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With the explosion of user-generated content, we — as a society – create more content in a day than people did in a year a decade ago. Don’t get me wrong — a lot of the content produced these days is quite useful, well written and adds value to business. But, a lot of it is also written targeting the Google Bots and not the human beings! That’s a topic for another day.
What I want to address today is that we should be careful about that although it’s good to ride the wave, it is critical to go back to fundamentals once in a while. And for getting back to fundamentals, we REALLY got to go back to the source or the foundations of the Market Research and its related industries. That’s right, we went wide and deep to pick the top 50 books we think every market researcher should read separated by category. Lets get into it:
Old is Gold. These are books that anyone who is remotely related, interested or connected to the business world should read. Unless you are like a doctor friend of mine — who didn’t even know Facebook is now a public company till yesterday representing how less he cares about the business world — you should make it a priority to read these age old classics that still stand high.
With the plethora of new technology tools available to conduct research, we are spoilt for choice. However, the foundations of the research still fundamentally remain the same — understanding the customer, their requirements, needs and their preferences using age old, solid one-to-one qualitative interview or focus groups. The following list of books covers everything and anything remotely related to qualitative research and more. These include conducting high quality interviews, designing research projects, evaluating & analyzing qualitative interviews (to identify golden insights for your clients) and how to manage client expectations.
“Oh come on! I’ve attended hundreds of events. I know how to network as I add them on LinkedIn as soon as we exchange business cards.” Right! There is a fair bit to networking than that. How do you constantly grow your network? How do I manage the relationships that you start? How do I effectively use LinkedIn for professional networking? Have these questions answered by getting started with these books.
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If you had to pick one segment of the market research industry that has been most affected with the rapid innovation in technology tools, which one would that be? If you don’t say it’s quantitative research then I’d be very surprised. With the huge growth in internet usage and smartphones around the globe, collecting data using online tools has done a sea change. Due to this, it has become increasingly important as researchers that we keep up with the newest and shiniest technology coming out — practically every quarter. Reading the books below will give you a head start:
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Oh boy! Gamification — the new buddy in town. It’s the HOT TOPIC in everything. Whether its new startups, existing products/services or even if you just to go grab a lunch and check in with foursquare (Yes, that’s gamification too!) Gamification has caught the eye of the research industry — BIG TIME! If you’re a researcher and you haven’t equipped yourself with the latest gamification jargon — you better hurry up and get started on it. Seriously, you don’t want to be in that awkward situation when the clients asks, “Can you explain to me a little bit more about gamification and how we can use it for our future projects” and you have to look up Wikipedia!
“Huh! Why do I need to know about Network Intelligence?” You may ask! The answer depends on how do you see yourself as a researcher? Do you think you want to be leading the market and provide incredible insights/information to your clients? Or do you want to be a follower and just do whatever it takes to maintain the status quo. If you consider yourself as a leading market researcher, give golden insights to your clients even before they ask by gathering intelligence.
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Consumers are the species that single handedly run the modern economy. That’s right, as consumers, we drive the world with our product/service expectations. Each and every business depends on consumers to keep their wheels turning. Consequently, it is a good idea to understand and get in the minds of consumers. To understand, how we go about making our decisions on what to buy, what not to buy, etc. Below, are the top 7 books you should definitely read to get into the consumers mind that will help you better analyze and understand the consumers and their decisions.
“Are you serious? Are you telling me that I need to learn how to listen? You gotta be kidding.” — I hear you saying! And I can fully understand that you would say that. As human beings one thing, which we ALL love to do, is talk about ourselves and share our stories with the people we know. However, we also need individuals who are “active listeners”. So how do I define Active Listeners? Listeners who not only listen but also process, analyze and respond instantly, if not simultaneously. As researchers, our aim is to get as much information and insights about customers as we can by quizzing them to understand why they do what they do. You might think that I’m an active listener, which is cool. But, you might be missing on a lot of good tips on how to be even better at listening. As we don’t know what we don’t know!
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This is where we shift our focus a little bit from being a good researcher to something more fundamental. Psychology — the science behind study of brain functions and behaviors is key to understanding people in general. As a researcher, dealing with individuals is a key part of your responsibility. By understanding fundamentals of human behaviors in varied environments, you set yourself up beautifully to be a truly great and successful researcher. Apart from understanding individual behaviors, it is also key to understand how individuals behave when put together in a group and how their behavior changes. Reading the following list of books will make sure you are more prepared than most researchers out there.
This is what I call the bread and butter of anyone interested in leading a successful business life. As you move up the corporate ladder, you not only have to be really good at what you do, but also be good at managing and leading a team of highly qualified researchers. Below are some of the some most successful books to help you with the transition.
Although this is one of the most comprehensive lists you would find for market researchers, it is certainly not exhaustive. I’d love to know if i’ve missed books that you’d recommend. Add your thoughts, comments or recommendations in the comments sections below. If you like the list and would like to recommend to your network, go ahead and share it using the floating bar on the left.
Written By Chirag Ahuja
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Useful info!!
Wow, thanks for the mention!!