Job Roles (P4, U24)

LO2 (Unit 24): Understand the behaviours, skills and attributes necessary within the advertising industry

P4 (Unit 24): Explain the behaviours and attributes required for a specific job role

Behaviours & Attributes of A Market Researcher:

The following are the main proffessional and personal attributes required of a market researcher: 

• Strategic - To effectively overcome obstacles that may stand in the way of attaining valuable data, a market researcher has to be strategic. This will ensure that effective and suitable methods can be thought of to mitigate any issues and difficulties that is likely to occur during research. 

• Detail orientated - This is important when gathering data, and looking at finer areas within research. This will ensure that a market researcher can form valid justifications to back up their discoveries, which will increase the validity and quality of the research conducted.

• Strong communication - This is required when presenting findings to colleagues and clients, as well as requesting research from participants/sources. If communication is not strong enough and lacks, then recipients may find difficulty in understanding, resulting in confusion.

• Reliable - Data needs to be both accurate and truthful, it is important that a market researcher is reliable and won't fabricate information. In doing so, legal and ethical issues may arise due to misleading/invalid research.

• Creativity - This attribute is required when identifying unique/new methods of collecting data. Different markets may require different information being attained, meaning it is important for a market researcher to be able to determine which methods of research are suitable, as well as identifying new techniques to gather data.

• Adaptability - This is fundamentally important when changes occur. For example, if the client decides they wish to target a different/new demographic then the market researcher will have the responsibility of researching the specified target audience. This may result in methods of research having to be altered and specific findings being replaced with new ones.

• Time management - A market researcher has to be able to effectively manage their time to ensure that they complete their research in time and meet deadlines. this will prevent the overall marketing campaign from falling behind as the role of looking into a specific market is the main starting point of a project. 

• Proactive - As most of a market researchers work is independent, it is required that they are proactive, meaning they are able to complete work and carry out tasks without being told what to do. 

• Confidence - This is a very important attribute for a market researcher to have as they have to present their findings to clients and co-workers. Presenting to several indivuals requires confidence as this will ensure that those in the meeting are able to effectivley get on board with what is being said as well as trust the findings. 

• Listening Skills - This is important when collecting qualitative data. This is becuase this will commonly require a researcher to listen to participants as qualitative data is occasionally collected through interviews. Another reason why listening skills are important for a market researcher includes the importance of listening to clients and colleuges requests. For example, if a client expresses that they want a specific demographic/market to be studied or if they want changes made to existing research (e.g. more quantitave data).