Research Glossaries

Moderator: A trained facilitator who guides group discussions to uncover opinions, emotions and motivations. The moderator ensures every voice is heard, keeps the session on track, probes deeper into responses, and maintains neutrality — transforming participant conversations into meaningful insights.

Focus groups or Group discussions are a qualitative research method where a small group of participants discuss a product, service, or concept, guided by a moderator. It explores attitudes, perceptions and motivations, providing rich in-depth insights that help shape marketing strategies, product development and brand positioning.

Brand reputation is the public’s perception of a brand, shaped by customer experiences, trust, values, and communication. For marketers, it’s a vital asset that drives loyalty and competitive advantage. Actively measuring and tracking brand reputation identifies risks, strengthens credibility, and ensure long-term growth

The Z test is a statistical method used in research to check if differences between groups or results are real or just due to chance. By comparing data to an expected average, it helps businesses confirm whether findings are meaningful, giving confidence in decisions based on survey results.

Weighting is a method in market research that adjusts survey results to better reflect the real population. If some groups are over- or underrepresented, researchers assign “weights” to responses so the data is balanced. This makes insights more accurate, reliable, and useful for business decisions.

UX research is the study of how people interact with products, services, or digital platforms. It uncovers user needs, behaviours, and pain points, guiding design and strategy. By improving usability and satisfaction, UX research helps businesses reduce risk, enhance loyalty, and create experiences that drive growth.

Serviceable Available Market (SAM) is the portion of the Total Addressable Market (TAM) that a business can realistically target with its products or services, based on geography, customer segments, and product fit. SAM helps entrepreneurs focus resources, set achievable goals, and define practical opportunities within the broader market.

TAM, SAM, and SOM are tools for sizing markets. TAM is the total demand for a product, SAM is the segment you can realistically serve, and SOM is the share you can capture. Together, they help predict market opportunity, guide strategy, and set achievable growth targets.

Heuristics are mental shortcuts used to simplify decision-making. Common types include availability, representativeness, anchoring, and affect heuristics. They help speed up judgments but can lead to cognitive biases. Heuristics are essential in everyday thinking, user experience design, and behavioral research, highlighting how humans process information under uncertainty or limited time.

Data science is the practice of extracting meaningful insights from large and complex datasets using statistical analysis, programming, and machine learning. In market research, it helps identify patterns, predict behaviours, and support data-driven decision-making across customer segmentation, trend analysis, pricing strategies, and campaign optimisation.

Customer satisfaction measures how well a product or service meets customer expectations. Customer satisfaction research gathers feedback through surveys and interviews to identify strengths, weaknesses, and improvement areas. It informs business decisions, enhances customer experience, and drives loyalty, making it essential for competitive advantage and long-term success.