I used to work in market research and there used to be a clear distinction
between MR and marketing/selling.
Market research is generally done by a market research company that is
independent of the sponsoring company (in this case, the mobile phone
company) and although they might tell you who the sponsor is after the
interview, the whole point of the interview would be to obtain independent
data about their product - to do so you wouldn't know from the questionnaire
who the research was for - otherwise the answers given will be biassed in
favour or against the product - so eg other telephone brands/companies will
be mentioned.
True market research should not give rise to a sales contact from the
company - indeed, it should produce market research about their product or
company and how they can improve their product or image etc.
There should be the opportunity to receive a copy of the research report or
summary.
Any "research" that intends to produce a particular sale is not market
research but marketing.
The various Codes and Guidelines of the Market Research Society are given on
http://www.mrs.org.uk/standards/guidelines.htm
In particular, see http://www.mrs.org.uk/standards/downloads/code2005.doc
"5 The rights of respondents as private individuals will be respected
by market researchers and they will not be harmed or disadvantaged as the
result of cooperating in a market research project.
6 Market researchers will never allow personal data they collect in a
market research project to be used for any purpose other than market
research."
Of course, much telephone sales uses a format that is similar to an
independent market research - starting with some general questions - but as
soon as they start saying something like if I told you about a certain
product would you be interested in it, and would you like more information
etc - that is sales!
Nick Landau
----- Original Message -----
From: "Edwina Withe" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, November 06, 2006 11:55 AM
Subject: [data-protection] When is Market Research not Marketing???
> My home telephone no is registered with TPS, but over the last couple of
> weeks I have started getting phone calls again and when I told the
> operator that the number was registered with TPS and they shouldn't be
> phoning a couple of them have argued with me saying that they were not
> marketing (as in selling) but carrying out market research (asking for
> opinions) so they could do it! The last one was a mobile phone
> company.
>
> Market research sounds like marketing to me - what do you all think?
>
> I "chewed" their ears off about it and they put the phone down on me
> and unfortunately their number had been withheld - so not much I can do
> about it ....
>
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