What are some good market research books/resources for beginners?

Do you want terminologies or do you want a finger on the pulse and to make sense?

I don’t know how you can function at all in your capacity unless your clients are so clueless themselves to not even be in the position to negotiate with you and your company in the first place. For me, I think you’re looking in the wrong direction : key concepts, processes and terminology. Basic words : qualitative and quantitative measures, demographics, reach, target audience, focus group, media. Google : market research.

I think what you should be looking for are trends in how consumers behave, changes in demographic behavior in the current group and next 5 years and what they will or will not respond to and what strategies and media corporate spending should be focusing on in order to plan their marketing direction, branding exercise and market reach in the next 6 months to 5 years.

Here is a good book.

I actually found the Wikipedia resources on the subject to be excellent. I suggest you start there.

@shalom

I work in software development, I am helping build software for market research firms. I do not need a “finger on the pulse” but instead need a high level understanding of the space so i can better communicate with clients and use their terminology when explaining things.

I apologize for not including more of a background, I thought my question was pretty clear.

Market research is a broad topic. What type of clients are you catering to? Those with online consumer panels (survey takers)?

Morningstar is mostly for stock market research, but it does provide a good synopsis of a particular company’s positioning in an industry (what the company makes, who the company reaches out to, etc.).

It is a paid site, but some libraries and research institutions (e.g. universities) offer free access to it.

@glenjamin I most interested in market research output as well as focus groups