Research Glossaries

The Social Research Association is the leading voice for social research. They are a UK professional membership body;  led by social researchers, for social researchers. Promoting high-quality standards of social research, seeking to represent, support, connect and inform our members and the wider social research community. The quarterly magazine is called ‘Research Matters’.

Brand tracking research monitors consumer perceptions, awareness, usage, and loyalty over time. It helps businesses assess brand health, measure marketing effectiveness, and identify trends or shifts in customer attitudes. Regular brand tracking supports informed decision-making, brand positioning, and strategy development by highlighting strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities in the market.

Competitor analysis is the process of evaluating rival businesses to understand their strengths, weaknesses, strategies, and market positioning. It helps companies identify opportunities, benchmark performance, anticipate market trends, and refine their own strategies to gain competitive advantage and improve decision-making across marketing, product development, and brand positioning.

Data, design, stories and shareability.  Infographics are a really good way for brands to prove through leadership and insight that is supported by data. They also have the chance to be repurposed in a number of ways by being broken into smaller chunks that can live across multiple platforms and channels. The process of an infographic starts with the inspiration and the creation, then it is published, shared, repurposed and analysed.

Vision One is delighted to be one of the leading research agencies on the UK’s top review site The Drum Recommends (Previously Recommended Agencies Registrar or RAR+). Only companies who score above our threshold become recommended and are included in the register. The results provide a unique insight into the experiences of other clients with particular suppliers.

In-home interviewing involves researchers visiting participants’ homes to conduct detailed, face-to-face interviews. This method allows for in-depth understanding of consumer behaviors, product usage, and lifestyle in a natural environment. It provides rich qualitative insights and authentic feedback, often used for product development, ethnographic research, and usability studies.

Exit interviews are surveys conducted as customers leave a store to capture immediate feedback on their shopping experience. Shopper intercepts involve approaching shoppers in-store to gather real-time opinions. Both methods provide valuable insights into consumer behavior, preferences, and satisfaction, helping businesses improve products, services, and retail strategies.

When a wide demographic needs to be interviewed, street interviewing is often the fastest and most-effective form of fieldwork.

Hall tests or Central Location Tests (CLTs) involve gathering consumers in a neutral venue to evaluate products, ads, or packaging. Conducted under controlled conditions, often with blind testing, they provide quick, reliable feedback on sensory appeal or preferences, helping businesses make informed product or marketing decisions.

An Omnibus survey is a quantitative market research method where information on a variety of subjects is collected on the same questionnaire and is used by multiple clients who effectively share the cost of conducting research by sharing the survey costs. It is also sometimes known as ‘Piggyback’ surveys.

Psychographics play an important role within market research and insight gathering exercises as it essentially the study of personality, values, opinions, attitudes, interests, and lifestyles. Psychographic variables are sometimes confused with demographics which are more factual in nature (e.g. Age, gender, social class, ethnicity etc). At a broader national level, UK psychographics could be seen as an equivalent to the concept of “culture”.

Market research helps companies achieve success in many ways – in particular enabling them to identify their target consumer, find out what existing and potential buyers think about your product or brand and gather business and consumer insights to help you improve your decision making and overall success. This short article looks at the question – Why do companies do market research?