The generation of research report is concerned by most clients when purchasing it. Since most of our clients are from China, let’s first introduce the generating process of research report in mainland China, based on our internal understanding of this industry and external peer communication. The great mass of marketing research reports (mostly user report), adopt the following procedure.
First, choose a topic. Secondly, make a skeleton catalogue. Third, fill content. Fourth, audit report. Fifth, finish and publish report. As for report content, there are two main information source, first-hand information and second-hand information. Second-hand information refers to information searched from the Internet or data bought from database(NBS or CUSTOMS). First--hand information refers to information concluded from telephone interview, face-to-face interview, experts interview, meeting or other first-hand material.
With regard to information cost, information searching costs the least, database support the second least, telephone interview the third least. Face-face interview cost higher, in-depth interview much higher, and expert interview the highest. A research may adopt all of these approaches, or just some of them.
In general, a good-quality research report needs 1-3 months to be finished. Time varies according to different data used and different people included. Thus, it’s difficult to define an exact procedure or process of making research report. Both time and cost vary. However, specialization has become a basic industry standard. Professional and dedicated products will be more and more popular.