Use the prompts on each page and find answers to the questions. You may take as many notes as you wish. This will prepare you for the quiz.

Time to complete:

4-6 hours.

Your digital certificate will be emailed to you after the final exam.

You may find valuable free content on the web, but not all information is free. The Libraries provide access to a huge collection of online content including sources for secondary market research. To understand how to access that content, we make a distinction between library databases and free websites.

LIBRARY DATABASE

• An organized collection of searchable online premium content and usually not found for free on the web.
• Databases are licensed by the library for a subscription or purchase fee. Access is limited to current UTSA users with abc123. Many databases are also available to guest users who are using guest computers in the library.
• Commercial versions of these databases may be used by businesses, so you are building research skills for the future work place.
• Databases may include articles from scholarly journals, trade publications, magazines, newspapers such as the Wall Street Journal; e-books; financial information; statistics; industry, company, market, and analyst reports; streaming media, and more.
• Library Quick Search is a great discovery tool for traditional literature-type content such as e-books, journals, and streaming media, but it does not cover financial data, analyst reports, and statistics. For business content, in many cases you need to use specific business databases.  Learn about the scope and functionality of different business databases to become an expert user.
• Databases must be accessed through the library database page or research guides:

WEBSITE 

• Found on the web using a search engine or by accessing a URL; may be free or fee-based. For our purposes, we include social media content in this category.
• You may find relevant content such as market research reports, with subscription or purchase options. Some of them may be also available through the Libraries. Check our database subscriptions, or use chat below if you need help.  The Libraries will not be able to purchase or borrow reports on demand due to costs, licensing terms, and other factors.
• Information on the relevant websites may be provided/authored by:
  • Government agencies at the federal, state and municipal level
  • International governmental and non-governmental organizations (U.N., Eurostat, OECD, World Bank, IMF, etc.)
  • Research institutions
  • Think tanks
  • Industry groups and trade associations (some free content)
  • Commercial entities such as market research or consulting firms (some free content), or
  • Individuals via blogs or social networks