It is important to firstly clarify terminology which we often find misused:

Market Analysis - a collection of approaches and techniques used to evaluate current and potential markets as the basis for strategy and market planning.

Marketing Research - concerned with specific marketing problems.

A strong evidence base is the foundation to creating robust strategies and for setting realistic objectives. It underpins decisions on reputation, positioning, targeting and segmentation, communication channels and is essential to programs, services and staff management and the launching of new services.

Are you frustrated by consultants and agencies that just report simple frequency results? Far too often research is designed by market researchers that have no direct experience of strategy development, marketing management decisions, or education. The key factor to meaningful research is in the quality of the analysis and the interpretation of the data to inform decisions. At The Knowledge Partnership we integrate strategy and analysis and we continually take our clients back to the bigger picture so that the research can be designed to deliver as much value as possible.

In virtually all cases a reliance on primary research is highly dangerous. A review of existing published research and/or bespoke analysis (e.g. focus groups) of secondary data is essential to:

• Helps in the design of the primary research
  
• May actually provide sound answers to generic questions
  
• Allows the primary results to be placed in a wider context.
  

The Knowledge Partnership will adopt whichever mode of fieldwork and data collection is the best to meet your needs whether that is web-based, personal interviews or focus groups, telephone research or quantitative surveys. We have well established and robust research platforms (both online and face to face) across key marketing issues.

The Knowledge Partnership has particular expertise in some increasingly important areas of research - market or responsiveness orientation, segmentation of parent and student markets, and internal communication (management of staff).?Building on Stephen Holmes' original published PhD research into the culture of education institutions we are also well placed to evaluate issues such as culture and market orientation.