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Science & Business Research Guide: Market Research

Library Research

What is Market Research?

Let's say you have a great idea for a sustainable skincare line, and now you are looking to turn that idea into a successful product.

What are the key pieces of information you would want to know about your consumer before you start?

You would probably want to know:

  • the size of your market and where it is located
  • the demographics of your market and their consumer behaviour
  • market trends

Seeking out this kind of information is market research. 

Types of Market Research

There are 2 main methods of conducting market research.

The first method is by collecting the information yourself. This can be done in several ways, such as surveys, interviews, and focus groups. This method is known as primary market research. 

Although primary market research has plenty of benefits, like getting you information that is specific to your product and business, it is time and resource intensive.

Instead, conducting secondary market research, where you find already published facts and reports about your market is a great place to start. And there are plenty of library-provided and openly available sources for you to use. 

Crafting your Search

In order to get good market research, we need a good strategy. In this case, a good strategy is comprised of the right tools and an effective search string. 

Selecting the Right Tool

Finding the right tool can be a daunting challenge, but under Library Resources and Openly Available Resources, we have compiled great market research tools to get you started.

To find market research for our sustainable skincare brand, as an example, we are going demonstrate Statista. 

Creating your Search String

To create an effective search string think:

  1. What are my key concepts?
    • For sustainable skincare, your concepts are likely "sustainable" and "skincare"
  2. What are common synonyms for my concepts?
    • For "sustainable" we might use "green" and for "skincare" we might use "cosmetics" 
  3. Connect your terms with "AND" "OR" or "NOT" 
    • sustainable OR green AND skincare OR cosmetics 

Once you have your tool and search string all that is left is to try it out! 

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Slide 1: Finding Market Research - Sustainable Skincare in Statista

The Library Home Page, with the Search function in the centre of the page, menu options across the top of the header and body, and the Quick Links menu to the left. A red arrow points to the Quick Link “Databases.”

Slide 2: Navigating Statista

First, we need to navigate to Statista using the Library Home Page. On the left-hand side of the screen, in the Quick Links menus, click on the Databases tab. 

The Database search results, with a link to Statista in the centre of the screen, followed by a description of the database.

Slide 3: Navigating to Statista

In the Databases search bar, search for Statista. 

Slide 4: Searching on Statista - The Search String

Next we need to develop our search string. To create a good search, we need to isolate our key concepts, think of synonyms, and join our keywords together using AND, OR, or, NOT.

For “sustainable skincare” our concepts are “sustainable” and “skincare.” And their synonyms might be “green," “clean," or “cosmetic." Our search string could be (sustainable OR green OR clean) AND (skincare OR cosmetic). Use brackets to keep concept groups together.   

The Statista homepage, a black screen with a white search bar and blue search button in the centre of the screen. Common and recent search suggestions appear as options below the search bar.

Slide 5: Searching on Statista - The Search String

Let's input our search string into the search bar and see what we find! 

Slide 6: Searching on Statista - The Results.

We have several relevant results. And we can use the filters on the right-hand side to make them more relevant if needed. 

The preview page of a report. The table of contents of the report is centre on the screen. And the download option is to the right.

Slide 7: Searching on Statista - The Results

Looking at one of the results, a report, we can see a preview of what is inside before we download.

The preview page of a statistic. The statistic, a bar graph with blue bars on the Y axis, is centre on the screen. And on the right is a menu providing four formats to download, as well as the statistic’s source.

Slide 8: Searching on Statista - The Results

Looking at another result, a statistic, we can see the statistic and its source. 

Library Resources

Statista 

How to use Statista for Market Research?

On Statista, you can search for companies, like Pfizer, and markets, like biofuels. Learn the basics of Statista or how to use the Consumer Insights feature, which may be useful for advanced market research, with the tutorials below. 

Openly Available Resources

Statistics Canada Resources 

How to use the Census Program Data Viewer for market research? 

ODESI 

How to use ODESI for market research? 

Use ODESI to search for datasets from Statistics Canada survey data, Public Opinion Polls, and more. It is recommended that you read the guide to Finding and Exploring Data (below) to get started. 

World Bank Resources 

U.S. Census Bureau 

UN Social Indicators 

OECD Data Explorer 

It is important to know that there are many more potential tools, beyond these curated ones, which you could use for market research. Depending on your topic, some of these tools may be more or less useful to you. As you get comfortable with your problem space and searching, feel free to explore beyond what's offered here.