Market research projects enable purposive acting. Precondition is the right realisation of the project, of course. For you we have listed the most important stumbling-blocks of the different project phases.

1. Strategy and preparation
Without the appropriate concept nothing will work out. Therefore the initial phase is of enormous importance.
Sources of problems:

• The fundamental targets are not defined.
• The client has not ascertained which informations he wants to get and what for they are to be used.
• Many different questions are mixed up in one single project.
• No hypotheses are suggested.
• Choice of the wrong method, wrong target group or the wrong procedure
• Respondents are lack of incentive to participate.

2. The questions
Sources of problems:

• The questionnaire was not tested.
• The questionnaire is too big.
• The questionnaire is not comprehensible being for client’s purposes and not for the respondents’.
• There are suggestive questions in the questionnaire.

3. The performance
In this phase the correct interviewers, the appropriate respondents and the communication about the actual estate of the project are important.
Sources of problems:

• The wrong interviewers are interrogating (native speaker respectively with specialised knowledge).
• The interviewers are not trained enough.
• The interviewers have too much scope.
• It is not clearly defined how the respondents have been choosen.
• The interrogation’s advancement is not enough communicated.

4. The analysis and the results
Sources of problems:

• Data are not sufficiently debugged. Nonsense answering respondents should be carried out of the analysis.
• The data are not analysed with regard to the target.
• Describing statistic in spite of "detecting" methods.
• The data are incomprehensibly visualised.
• Results are not presentable (Please with power point charts).
• Details about sample sizes and the representativeness are missing.
• The client lacks the know how to valuate the Data’s quality.
• There are not management summary, quintessence or recommendation.
• Special evaluation procedures are not or only insufficiently illustrated.   

5. The consequenzes
New insights are gained. Now it is important to implement the recommendations.
Sources of problems:

• The results are not implemented.
• The tie to the market research institution breaks after the analyses of the results.
• Too less responsible persons or the wrong responsible persons are integrated in the realisation process.
• Lack of know-how or personal shortage so that no realisation workshops can take place.
• The success of the realisation is not controlled.

Author: Mag. Holger Sicking