Research Glossaries

Don’t you sometimes wish you knew what your customers wanted? Or wish you knew how they are attracted to it in the first place? That’s what Observation Market Research is for. It’s a technique that directly observes a chosen target audience; whether it be consumers, suppliers or customers. This could be trying to understand what displays consumers are drawn towards, and what directions they go around the shop. This can help brands understand what works and what doesn’t, maximising the space you have.

Online focus groups provide a convenient and flexible way to gather in-depth qualitative insights from diverse participants. They allow researchers to explore attitudes, perceptions, and motivations in real time, without geographical constraints. Features includ video, chat, and screen sharing enhance engagement and video recording making online focus groups an efficient alternative to in-person sessions.

Online communites offer valuable spaces for research by fostering authentic, real-time engagement among participants. They enable researchers to gather deep qualitative insights, track evolving opinions, and observe natural interactions. Usin an online community is often cost-effective, flexible, and ideal for longitudinal studies, making them a powerful tool for understanding consumer behaviors and experiences.

In-depth interviews are an excellent way to probe people’s deepest thoughts, feelings, and emotions. They provide brands deep insights to help optimise their messaging, come up with new product ideas or service extensions and understand their barriers to behaviour and behaviour change. The key advantage of an online in-depth is that only the people involved are the interviewer and the interviewee. In this environment, the interviewee is a lot less likely to feel any pressure to conform to group opinion, all the answers they give are not influenced by opinions.

The Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a measurement looking into the customer experience of a brand and predict business growth. The metric is proven and widely known for transforming the business world and provides brands with the core measurement for customer experience management programs the world around.

Brand Essence is the core values which distinguish a brand. These values will be consistent over time, whereas the execution characteristics of material pieces like the packaging, marketing or the advertising of the product or service can change. By clarifying and setting up a brand essence, it allows the owner of the brand to have a model which all marketing and NPD (New Product Development) will be able to follow and cohesive with the brand’s image.

The ICO is the UK’s independent authority set up to uphold information rights in the public interest, promoting openness by public bodies and data privacy for individuals. The ICO is in part responsible for GDPR (General Data Protection Legislation). We live in a data-driven world and GDPR is here for the benefit of everyone in regards to accessing and influencing how companies use your data.

Ad hoc research surveys are one-off, tailored research studies used to explore specific questions or issues at a single point in time. Typically conducted online, they help businesses respond quickly to emerging trends or problems, providing actionable insights without the commitment of ongoing tracking or long-term research programmes.

LARIA (Local Area Research and Intelligence Association) is a UK-based organisation supporting local researchers and analysts in public sector services. It promotes the use of research, data, and evidence to inform policy and decision-making. LARIA offers networking, resources, and events to improve outcomes through better local intelligence and community insight.

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 health 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.