The Market Research Toolbox: A Concise Guide for Beginners (4th edition)
Edward F. McQuarrie
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2016
The table of contents is available on Amazon, along with most of the first chapter, which explains the topics covered, and the approach taken. A Kindle edition is available.
A description, the table of contents, and two sample chapters are available. For classroom use, there is a companion web site, and the resources available there are described. Instructors may request a review copy.
A preview is available, allowing you to search the contents and / or browse pages of interest.
Back Story
A few years after publishing the Customer Visits book with Sage, and enjoying reasonably good sales, the new acquisitions editor, Marquita Flemming, asked whether I was interested in writing a book about market research more generally, rather than just the single research technique of visiting customers.
I was dubious at first. I’d taught workshops and seminars on Customer Visits for years before writing that book. By contrast, although I’d worked for a decade or so moderating focus groups for Burke Marketing Research, and had dabbled in some of the other research services offered by Burke, I had only taught a few one-day briefings covering the overall market research toolbox. I didn’t have the same depth of experience.
But Marquita persisted; and I remembered how much fun it had been to write a book of practical advice—a real change of pace from writing scholarly articles for peer-reviewed journals. So I agreed. And it was, again, fun to write a book instead of a journal article.
History
The first edition appeared in 1996. It sold satisfactorily, but didn’t hit the same sweet spot as Customer Visits. Editors changed, and the book languished, lacking a sponsor or champion. After a certain point, the age of its copyright began to cut against sales; who could believe, in 2002, that a business book dated 1996 was up to speed on best practices?
Fortunately, in the early 2000s Al Bruckner took an editor position at Sage, and out of the blue, pitched me on preparing a second edition. His insight was that the material had potential in a classroom setting (the first edition had been aimed strictly at working professionals, post-university, who needed to get up to speed on the major market research techniques). About this time I also began teaching market research as an MBA elective, which renewed my energy for the topic. The second edition appeared in 2006 and sold rather better than the first edition. The change in positioning, which made it a dual use book, for inside the classroom and without, was successful.
With reasonable sales volume, it kept the attention of editorial staff at Sage, so that Deya Jacobs, Al Bruckner’s successor, got in touch about writing a third edition. Here I learned the second reason why it is important to keep updating any book to be used in a classroom: after three or four years, the supply of used versions grows large enough to begin to crowd out sales of new books. Publisher business models demand regular revisions.
*I was shocked, shocked to learn that so many students sell their texts at the end of the term. I still have some of my graduate school texts from thirty five years ago …
These imperatives led to publication of the third edition in 2012 and the fourth edition in 2016, most recently under Maggie Stanley. The 4th edition has been perhaps the most thorough revision thus far, with almost 50% new material.
The subtitle captures the book’s positioning: you will find here a concise guide for beginners.