• Market and survey researchers need at least a bachelor’s degree.
• Continuing education and keeping current with the latest methods of developing, conducting, and analyzing surveys and other data is important for advancement.
• Employment is expected to grow faster than average.
• Job opportunities should be best for those with a master’s or Ph.D. degree in marketing or a related field and with strong quantitative skills.

Market and survey researchers gather information about what people think. Market, or marketing, research analysts help companies understand what types of products people want and at what price. They also help companies market their products to the people most likely to buy them. Gathering statistical data on competitors and examining prices, sales, and methods of marketing and distribution, they analyze data on past sales to predict future sales.

Market research analysts devise methods and procedures for obtaining the data they need. Often, they design surveys to assess consumer preferences through Internet, telephone, or mail responses. They conduct some surveys as personal interviews, going door-to-door, leading focus group discussions, or setting up booths in public places such as shopping malls. Trained interviewers usually conduct the surveys under the market research analyst’s direction.

After compiling and evaluating the data, market research analysts make recommendations to their client or employer. They provide a company’s management with information needed to make decisions on the promotion, distribution, design, and pricing of products or services. The information also may be used to determine the advisability of adding new lines of merchandise, opening branches of the company in a new location, or otherwise diversifying the company’s operations. Market research analysts also might develop advertising brochures and commercials, sales plans, and product promotions such as rebates and giveaways.

Survey researchers also gather information about people and their opinions, but these workers focus exclusively on designing and conducting surveys. They work for a variety of clients, such as corporations, government agencies, political candidates, and providers of various services. The surveys collect information that is used in performing research, making fiscal or policy decisions, measuring the effectiveness of those decisions, or improving customer satisfaction. Analysts may conduct opinion research to determine public attitudes on various issues; the research results may help political or business leaders to measure public support for their electoral prospects or social policies. Like market research analysts, survey researchers may use a variety of mediums to conduct surveys, such as the Internet, personal or telephone interviews, or questionnaires sent through the mail. They also may supervise interviewers who conduct surveys in person or over the telephone.

Survey researchers design surveys in many different formats, depending upon the scope of their research and the method of collection. Interview surveys, for example, are common because they can increase participation rates. Survey researchers may consult with economists, statisticians, market research analysts, or other data users in order to design surveys. They also may present survey results to clients.

A bachelor’s degree is usually sufficient for entry-level market and survey research positions. Higher degrees may be required for some positions, however. Continuing education and keeping current with the latest methods of developing, conducting, and analyzing surveys and other data also is important for advancement.

Education and training. A bachelor’s degree is the minimum educational requirement for many market and survey research jobs. However, a master’s degree may be required, especially for technical positions.

In addition to completing courses in business, marketing, and consumer behavior, prospective market and survey researchers should take other liberal arts and social science courses, including economics, psychology, English, and sociology. Because of the importance of quantitative skills to market and survey researchers, courses in mathematics, statistics, sampling theory and survey design, and computer science are extremely helpful. Market and survey researchers often earn advanced degrees in business administration, marketing, statistics, communications, or other closely related disciplines.

While in college, aspiring market and survey researchers should gain experience gathering and analyzing data, conducting interviews or surveys, and writing reports on their findings. This experience can prove invaluable later in obtaining a full-time position in the field, because much of the initial work may center on these duties. Some schools help graduate students find internships or part-time employment in government agencies, consulting firms, financial institutions, or marketing research firms prior to graduation.

Other qualifications. Market and survey researchers spend a lot of time performing precise data analysis, so those considering careers in the occupation should be able to pay attention to detail. Patience and persistence are also necessary qualities because these workers must spend long hours on independent study and problem solving. At the same time, they must work well with others; often, market and survey researchers oversee the interviewing of a wide variety of individuals. Communication skills are important, too, because researchers must be able to present their findings well both orally and in writing.

Certification and advancement. The Marketing Research Association (MRA) offers a certification program for professional researchers who wish to demonstrate their expertise. Certification is based on education and experience and requires ongoing continuing education.

Researchers and analysts often begin by assisting others. With experience, market and survey analysts are eventually are assigned their own research projects. Continuing education and advanced degrees will be helpful to those looking to advance to more responsible positions in this occupation. It also is important to keep current with the latest methods of developing, conducting, and analyzing surveys and other data.

Some people with expertise in marketing or survey research choose to teach others these skills. A master’s degree usually is the minimum educational requirement for a job as a marketing or survey research instructor in junior and community colleges. In most colleges and universities, however, a Ph.D. is necessary for appointment as an instructor. A Ph.D. and extensive publications in academic journals are required for professorship, tenure, and promotion. Others advance to supervisory or managerial positions. Many corporation and government executives have a strong background in marketing.

Job Outlook

Employment growth of market and survey researchers is projected to be faster than average. Bachelor’s degree holders may face competition for employment in these occupations. Job opportunities should be best for jobseekers with a master’s or Ph.D. degree in marketing or a related field and with strong quantitative skills.

Employment change. Employment of market and survey researchers is projected to grow 20 percent from 2006 to 2016, faster than the average for all occupations. As companies seek to expand their market and as consumers become better informed, the need for marketing professionals will increase. In addition, globalization of the marketplace creates a need for more market and survey researchers to analyze foreign markets and competition.

Marketing research provides organizations valuable feedback from purchasers, allowing companies to evaluate consumer satisfaction and plan more effectively for the future. Survey researchers also will be needed to meet the growing demand for market and opinion research as an increasingly competitive economy requires businesses to allocate advertising funds more effectively and efficiently.

Job prospects. Bachelor’s degree holders may face competition for jobs, as many positions, especially the more technical ones, require a master’s or doctorate degree. Among bachelor’s degree holders, those with good quantitative skills, including a strong background in mathematics, statistics, survey design, and computer science, will have the best opportunities. Job opportunities should be best for jobseekers with a master’s or Ph.D. degree in marketing or a related field and with strong quantitative skills. Ph.D. holders in marketing and related fields should have a range of opportunities in many industries, especially in consulting firms. Like those in many other disciplines, however, Ph.D. holders probably will face keen competition for tenured teaching positions in colleges and universities.

Market research analysts should have the best opportunities in consulting firms and marketing research firms as companies find it more profitable to contract for market research services rather than support their own marketing department. However, other organizations, including computer systems design companies, software publishers, financial services organizations, health care institutions, advertising firms, and insurance companies, may also offer job opportunities for market research analysts. Increasingly, market research analysts not only collect and analyze information, but also help clients implement analysts’ ideas and recommendations.

Anyway, as far as I can glean, "reputation management" refers to exactly what you say, of putting your best foot forward in the digital world. The issue is really what do people find when they search for you on a Search engine like Google or Ask or Sites like Orkut or Facebook or Flickr, or any other social network or online venue.

It's nuanced too because if your name is, say "Pramathesh Borkotoky", but you sometimes write online as "DJ Boks" and somewhere indicate that the latter is a pen name for Pramathesh, then the dots can be connected and you need to worry about not only what your own name reveals, but what your pseudonyms reveal too.

This is really a significant issue for people just graduating college too. It might seem fun at the time to have a blog entry on your MySpace account about how you and your buddies crashed a sorority party and slipped some drugs into their water supply, but when you're trying to get a job two years later with a reputable company like Infosys or Satyam, you've now got a significant digital liability you need to overcome.

Worse, imagine that you're a popular industry figure (or company!) and in addition to your fans, you also have quite a cadre of detractors. You know, the ones that register the "sucks.com" domain (like "walmartsucks.com" or "dellsucks.com"). Further, imagine that when someone searches for you (or Walmart or Dell) that these detractor sites come up ahead of your own in Google. That's a very serious problem and one that isn't trivially solved.

You can't sue them because of freedom of speech, parody laws, offshore hosting, etc. Even if you could, it's probably not a smart approach anyway. Instead, what you want to do is virtually stuff the ballot box and ensure that the top matches are positive, are information that you control. That's really reputation management at the topmost level.

How do you get your own material to the top of the heap? By producing good quality original content that other people find sufficiently valuable that they link to it and thereby cast online votes towards its value.

As with any other corner of the industry, there are now books out on reputation management, including Reputation Management: The Key to Successful Public Relations and Corporate Communications by John Doorley and Helio Fred Garcia, New Strategies for Reputation Management: Gaining Control of Issues, Crises & Corporate Social Responsibility by Andrew Griffin, Corporate Reputation and Competitiveness by Gary Davies, Reputation Management by Gerry Griffin, Radically Transparent by my friend Andy Beal and Judy Strauss and, of course, a title that has an enumeration too: The 18 Immutable Laws of Corporate Reputation: Creating, Protecting, and Repairing Your Most Valuable Asset by Ronald J. Alsop and Ron Alsop.

It's all about tracking actions and the opinions of others about a particular person/company then working out a reaction or plan to work with these actions and/or what is being said about the company/person. Done correctly reputation management can be an extremely powerful tool in today's day and age.

Check this email service. SuretyMail, which is all about email reputation management. Check it out if you do lots of mailing to customers.

So there you go. I hope that helps you understand what reputation management is all about in the digital age. Make Sure Search Engines Like You.