Secondary Marketing Research Certificate

The Secondary Marketing Research Certificate program is a collaboration between the UTSA Libraries and the College of Business.  It is currently offered to 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 these resources and answer questions. You don't have to turn in your notes.
• Successfully pass a quiz in the course Blackboard (80 % or above, two attempts, may use any support materials).
• Answer a survey in Blackboard.

Topics include industry, company and market research, and consumer demographic and psychographic information.

Example: research on food trucks in San Antonio

You will need to explore the resources on your own to find answers to the questions.

DUE DATE for the quiz and survey: November 30th, 2021, Tuesday, 11:59 pm.

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

Secondary research is an exploration of resources that have been created in a course of research previously conducted for other purposes. 

PROs:

• May lead to savings in cost and time
• May provide enough information to resolve your problem
• Source of new ideas
• May be used for benchmarking
• Helps define the problem and formulate hypotheses for primary research

CONs:

• Was created for other purposes and not always meets your needs
• May be out of date
• May be too expensive

Producers of Secondary Research

• Government (federal, state, local)
• Trade associations
• Organizations (chambers of commerce, unions, non-profits, etc.)
• Market research companies
• Research institutions and universities
• News organizations
• Publishers
• Industry experts ( via interviews)

Focus on Published External Data

Lots of business data are collected internally and considered confidential or proprietary.  These types of data are not available outside organizations. Examples include:

• Salesforce records
• Transactions
• Customer records
• Inventory records
• Cost of transportation
• Website visitor records
• Trade secrets
• Financials for private companies

Some data may be available for purchase, for example, Facebook or Google collect and sell customer online behavior data.

Formats:

• Datasets
• Statistics
• Scholarly articles
• Trade articles
• Magazines
• Newspapers
• Web sources  (government, NGOs, intergovernmental organizations, industry groups, research institutions, think tanks, news, expert blogs, social media, etc.)
• Proprietary reports (industry, company, market, analyst, etc.), and more

Access

• Free / open source
• Proprietary / licensed / fee-based

A quick and critical evaluation of your sources is an important research skill.  This easy-to-remember framework may help:  

What

• What is the purpose of your research project?  What is the expected output, for example, a presentation, report, analysis, research paper, etc.? 
• Are you expected to use any specific sources?
• What sources may have relevant information?
• Is the information you are finding relevant to your topic and research goals?
• How deeply do you need to dig in? How much time do you have and what is the deadline?

How

• Are the sources credible?
• Are the methods of collecting data and analysis disclosed?
• Is the methodology sound?

Who

• 'Who cares' enough to collect particular data or information? This question helps identify relevant sources.
• Is the author qualified to write on a topic?
• What are his/her credentials and qualifications?
• What are author's affiliations and how these affiliations influence their work and analysis?

When

• Do you need current or historical data?
• When was the information created/updated?  Is it out of date?
• Have any major events happened since the information was published? What is the effect of those events?

Why

• Why was the information created?
• Is there a discernible conflict of interest?
• It the topic presented from alternative viewpoints?
• Is the language neutral or emotionally "loaded"?
• Is it factual or opinion-based?