Making Information Meaningful
Providing a market research company with a research brief is a useful exercise in solidifying your thinking and defining what you want and need to know from your research project.
It also provides the companies you approach for services with important information that will allow them to deliver the services you need, offer you a range of approaches and methodologies and provide an accurate quote.
The following is a checklist of items that you should consider when writing your brief.
Note: Australian Survey Research Group Pty Ltd (ASR) will treat anything you include in your brief as confidential.
A brief introduction to your company will help ASR understand you and your individual needs. Background could include:
Provide the context for your decision to commission research. This may be expressed as research objectives and business objectives:
Note: it is important to distinguish what you need to know from what is nice to know. A good test is to ask what you are going to do differently as a result of knowing X. If the answer is nothing, then don’t waste time and money in asking.
Who is your target audience or participants? For example:
Who do you want researched and how many interviews (sample size)? Do you want different options provided by ASR or for us to make recommendations?
Do you have a customer/stakeholder list or does ASR have to find respondents themselves? What contact details do you have:
Are these details accurate/complete? For example you may have address details for half your database and emails or telephone numbers for the other half.
What methodology do you envisage? Do you think your objectives would best be met through qualitative or quantitative research or, perhaps, a combination? Should the research be conducted face-to-face, by telephone or even online? But don't worry if you're not sure. We can advise you. Either:
When do you need the findings by? Bear in mind internal milestones such as meetings and decision-making deadlines you may have. Timescale could include:
What research findings do you expect ASR to give you and how do you want them delivered? Do you want the findings in a written report format or as a presentation? You may want to have both, or to have a meeting with an ASR person or by telephone to discuss the findings. Deliverables could include:
How much money do you have to spend? Not everybody feels comfortable disclosing this option and admittedly we understand how some clients feel that disclosing their budget is like giving Dracula keys to the blood bank. However, it can help to give us guidance on the available budget, even if it is only a ball-park figure. This means we can give you a realistic quote based on what you can afford. We will help you maximise your available budget and maybe advise on an approach you had not considered. Budget could include:
How should ASR get in touch with you?
We hope this document helps you. Good luck!