Market Research - General Sources

AllBusiness - Secondary vs. Primary Market Research, explains the difference between secondary and primary research, and links to several short articles that provide information on conducting market research.

Calgary Business Information Centre, identifies the pros and cons of different types of primary market research.

Condensed Guide to Market Research, from Informa Research Services, provides an overview of market research, including data collection techniques, available research methodologies, and when to conduct research. 

Inc.com – Market Research, has a collection of articles about market research, including low-budget suggestions for conducting your own market research.

MarketResearch.com, is a searchable database of market research reports covering all industry sectors, both domestic and international. The site offers free searching, abstracts, and tables of contents, but the actual reports are fee-based, often costing thousands of dollars. You can sometimes buy “by the slice” to get specific pieces of a report.

Mindbranch, is similar to MarketResearch.com in that it aggregates syndicated and custom industry research from 350 independent research firms through a searchable interface. Searching is free; the actual reports are fee-based. Description and table of contents are available for most reports, and purchased reports are downloadable in PDF format. 

Market Research – Primary Research

Gathering Evidence – A Guide for Using Focus Groups, is a British government site that explains clearly what a focus group is and how to conduct an effective focus group. 

SurveyMonkey.com, allows you to create professional online surveys, collect responses, and analyze results via the web. A basic subscription is free and includes all of the basic features of SurveyMonkey. Basic subscribers are limited to a total of 10 questions and 100 responses per survey. A professional subscription is $19.95/month (or only $200.00/year), and includes an unlimited number of surveys, and up to 1,000 responses per month. The service is straightforward and easy to use. There are numerous competitors for this service (e.g., Zoomerang, Active Web Survey, StatSurvey), and you can link to their websites through SurveyMonkey’s section on pricing.

UNESCO Internal Oversight Service – Evaluation Manual, offers basic information about how to evaluate a program or services and includes questions to ask at each stage of an evaluation exercise, a guide to the preparation of questionnaires, a guide to the preparation and conduct of group interviews, and a glossary.

10KWizard, provides expanded coverage and advanced search capabilities of the SEC’s EDGAR (Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis and Retrieval) database. It allows you to perform keyword searches on up-to-the-minute SEC filings and set up alerts for companies you want to track. The database includes all 418 electronically filed forms, EDGAR Archives through 1994, pre-EDGAR Historical Index (listing) of all SEC filings to 1966, and foreign filers. Subscriptions start as low as $185/year.

AnnualReports.com, “is the most complete and up-to-date listing of Annual Reports online. We are America’s largest annual report service. Our directory is a free Internet service that will enable potential investors to review a company’s annual report in an easy, convenient manner. This free service provides access to annual reports in their actual format.”

BizJournals.com, offers recent news from more than 40 local business journals. You can search and view articles by topic, industry, or market location. When researching a particular company, this is a good place to view recent news articles about them.

Hoovers.com, offers free brief information about companies, as well as news and industry information. For most companies, you can access a description of the company, sales revenues, and key personnel. To access the in-depth information (financials, executive profiles, competitors) you must purchase a subscription, which ranges in price depending on the type of organization and number of users.

LLRX.com – Business Filings Databases, is a helpful compendium of annotated links by state to corporate and business filings available online. “All 50 states make some level of corporate and business filings available online. In a few instances only limited information (such as name availability) is retrievable. The majority of the states, however, use their Web presence to disseminate a range of public business records -- and most of them offer access at no charge.”

New York Public Library – Searching for Company Information, includes a free online course, “Prospecting for Business Information.”

SEC Filings and Forms (EDGAR), provides free access to U.S. corporate filings. All companies, foreign and domestic, are required to file registration statements, periodic reports, and other forms electronically through EDGAR. The website offers links to the complete list of filings available through EDGAR and provides instructions for searching the EDGAR database.

Thomas.net, is an industrial search engine that provides information on more than 650,000 manufacturers, suppliers, and service providers. You can search for product information by category or name; for example, glass bottles or fence posts. You can also search for company information by region or for the entire United States and Canada, and for information by brand name. Other options include millions of CAD drawings, a radius search from a specific location, and company certification information. The website is free.