Two common user approaches for information access on the Internet are browsing and research. Though both are used to get the information they are very different. Specifically, the purpose, quality, time taken, strategies involved, and skill required to get the required information are very different for browsing and research.

Purpose and focus
Browsing through Internet is usually more for the purposes of entertainment and general interest. Browsing is for time pass. You stop when you get bored. Browsers work without any intent to get credible information. Browsers have tendency to get off track by the information presented on the Internet. With browsing you start somewhere and end at a totally different place. Where as, research is more for professional uses. Researchers are intent-driven and will be looking for some specific information by setting objectives. They define their objectives clearly. The objectives will be like bulls eye, which help them to stay focused on their goal.

Strategy
Browsing is generally unstructured form of searching for information. It involves navigation through information collection. It does not have any specific task to get the required information. Where as, research uses a series of queries to retrieve credible information from the Internet. Research follows a series of instructions to search, find and obtain the data.

Skill
Web research is not easy and requires considerable skills such as active mindset, vigorous hard work and patience, which are not necessary for browsing. Apart from these, a good knowledge of how the search engine works, different kinds of search operators and using the right keywords are very much essential to find and capture the relevant, latest and credible information. Search operators act as commands to the search engine to gain more specific outputs. The most commonly used search operators are the Boolean operators such as ‘AND’ ‘OR’ and ‘-‘ functions.

Time taken
Browsing doesn’t have any time limits. Due to its unstructured form, browsing the web may take more time or sometimes may not provide the desired information, even if it is readily available. Where as research is time bounded, where timelines are set clearly. Researchers usually work heads down and focus on what they are looking for, where to find the credible information and how to find the information. They know what is found till now and what exactly is to be found. They regularly narrow down their choices to get the desired information quickly.

Documentation
One of the main differences between the two is unlike net surfers, researchers save the data they have collected for further analysis. Later, when they are offline they analyze the collected data, draw the conclusions and document or present the information in simple terms, which is easy to understand.

Casually surfing for information on the Internet is not efficient in finding useful information. Where as research is more thorough and involves a lot of hard work and skill, for the same reasons, information will be of good quality.

Summary Documents

Summary documents give a quick overview of the main or original work that helps to understand the big picture. They are used in almost all the fields ranging from academia, science to business. Every research, concept, report or informational document has some form summary to facilitate understanding the gist. A brief description of each of them is as below-

Datasheet
A datasheet is usually used in technical aspects. It is a document summarizing the technical specifications of an electronic component, technology, a system or software as a list. Usually, a datasheet looks like a spreadsheet with little description.

Typically, a datasheet is created by the author or manufacturer of the component. A datasheet helps in understanding the component better to use it properly.

Fact Sheet
It is a summary of data about an event, an organization, an issue, a product or a service. They are more popular online as they give quick basic information that can be printed out instantly.

A fact sheet contains a list of basic facts or key attributes about the subject. It is a simpler presentation of data on a subject as key points with a simple structure in less space. They may contain lists, statistics, points in FAQ form, and in how-to style.

‘Onepage’ is a type of Fact sheet.

Abstract
Abstract is a brief summary or abridgement of a larger complex work, such as a research article, book, and thesis. Abstracts are mainly used in academic research to let the readers know the essence of the work quickly avoiding them to go through the entire work to understand the subject matter. Abstract is the research work in a nutshell that is usually in a single page.

Executive Summary
Executive summary is usually used in business for a summary of a longer report or a proposal. Executive summary is written for an executive who will not have enough time to read the original or entire report. It is prepared in such a way that readers can rapidly become aware of the larger version without reading it. It is intended to aid decision making by business managers.

An executive summary differs from an abstract in the structure and purpose. An abstract is short and provides a neutral overview or orientation rather than being a condensed version of the full document like an executive summary. Unlike an abstract, it can be more than a single page based on the original report and contains conclusions and recommendations.

Informational Documents

These documents involve lot of research and documentation about a subject or many subjects of broader scope that is useful to a fairly large section of the people. They are primarily published to give information to public. These documents are mostly used in politics and industry. These documents are often updated in the process to be contemporary and relevant to the current times. Blue Book and Living document come under this category. A brief description of each of them is as below-

Blue Book

Blue book or Bluebook is a term often referring to an almanac or other compilation of statistics and information. A prominent example is the Blue Book published annually by the Office for National Statistics of UK that contains the estimates of the domestic and national product, income and expenditure for the United Kingdom. In industry, the industry bodies release Blue Book that contains information related to the companies in that industry.

A Blue Book acts as an authoritative reference to the information related to the field. Primarily, it is a compilation of statistics and information updated on a yearly basis.

Living Document

A living document is a document, which is continually edited and updated by either a limited or an unrestricted group, for example- an article in Wikipedia. A living document may or may not have a proper framework for updates, changes, or adjustments. The United States Constitution is sometimes considered a living document as it can be reinterpreted and updated endlessly by judges without actual amendment.

The main purpose of the constant updates is to make the document achieve comprehensiveness over the subject in the course of time.

In business, a living document is more structured and exists as a shared document among the employees. It may be a draft work initially, which transforms into a more acceptable document over a series of modifications that finally standardizes with the consent of the employees involved. However, it is open to modifications even at this stage.

The common aspect of the information documents is they just present data in a structured manner, facilitating different kinds of applications by different users for diverse purposes. In the next and final part of the article, we will discuss about summary documents.

1. Analytical documents
2. Informational documents
3. Summary documents

This is the first part of the article that talks about the analytical documents.

Analytical Documents or Papers

These documents involve lot of research and analysis about an issue or a subject that will have a considerable impact on a fairly large section of people. These documents are used in various fields such as politics, business, and science. Green Paper, White Paper, Purpose Paper, and After Action Report come under this category. A brief description of each of the type is as below-

Green Paper

The Green Paper is usually used by the Government. It is strictly aimed at stimulating discussion on an issue among the public or the interested parties to get the consensus. Once the consensus is reached, a green paper may result in a White paper, which is a basis of a bill. It is only a first-draft document and does not represent the final policy. It will accept modifications in the process of consultation and debate.

The purpose of the Green paper is to have a robust debate over the issue in order to throw light on all the aspects of the issue that may finally results in a flawless policy. It prepares the ideal ground for a fruitful discussion.

A green paper usually presents a range of ideas (usually listed) that are unbiased and objective as it is meant to invite all the interested individuals or organizations to contribute views and information.

White Paper

A white paper is an authoritative work that addresses a problem(s) and recommends a solution. In some cases, White Paper follows Green Paper. Unlike Green Paper, a White Paper is also often used in business and technical subjects apart from politics. A White Paper provides an in-depth analysis of a subject, technology, trend, product or a process. White papers are predominantly informational rather than promotional material. A White paper educates and guides readers and helps to understand the issue clearly and completely.

We can divide white paper into three types based on their purpose in the fields they are circulated.

Government White Paper – Usually follows a Green Paper. White paper represents the policy and future course of action by the Government on an issue. It precedes a bill in the house to make a law.

Marketing White Paper – A white paper has become a standard marketing tool today. Here White Paper is used to inform and bring awareness on how a particular product or service can solve a problem benefiting the customer. It analyses a gap (need) in the market, what should be done, discusses several alternatives, technology/process underlying the alternatives, and guides towards the best alternative to serve the need of the customer.

A marketing White Paper answers why a particular product or service is better than competitors’ substitute products.

Technical White Paper – Discusses about a particular technology in all the dimensions. It is an informational instrument offering an overview of standards, feasibility, how a technology works, intricacies, results, issues, solutions – its importance, use and implementation, and benefits.

After Action Report (AAR)

An After Action Report (AAR) is a process of retrospective analysis of the execution of a project and its success generally done by the person behind the project. The AAR is done as part of performance evaluation and improvement. Earlier, AARs were usually used by Defense and Science communities. Modern-day examples of AARs include project evaluations in business, and retellings of large gaming sessions in computer games.

AAR focuses on lessons learned from an incident. It is complete only when it gives recommendations for improvements, as it is important for decision makers to plug the holes.

The structure of a general AAR is as follows-

1. Project Overview
2. Goals and objectives
3. Events synopsis
4. Analysis of outcomes
5. Analysis of critical tasks performance
6. Conclusions
7. Recommendations

Position Paper

A position paper presents an opinion or stance about an issue. Position papers are used in many fields such as politics, academics, science, business, law, and social organizations to give out their opinion or policy towards and issue. Position papers are often biased as it presents only one side of the issue like in a debate. It tries to convince or influence the audience to agree with the argument.

The position paper is published to generate support on an issue. It describes a position on an issue and the rational for that position.

A position paper should have-

• Evidence to support the argument, such as statistical facts
• Authoritative and highly reliable references

The common aspect of analytical papers is in depth research, detailed analysis and clear presentation. Analytical paper helps us to understand a problem and its backdrop comprehensively and guides through several alternatives towards a more optimum solution to the problem.

In the second part of the article, we will discuss about the Informational documents.

In these tough times, a good insight into current state of market and consumer behaviors is invaluable for business owners. Web research plays an important role in recession to help the businesses make right choices. It not only provides valuable information on the industry, product and competitors, but also helps to find a solution to evolve and survive.

Monitors current state of industry or product
In order to survive and succeed in tough times, a good knowledge on the current state of the industry or product is very important for a business. For some brands, detailed information on the market provides a good chance to grab the market share in recession.

Web research helps them to know about their brand’s position in the current market. It also provides vital information such as the market size, share and structure for the businesses. It monitors the current state of the product and helps in pricing, positioning and branding.

Insight into consumers’ behavior
Studying consumers’ behavior is very essential in recession. Consumers don’t stop spending, but they spend in different ways than earlier. Focusing and communicating with the potential, existing, and loyal customers of brand are helpful during the critical period to survive. Web research helps you to identify them in a quick and effective manner. It also provides insights into customers’ new expectations.

Explores potential markets
Despite the recession, consumption levels and brand preferences in some markets are good. Web research plays a critical role in identifying the markets that are growing. It also helps to set up and cement the brand in new markets by providing vital information on market trends, opportunities and key success factors in recession.

Monitors competitors
Monitoring the competitors is as important as monitoring your own business in recession. Awareness on how your competitors are working, branding and particularly pricing is the key to success.

Web research provides many useful insights into your competitors such as their promotional strategies, news and developments. This level of awareness on competitors will be helpful in making right tactical choices.

Inexpensive
One of the main reasons why web research is preferred over other methods in recession is due to its cost effectiveness. Web research is inexpensive, fast, and very useful for small, medium and even for big businesses during recession. A professional web research firm provides solid direction and insights at a relatively low cost compared to other methods of market research.

People have different assumptions of the market’s condition and consumer behaviors during recession. Don’t get carried away by old paradigms. Act smartly in recession. Invest in inexpensive and effective web research to get correct and analyzed report of the market.

Wondering whether World Wide Web has that information that you could use? The following are some of the interesting statistics on the Internet and the information available -

• According to Net Craft, there are 225,950,957 Websites online in August 2009.
• According to Google and Bing, the total number of web pages or addresses well exceeds 1 trillion, much more than the total population of the earth, which is just around 6.7 billion. According to Bing, if one were to read all the information stored on the web, it may take 600,000 decades of non-stop reading to finish the huge virtual stack.
• English is the most popular language online, according to IWS. More than 80% of home pages on the Web are in English, while the next greatest, German, has only 4.5% and Japanese 3.1%. (englishenglish.com), and 29.4% of the Internet users use English to communicate (IWS). This clearly means more information in English is available online than any other language.
• According to IDC research, the total bits of digital information created in 2008 –
  3,892,179,868,480,350,000,000 (Calculated to be 487 billion gigabytes). Looking forward, the information is expected to double in size every 18 months. The information created in 2012 will be five times to what is created in 2008.
• By 2012, 850 million people will buy and sell products and services on the Internet and Internet commerce will double to 2008.

Online secondary research gathers data that already exists in the Internet from reliable sources. Some of these sources include internal sources of the business, government publications, websites of non-profit organizations such as industry bodies, freely accessible data on the Internet, some professional newspapers and magazines, and annual reports of companies filed with SEC. Though it looks all is fine, there are some limitations of online desk research.

Outdated Data:
Search engines return thousands of links when searched for any data. Along with valid results, a considerable percentage of the data found in the web pages is outdated. Data published on Internet can become outdated very quickly due to the pace of change within in industry. Most of the information will be outdated and useless in no time. The data collected through secondary research may not exactly tell current happenings but can be effectively used in time-series analysis i.e. to identify historical patterns and trend cycles to forecast the future developments.

Limited Useful Data:
One can spend hours searching for specific details as useful data on Internet is limited. Sometimes publishers are reluctant to give away the complete details freely online, so data availability is generally restricted and incomplete. In some occasions, all the required data may not be available from the same or one source. Data has to be carefully searched, identified and arranged to get the complete picture. Any missing piece of data has to be replaced with similar data from other qualified sources.

Inaccurate Data:
The overall quality of the market research is directly related to the accuracy of information sources used to collect data. There are many websites and blogs that provide information on the Internet, but a market researcher cannot consider them as reliable information sources as they generally provide incorrect information. A researcher first identifies reliable sources related to the topic, then analyzes and crosschecks the same data from various sources to validate its accuracy.

Though the information available on Internet is free of cost, it requires lot of effort, patience, extreme care and skill to dig out useful information. To overcome these limitations, the professional Internet market researchers use various Internet tools and search engine techniques that enable to find the qualified data and utilize it for research.

The label ‘desk research’ is more appropriate to online secondary research, as a market researcher collects data to the most extent without moving from his desk from Web. With the change in business environment, the market research requirements became more demanding that made online desk research appropriate and viable to most of the businesses.

Variety of Sources
Internet has around 238 million websites as of June, 2009, according to Netcraft. These websites represents many kinds of sources such as competitor companies, trade bodies, research organizations, industry experts etc. They give the required diversity of the resources to market research to evaluate the data from various angles and perceptions.

Latest Information
Internet provides the latest insights into an issue from various sources instantly. The researcher doesn’t have to wait for the data to be physically published and shipped to him. Latest information is available online and is accessible from any corner of the world within no time.

Time Effective
Online desk research can provide a quick glance of the already existing information without much effort. In examining information like social, economic or demographic trends often, it is a better method than primary research. When a business needs to have a quick view of a market situation, online desk research is a better option rather than opting for traditional research.

Cost Effective
Online desk research can be done efficiently with less cost than traditional research as it takes less time and effort of the researchers. One more advantage of online desk research is, businesses can outsource the research to specialists that saves more expenditure while maintaining the quality.

The revolution of information access on the Internet continues to affect both market and societal environments, which is very important for businesses to keep a tap on. The changing business scenarios stress more on this opportunity and should not be overlooked.

Drawbacks of Internet in Marketing Research:

Based on Netcraft’s data, Boutell estimates some 29.7 billion pages on the Web in February 2007. This giant source itself is a big challenge to find the available right information.

• Excess Data
  As already stated, Internet contains vast amounts of data which is relevant as well as irrelevant to the user’s requirement. The problem is not the volume of information but finding that tiny bit that is necessary in this enormous ocean is a big challenge. To overcome this challenge the researcher has to be well versed with all the tools and techniques that are necessary to filter the unnecessary information.

• Unreliable Data
  Internet houses information from all kinds of sources ranging from government portals to blogs. Though the information gathered is correct, it is necessary to make sure that the source is a valid one. The quality of the final marketing research report depends upon the quality of the information sources that are used to collect information.

• Demands More Focus on Processing
  As there is a large amount of data available, processing this data into reliable information is a major task in the marketing research. To interpret, categorize, arrange and document this information requires more focus and effort from the market researcher.

• Challenge of SEO optimized websites
  Internet is becoming a major tool of promotion for business. This lead to various consequences like emergence of junk websites and money making through search engines. This has posed as a challenge to the researchers to obtain relevant websites since many good sites do not appear on the top of search results because low quality sites are focusing on SEO to get them ahead.

• Demands Different Mindset
  To access the right information, Internet requires a different mindset i.e. more focused and conceptualized research is necessary. Earlier, the amount of data available is very less when compared to the requirement. But now, a huge amount of information is pouring in from all directions. The Internet age market researcher requires a different mindset to process the data using various tools and techniques.

However, to overcome these challenges the Internet market researchers have the search engine and Meta search engine techniques, which filter the information and give thousands of narrow results, which leads to the target information.

Directs primary research
Online desk research directs primary research with a quick analysis of research focus and gives initial feedback with less effort. With this initial information, the researcher can clearly know which information is more important or less important, readily available or not available and can make changes to the direction of the primary research if necessary. Based on this, the research process can also be modified according to the requirements of the research.

Gauges the scope of the primary research
The researcher can have a panoramic and clear view of the primary research based on the information he got from the desk research. Researcher understands the required information, and which information to through more light upon, and what is not needed i.e. enough information is readily available from a reliable source. Based on this researcher can suggest changes to the scope of the research.

Reduces cost and time span of primary research
Online desk research identifies the topics of primary research, where enough information is readily available and avoids duplication of work. If enough information is readily available online from a reliable primary research resource, then it helps to fasten on that specific topic in the research. This saves a considerable amount of resources like research cost and time that can be refocused on the necessary areas of research and get high quality results.

If a primary research needs to find the population census, seldom people will start with a population survey; instead they get demographic information from www.census.org, which is reliable secondary resource. Therefore, even pure primary research needs some help from secondary data, otherwise the research topic is completely new and innovative. A good researcher knows how to use both primary and online desk research to integrate various information sources into a comprehensible and reliable market picture. This combination is effective in giving out reliable output that can be used to make good decisions.

• Market Know How
  Online market research can give the comprehensive information about the various factors and aspects of the market such as market profile, trends, size, segmentation, competition, SWOT and demand prospects. This exclusive and extensive online marketing research report certainly gives a big picture of the market scenario.
• New Domains of Use
  Not only online research can be used for the market intelligence, but it can also be put into great use for many areas such as advertising, public relations, and interactive communication activities. Internet marketing research is also useful in numerous other business functions such as Branding, Competitive analysis, Consumer Behavior and Customer Relationship Management and Investor Relationship Management.
• New Opportunities
  Internet marketing research can provide insight into new market opportunities that may be never discovered. And also, research can identify new business ventures, and offer the possibility to streamline the existing business processes, which results in more efficient execution of the process. New business opportunities and ventures result in the competitive advantage in the market by delivering better products at less value.
• Competitive Advantage
  Competitive advantage enables the firm to create superior value for its customers and superior profits for itself. There are many areas of competitive advantages including the firm’s cost structure, product offerings, marketing research, distribution network and customer support. Internet marketing research allows to gain advantage from the competitors by delivering accurate results at affordable costs.

The main task after getting the market research report is to implement the findings. The ultimate goal of the report is to make the research work for the enhancement of the business. While Internet market research is an integral step in improving the visibility online, its quality and flexibility of use allow it to be effortlessly applied to all aspects of marketing activities.

Information availability prior to Internet:
Information available for us before Internet is scattered in different sources like books, newspapers, encyclopedias, magazines, museums and libraries. Collection of required data or searching for data used to take lot of time. For example, prior to Internet, information about any medical treatment for any disease was a time consuming process. People used to refer different books in libraries and other sources for days together to get the necessary information. But with Internet, any information is available within minutes.

Changes brought by Internet:
The advent of the Internet has been one of the most exciting major events in the second half of the 20th century. Information is shared among all humans with the help of Internet. A big advantage of Internet is the availability of information with quick accessibility than ever before. One can access information in a book that is available in a library, in the other part of the world with just a click of mouse. Unlike the books in the libraries, information online is constantly reviewed and updated frequently.

Information Era:
Internet became a public domain in the 1980’s. From then availability of information was permanently revolutionized and grown tremendously. Information era has changed the lives of all humans either directly or indirectly. Information on almost every topic is obtained at high speed and more easily available than ever before. This new level of information availability and accessibility is influencing the dynamics of the global markets as well as personal lives. Remarkably, information is not only accessible to all but can be created by and distributed to almost everybody.

Everyone can enjoy the unmatched prosperity of global information resources by connecting to the Internet. The advent of the Internet has increased the efficiency of the information availability. With this, significant increase in level of information endowment in a variety of fields is observed.

Internet and the Information age
The age before Information was called the Industrial age where people had to face scarcity of information and time lag to access the available information. Today, Internet has evolved to be a crucial medium in distributing and accessing the relevant information within no time. Internet is also the fastest growing media that has the capability to impact the social, technological, economical and political activities of people, all over the world. This can be compared with the Information revolution brought by the invention of printing press.

Accessibility of information at any time
In this information age, the competition among businesses has grown incredibly all around the world in all kind of industries. It is unaffordable for any competent business to succumb to information limitations, in order to sustain in the competitive environment. Control of the availability of the information is no longer confined to the few people. People are free to communicate, work and access information round the clock from anywhere in the world. It is through Internet that the communications have grown incredibly and leveraged outsourcing of services to such a big extent.

Information for decision making
For any Information-age organization, it is the information that is going to help to sustain the competition. The success of any organization in the information age relies with the speed and accuracy of gaining relevant information and making effective decisions based on it. No other medium is as effective or reliable as Internet for such purposes. There is a vast amount of information available on internet on any field, which can be collected, analyzed, and then used for effective decision making.

Indeed, the internet has become an indispensable tool in the part and parcel of people’s lives, as it gained influence in information distribution. The role of the internet as a useful, practical, and even essential, information tool by other forms of media is increasing and is a clear example of the information era powered by Internet.

Remarkably, there is an immense amount of information online that is not only accessible to all but can be created and shared by almost everybody. According to a claim by Google, there are around 8.1 billion documents online and are growing rapidly. A team of researchers from SIMS – University of California claims that the size of the information on the World Wide Web is 170 terabytes. Information of about 170 terabytes is equal to ten times of the information available in the Library of Congress. This new height of information availability and accessibility is influencing the dynamics of the global markets as well as regional businesses more or less equally.

Most of the data available online is in English as it is the most popular language online. More than 80% of home pages on the Web are in English, while the next greatest, German, has only 4.5% and Japanese 3.1%, according to englishenglish.com. Clearly, this means more information in English is available online than any other language.

The above statistics from various sources reiterates that the information available online is not only abundant but also growing rapidly at an exponential pace. This vast size of the information available never earlier in the history of mankind, sometimes becomes a challenge for the business researchers to find the reliable and credible information within it.

The major contributors of the information online that is useful for the businesses are market research companies, industry associations, related-industry web sites, competitor companies’ websites and government sources like www.bls.gov. Information from various sources from a variety of backgrounds can help online researchers to crosscheck and validate the data they are collecting for the research purpose. Information thus derived from the online secondary research is good enough to give insight into the research issue and help the businesses in well-informed decision making to the extent possible.

The increased efficiency of the information availability has significantly increased the level of information endowment on a variety of fields of marketing and business as a whole. The abundance of information available online that is instantly accessible at low or no cost has certainly created a great resource for secondary research for businesses.

Impact on People

The availability of information online has facilitated people with the ease of accessing the required information and utilize it for efficient living. People use information available online in a variety of formats like video, audio, presentations, text and images for wide variety of purpose like Shopping, Education, Health, etc.

If they want to know more about any historical incident instead of going to library for earlier copies of newspapers, they can accesses any kind of details with a click. People can access global news on any topic from international journals without subscribing it and being shipped to their homes. Information available online helps people in making efficient purchase decisions. People have latest Information online about new products, price comparisons, product reviews, and fashion trends.

There are many websites that provide information on anything, right at the instance. Websites, like Encyclopedia Britannica, Google maps, which provide reliable information, are very popular. People use this information to solve their problems, to improve their knowledge, to elucidate their doubts, etc. more efficiently and effortlessly.

Impact on Businesses

For businesses it is a more helpful to have vast amount information backing their way of doing business. They can accesses information from various sources and perspectives, which helps in judging the market situations more accurately. Businesses could access information, which was not available about their competitors and their moves. With the evaluation of the information online they could know the pulse of the customer.

Information available online became an essential ingredient for businesses in making crucial and successful decisions like designing marketing campaigns, launching new products, etc. They can access latest information from reliable sources at an instance which helps them take quicker and viable decisions. Using information available online also helps businesses improve their bottom line as it costs far less than traditional forms of marketing research.

The easier access of valuable information helped to be aware of many social issues in the world like global warming, AIDS, terrorism, etc. The vast amount of information available online has helped people and businesses to come out of information deficiency and information time lag implying they are well informed about anything that leads to overall betterment of the society.

The Role of Internet in Marketing Research:
Internet became the part and parcel of the businesses to make and convey decisions. The decision-making is done based on the information generated by the marketing research. Increasingly Internet is becoming a major source for the market research. The reason is Internet contains vast resource of information available for market research.

• Access to Multiple Resources
  Accessing information through the Internet is an efficient alternative to hours spent with traditional sources like libraries. The Internet connects businesses, academic institutions, trade associations, government agencies and private individuals. Using browsers, it is possible to access the sites or user groups who are linked through the Net.

• Information at Finger Tips
  Any kind of information that is available in Internet is just a few clicks away. For marketing research, the Internet has two important sources of information. One is the websites, which represent companies, organizations and individuals to promote their products, services or communicate their views. The other source is user groups. The information given in the websites rather than the user groups is more reliable for a researcher. The companies and organizations generally give genuine information about their businesses in their official portals. The user groups can give some useful leads by giving key words and URLs.

• Exchange Information Globally in Less Time
  Through Internet it is possible to send and receive information from far distant countries. You can send and receive market reports to and from China as easy as Canada. All this will happen in few minutes with less effort and cost. The effortless transmission of information across the boundaries made the job of the marketing research easier, to process both globalized and localized information for the marketing research.

It is undisputed to state that Internet has a vital role to play in the marketing research. The information base in Internet is expanding by the online versions of the other sources of information such as libraries, press, books etc. This will give a new exposure to the marketing research to become more effective and efficient in delivering better results.

Features of Outsourcing Internet Marketing Research

• Specialized Expertise
  The online marketing research firms offers specialist services to almost all kinds of businesses. Because major operational business decisions can be taken based upon the marketing research reports, it should be carried out by the research professionals. Professional online marketing research firms do have professionals with expertise in online search techniques. Online marketing research professionals are familiar with reliable data sources and with the techniques to the reliable information.
• Less Time
  The professional marketing research firms operate according to a timetable and schedule. They will give timely updates and status reports to the client to make sure that the research project is going in the right direction. This will make the report delivered on time according to the client’s requirement. And also the in-house research reports may be delayed as all the resources may not be employed on the research project.
• Limited to Specific Businesses
  Online research reports are limited to some specific business. It is well known that online research projects are entirely dependent on the information available on the Internet. That means, if the information about a particular industry or the topic is not available on the Internet, the objective of the research may not be fulfilled.
• Cost Effective
  The main reason for the outsourcing is to get quality services in a cost effective manner. The research firms will have all the built-in infrastructure and resources to do the research project. As they are exclusively focused on the research they know how to reduce the cost of the project. At the same time by assigning the research project to a research firm, the company can reduce the operational costs and concentrate more on their core business.
• Unbiased Report
  In some cases of in-house research, there is a chance of the report may be influenced by the internal environment of the company. At the same time the professional online marketing research firms can deliver the impartial research report with an objective perspective.

The research done by an external source will have credibility because it is done by a professional agency. However, to deliver a good online research project there should be good knowledge about the local market of the client. Globalization with the aid of the Internet is bridging this gap.

• Preliminary Assessment of Market
  Desk research is a good option for a preliminary study of the markets. It can be used highly effectively to provide leads that help the decision makers to get more detailed analysis about the market situation.
• Competitive Intelligence
  Competitive Intelligence is more than analyzing competitors. Having a clear picture of competitors both existing and potential is always crucial. Online desk research is a better option to evaluate some areas of the competitive intelligence. Internet has various sources like business websites, trade associations websites, research websites, government portals etc. These sources will help to get good information about the competitors.
• Market Trends
  Identifying market trends is the basic requirement to run a business. Many databases of articles and reports can be accessed through the Internet. By using these databases online desk research produces both contemporary and historical framework of the market trends. These frameworks allow identifying new market trends and drawing parallels.
• Quick Reference
  Desk research provides a quick reference to the already existing information without much effort. In examining information like social, economic or demographic trends it is a better option than the primary research.
• Leverage Published Data
  Internet contains information from many sources like businesses, academic institutions, trade associations, government agencies etc. These resources are put into good use to get the desired results in online desk research. As a result online desk research becomes economical and takes less time to yield results.
• Aids Primary Research
  Carrying out an initial desk research is strongly recommended to gain background knowledge to a subject. Though the desk research has a disadvntage of processing outdated data, this data can give cruicial leads for primary research. This approach has a potential that can add a new dimension to primary research.

Typically, secondary data accessed through desk research is initially generated through primary research. Online desk research can be very fruitful when it is viewed as preliminary guide to the market. It is a better option to carry out online desk research first and then filling the gaps through the primary techniques.