Entry Level Qualification 

Graduate

Career Fields 

Business & Management, Marketing & Sales

For Specially Abled 

Career Entrance Exam 

CAT, MAT, NMAT, IPU CET PHD

About Career 

1. Market Research Analyst is an analytical and management professional who works to interpret data, formulate reports and discuss results and draw conclusions from the report. Thus, the market researcher starts the research by understanding the problem, figuring the key variables, type of research that will be required, how many samples will be needed, how samples will be collected, etc. 

2. Once they are ready with all these answers, they prepare the questionnaire, collect data, interpret data with different tools and software, draw conclusions, and present the result in graphical, tabular, etc. forms. Here variables are factors that have some quantity or quality, and they can change. Samples could be random Facebook users who take part in the survey from the Universe which is the total Facebook users in India.

3. Data is mostly analyzed with several software. The most convenient is Excel. However, it has limited features, so many experts use SPSS (a statistical tool) or even SAS. Once the research is done, more of the results are shared in graphical form. Some use infographics (with pictures and data) while others use traditional bar graphs, pie charts, etc.

4. An example of market research could be “What are the factors that make you spend more time on Facebook? Let’s say, once the research is done, it concludes that people spend more time on FB when they see videos, images from a friend. They also spend more time when they fav topics content in video format is shared. People don’t spend time when they see fake news. 

5. Now, this conclusion is helpful for Facebook because they can change their coding in such a way that now people generally see more videos from friends or from their fav. topics.  This will help them as more people will start spending time on Facebook then present time. Here, variables can be time spent on Facebook, a number of times you open FB app per day/per week. The data is collected by different methods like paper survey, e-mail survey, online survey, interviews, phone calls, observation, etc. In the above example, a survey (online) can be easily used.

Key roles and responsibilities

As a Market Research Analyst, depending upon your specialization, your duties and responsibilities will vary. Few common duties and responsibilities are:

1. You will be required to do primary and secondary research. Primary research involves collecting data by yourself whereas secondary research involves using data already available in the public domain. An example of primary research could be to find what are the factors that affect people while they buy their mobile phone. Here, research will collect data by asking questions to people. Thus, data is collected by them. An example of secondary research will be finding the relation between Delhi pollution and number of cars and bikes in the city. For this research, the researcher will take data of vehicles in Delhi in the last 10 years and the pollution level in those 10 years. All these data are already available. 

2. If you are working in a market research firm, you may be required to work closely with the business clients across all continents understanding the need of the client, inquiring from them about the business need and creating a research problem.

3. You should be able to collect information from different sources and databases. These sources and databases can be the International Monetary Fund and similar International websites, UN websites, National databases like Census, GDP, etc.

4. You will perform industry research and develop a report on different topics as required by the client’s problem.

5. You will prepare reports of your findings using graphs and charts to illustrate data. You will also translate complex problems, solutions, and findings in simple language.

6. You will collect and analyze data-based customer demographics, preferences, needs, and buying habits to identify potential markets and factors affecting product demand. Some of the methods to collect primary data are interviews, survey, phone calls, observation, etc.

7. Some of the methods to collect secondary data are: taking a government website, using IMF, UN, and other international institutes, using private consulting firm’s data, etc.

8. You will also conduct research on consumer opinions, marketing strategies, etc. You will be required to collaborate with several other experts like marketing professionals, pollsters, etc. to make the research successful.

9. You might also be required to use research methods to measure the satisfaction level among customers and employees.

10. You will also be required to monitor sales trends in the market and do forecasting accordingly.

11. You will do researches on the effectiveness of marketing and sales strategies.

12. You will evaluate different methods for processing collected data from surveys, questionnaires, opinion polls, etc.

13. You will need to use different statistical tools, excel, software, etc. to analyse data. Some of the tools are MS Excel, SPSS and SAS.

14. Prepare reports and present results to clients and management.

Career Entry Pathway 

Class 10 all subjects as per scheme of studies - Class 11-12 with any subject as per scheme of studies – UG in any discipline – PG in Business Administration / Marketing / Business Analyst / Market Research / and related subjects

After your Class 10 all subjects as per scheme of studies, you can study Class 11-12 with any subject as per scheme of studies and then study for an undergraduate degree in any discipline followed by a master’s degree in Business Administration / Marketing / Business Analyst / Market Research / and related subjects.

Class 10 all subjects as per scheme of studies - Class 11-12 with any subject as per scheme of studies – UG in Business Administration and related subjects – PG in Business Administration / Marketing / Business Analyst / Market Research / and related subjects.

After your Class 10 all subjects as per scheme of studies, you can study Class 11-12 with any subject as per scheme of studies and then study for an undergraduate degree in Business Administration followed by a master’s degree in Business Administration / Marketing / Business Analyst / Market Research / and related subjects. Although anyone can complete a Master’s Degree in Business Administration, having same at UG level helps.

Class 10 all subjects as per scheme of studies – Class 11-12 Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics along with any subject as per scheme of studies – UG in Mathematics / Market Research / Statistics / Computer Science / Computational Science / related field – PG Degree/Diploma in Mathematics / Market Research / Data Science / related field.

After your Class 10 all subjects as per scheme of studies, you can study Class 11-12 Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics along with any subject as per scheme of studies and then study for an undergraduate degree in Mathematics / Market Research / Statistics / Computer Science / Computational Science / related field followed by a master’s degree in Mathematics / Market Research / Statistics / Data Science / related field.

Class 10 all subjects as per scheme of studies - Class 11-12 with any subject as per scheme of studies – UG in any discipline– work in the industry for 2-5 years – PG in Business Administration / Marketing / Business Analyst / Market Research / and related subjects.

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After your Class 10 all subjects as per scheme of studies, you can study Class 11-12 with any subject as per scheme of studies and then study for an undergraduate degree in any discipline and then work in the industry for a few years. Now, you can join an Executive Master’s course in Business Administration / Marketing / Business Analyst / Market Research / and related subjects.

Required Qualification & Competencies 

Undergraduate studies after school

1. To become a Market Research Analyst, you can take multiple pathways. You can study Business Management Business Administration in under graduation as B.B.A. or B.B.M.

2. You can also study Engineering by taking a course in B.E. or B.Tech.

3. Alternatively, you can study Mathematics / Market Research / Statistics / Computer Science / Computational Science / related field.

4. You can also study Science, Commerce, and Arts with any subjects in under graduation.

Post Graduate studies

1. After graduation, you can study Business Administration (M.B.A.) in Marketing / Market Research / Data Science / Data Analytics / Business Analytics / similar subjects.

2. Alternatively, you can also study 1 year or 2 years Post Graduate Programs Post Graduate Diplomas in Marketing / Market Research / Data Science / Data Analytics / Business Analytics / similar subjects.

Compentencies Required

You should have the following occupational interests:

1. Investigative - You should have interests for Investigative Occupations. Investigative occupations involve working with ideas and quite a lot of thinking, often abstract or conceptual thinking. These involve learning about facts and figures; involve the use of data analysis, assessment of situations, decision making and problem-solving.

2. Enterprising - You should have interests for Enterprising Occupations. Enterprising occupations involve taking initiatives, initiating actions, and planning to achieve goals, often business goals. These involve gathering resources and leading people to get things done. These require decision making, risk-taking, and action orientation.

3. Conventional - You should have interests for Conventional Occupations. Conventional occupations involve repetitive and routine tasks as well as fixed processes or procedures for getting things done. These occupations involve working more with data, systems, and procedures and less with ideas or creativity.

Following personality attributes are required:

1. You can always act independently or could do so in most situations.

2. You always prefer to experience new things and have new experiences, or you mostly do.

3. You are always practical or in most situations.

4. You are always or mostly disciplined in your action and behaviour.

5. You are always friendly and outgoing; you love to be in the company of people always or most of the times.

You should have the following skills and knowledge:

1. Reading Comprehension - Skills in understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.

2. Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, understanding the points being made by others, asking questions, etc.

3. Critical Thinking - Skills in the analysis of complex situations, using logic and reasoning to understand the situations and take appropriate actions or make interpretations and inferences.

4. Writing - Skills in communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the readers.

5. Problem Solving - Skills in analysis and understanding of problems, evaluating various options to solve the problems and using the best option to solve the problems.

6. English Language - Knowledge about English grammar, words, spelling, sentence construction, using English to communicate with others, reading in English, etc.

7. Mathematics - Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, trigonometry, statistics, and other mathematical disciplines and their applications.

8. Business Management - Knowledge of managing a business which involves planning of what to do, organising resources and people, leading and supervising work activities of people, and monitoring performances of people as well as the performance of the business. This includes knowledge of marketing, finance, human resources management, operations management, etc.

9. Marketing - Knowledge of the various principles, theories, methods, systems, and processes to understand the needs of a category of customers and then to create, to communicate, and to deliver various products and services in order to satisfy the needs of the customers.

10. Sales & Promotion - Knowledge of the various principles, theories, methods, systems and processes to communicate and promote the benefits of various products or services of an organisation to a targeted group of customers, influencing their buying decisions and convincing them to buy the products or services.

​​​​​​​You should have the following aptitudes and abilities:

1. Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.

2. Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.

3. Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules and common logic to specific problems to produce answers that are logical and make sense. For example, understanding the reasons behind an event or a situation using general rules and common logic.

4. Inductive Reasoning - The ability to combine pieces of information from various sources, concepts, and theories to form general rules or conclusions. For example, analysing various events or situations to come out with a set of rules or conclusions.

5. Fluency of Ideas - The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).

Career - Job Opportunities & Profiles 

1. If you are inclined more towards the market research side, where you would be working on creating research questions, and finalizing the research type, you may be hired as a Research Associate / Research Trainee with different Market research companies, a research consulting companies, media, retail, and finance research companies. Some of the examples of Market Research companies are IMRB International, The Nielsen, Millward Brown, IDC India, IPSOS Indica Research, Hansa Research, etc. 

2. If you are inclined towards the analysis of the data, then you may be hired as Data Analyst / Research Analyst / Management Trainee in different consulting firms as well as MNCs. Some of the leading consulting firms are Accenture, Bain & Company, Boston Consulting Group (BCG), Deloitte, Ernst & Young, KPMG, McKinsey, PwC, etc.

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3. If you are inclined towards the business side of analytics where you use the results for strategies, you might be hired as Business Analyst Trainee by different MNCs, Media Houses, Retail and finance organizations.

Work Environment

The daily environment of a market research analyst depends on the role he or she is having. If you are into back and front of the research (mostly a research associate and further roles), then you will be spending most of the time either in the office working on creating the research framework or collecting data in the field. The field work would require you to either meet samples at designated areas or taking interviews. etc. Role of a Data Analyst is mostly confined to officer work. However, they will be required to use a lot of mathematical tools and thus may feel the pressure to complete the research with accuracy. They will mostly coordinate with research associates. Business Analyst will also be working in offices but they will be working with a team and will focus on analysing the solutions and thus require a lot of brainstorming. They work timing will be regular for most of the duration of a career.

Specialisation Tracks In This Career

Data Scientist

A data scientist is an expert who can use scientific methods, process, algorithms to extract knowledge and insights from different kind of data. The data can be structured or unstructured. They first mine the data and then use the scientific methods to deduce the knowledge. They define the problem and then solve it using new statistical models, machine learning, etc. As a data scientist, you will not solve a problem, but you will find a problem and then solve it creating new parameters around the problem.

Data Analyst

The data analyst is an expert who inspects, cleanses, transforms data to get useful information forming a conclusion. As a data analyst, you will be given the question by the business house; you will solve this question using data and given results back to the business house. You will also not build new statistical models, but use already present models to solve the problem

Qualitative Researcher

Qualitative researcher is an expert of research based on non-numerical data. They do research where the focus is on concepts, characteristics, definitions, symbols, and description of things and not on their count. An example of this research type is finding if a company has a market for its new product or what are the buying habits of people purchasing Apple Mobile. As a researcher, you will seek an answer to how and when something can happen. One of the most convenient data collection methods for qualitative research is interviews.

Quantitative Researcher

Qualitative researcher is an expert of research based on numerical data. They do research on observable numerical data based on the statistical and mathematical tool. All surveys that come on TV around the election are based on quantitative research. As a quantitative researcher, you will either collect the data or use already available data and use statistical tools, graphs, etc. to conclude the result and derive the answer. Some of the data collection methods that you will use are surveys, observation, opinion polls, etc.

Career Growth

1. If you start your career as a Data Analyst / Research Analyst / Management Trainee, you can then become, Business Analyst or Financial Analyst. Later you can become Lead Business Analyst and then senior Business Analyst, and finally Analytics Manager. If you were a Financial analyst, then you can become a Senior Financial Analyst and then Finance Manager.

2. If you start your career as a Market Research Associate / Research Trainee, then you will be promoted to either Research Scientist / Senior Research Associate and then Senior Research Scientist or even Senior Research Analyst.

3. If you start your career as a Business Analyst Trainee, you may soon become a Business Analyst and then Senior Business Analyst. You may then become Lead Business Analysts and then Management Consultant.

Salary Offered  

1. At the entry level, as a Data Analyst, you will be earning anything between Rs. 15,000 to 2,00,000 per month. As a Market Research Associate, you will be earning anything between Rs. 10,000 to 1,00,000 per month. As a Business Analyst Trainee, you will be earning anything between Rs. 25,000 to 3,00,000 per month.

2. At the junior level after 2-6 years of experience, you will be earning anywhere between Rs 30,000 – 4,00,000 INR per month.

3. At the middle level of 6-12 years of work experience, your earning will rise to Rs 50,000-6,00,000 INR per month.

4. At the senior level after 12 years of work experience, your earning will be between Rs. 1,00,000 to 10,00,000 per month.

Monthly Earnings In Indian Rupee

1. Entry level: 0 - 2 years of work experience 

2. Junior Level: From 1 to 12 years of work experience 

3. Mid-Level: From 5 to 20+ years of work experience 

4. Senior Level: From 10 to 25+ years of work experience (there could be exceptions in some high-end technical, financial, engineering, creative, management, sports, and other careers; also in the near future, people will reach these levels much faster in many careers and in some careers, these levels will have no meaning as those careers will be completely tech skill driven such as even now, there is almost no level in a Cyber Security Expert’s job)

Famous Personalities 

Information not available.

Work Activities 

As a Market Research Analyst, you might be involved in various applied areas of Business – these areas where different applications of Management are used. In these areas, you might be involved in different activities such as:

1. Using computers for work - Using computers for day-to-day office work; using computer software for various applications in day-to-day professional work; entering data and process information; for writing.

2. Analysis and interpretation of data and information - Analysis of data and information to find facts, trends, reasons behind situations, etc.; interpretation of data to aid in decision making.

3. Getting Information and learning - Observing, hearing, reading, using computers, or otherwise obtaining information and learning from it.

4. Information processing - Searching, compiling, tabulating, calculating, auditing, verifying or otherwise dealing with information processing including data entry, transcription, recording, storing and maintaining databases.