Market Research and Data
Analysis- Seminar by PRCIMS
5th December 2012: A seminar on research hosted on the 4th of December 2012 by
PRCIMS threw some light on the importance of Market Research and Data Analysis
in PR and Advertising through an informative session taken by Professor B.
Narayanaswamy, aka ‘Nary’. He is a consultant at Ipsos and has over 30years of
experience in the field of Market Research.
The session took us through
the basic concepts of Research, its need and importance and the process of
doing ‘good’ research. Like in advertising the AIDA model (Attention
Interest Desire Action) forms a basis of framing advertisement objectives,
similarly in PR, objectives revolve around, Knowledge(Perceptions),
Active(Dispositions) and Practice(Behavior).
Research objectives, depending
on these PR objectives, are sized down to a four-letter acronym, DEEP;
Describe – Objective
question: “What is happening?”
Explain – Objective
question: “Why is it happening?” This according to Nary is best answered when
the researchers have absolutely no clue about what is happening. It is best
analyzed using the PESTLE approach (Political Economic Social Technological
Legal Environmental analysis)
Evaluate – Objective
question: “Which works better?”
Predict – Finding
causality of observations and planning ahead
Professor Nary emphasized on
the need for research in every kind of organization. He said, “Information
is any difference that makes a difference”, it is not just random data out
of which conclusions or hypotheses cannot be made. It is any form of minute
observations that could cause a major difference for the organization.
On conclusion of the seminar,
he spoke about the changing requirements of the market and consumers today and
the growth of the online world. The upcoming Generation Z, which is extremely
tech savvy, is a new market that needs to be constantly observed. He raised
questions on how to keep a track of research. This is because, people’s
mindsets, choices, preferences, technology is rapidly changing and improving,
and hence needs to be constantly watched. He spoke about how blogs and social
media today has become an important part and source of research today. He
further highlighted the need for social CRM by companies.
He raised his concerns for
India being a country with no central research organization unlike PEW in U.S.
along with other organizations. All in all the session underlined the need for
research everywhere, as even the slightest misinformation or lack of
information can leave a company lost and aimless.
by Neha Jindal and
Shelley Saha
Research & Advocacy Team
