It’s a world of life-long learning these days. Whether we realise it or not, we are constantly advancing, evolving and changing direction throughout our working lives. Some of these directional changes come with the natural flow of our careers or the way in which the business we occupy develops. Yet, for the other, much bigger part, we can take control into our own hands, grab the helm and steer with or into the wind for the best training and education to support our progression as both an insight professional and a person.
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| Market research training supports our progression as insight professionals and people |
Professional development tools and market research training courses can be found manifold. Some are free online courses, for others you pay and have to attend in person – either way, let’s look at some of the recommended providers and 10 of their most valuable upcoming provisions.
The Market Research Society (MRS) is a world leading research association “dedicated to the support, promotion and enrichment of the research and business world”. Their courses range from introductory, over business skills, intermediate and advanced levels to specialisms. Most take you way beyond the traditional “Introduction to Market Research” that can often be found elsewhere.
If you are looking to up your market research game why not look at the two-day long: Unlock the Story - Commercial Storytelling for Researchers? Ideal if you want to develop your (internal or external) client consulting skills. Alternatively, get up to speed with visual story-telling for insight presentation, a must in today’s data cluttered world by hopping on a 1-day workshop: Infographics and Data Visualisation. This one has more of a playful learn-by-doing approach with some proper hands-on training allowing you to explore the tech with expert supervision. Both courses require in-person attendance at the MRS headquarters in London.
Dates
Wednesday, 13 June 2018 (Day 1 of 2)
Tuesday, 20 June 2018 (Day 2 of 2)
Pricing
Members - £645.00 + VAT
Non-members - £945.00 + VAT
Company Partner (non-ticket price) - £645.00 + VAT
Date
Friday, 24 November 2017
Pricing
Members - £325.00 + VAT
Non-members - £475.00 + VAT
Company Partner (non-ticket price) - £325.00 + VAT
For more MRS training courses: MRS Event Calendar
ESOMAR’s webinars go a long way and I would advise you to check them out but what caught my eye more recently was one of their new academic courses: The Principles of Mobile Market Research. Even as an experienced researcher, there’s always something new to learn, and with the challenges surrounding mobile (international) research, unbiased and secure data collection in particular, understanding current mobile market research best practice is certainly at the top of the learning list.
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| Mobile research has its own unique challenges - understanding best practice is key to success |
The course is a “new self-paced, PRC-approved, online short course from the University of Georgia and Marketing Research Institute International [which] adds to your skillset by teaching you what you need to know about the mobile market research phenomenon”.
Date
Enroll online at any time
Pricing
Members - $459
Non-members - $499
For more ESOMAR training courses: ESOMAR Global Training Calendar
For the number-loving data analysts and researchers, UDACITY offers an online: Data Analysis with Python and SQL (Term 1), and: Advanced Data Analysis (Term 2) (nanodegree) program. You’ll be advancing your programming skills and getting to grips with complex datasets – with it all ending in your preparing data for analysis and creating meaningful visualisations. For Term 1 (3 months) there’s no coding experience needed, so you can dip straight in.
You can then tag Term 2 (also 3 months) on for the advanced data analysis element or start at this level if you already have Python and SQL experience. The program goes beyond the theory to practical statistic application - learn how to apply inferential statistics and probability to real-world scenarios. Ah, and there we are… back at the story-telling angle of things!
Date
Online term style intake
Pricing
Data Analysis with Python and SQL (Term 1) - £399
Advanced Data Analysis (Term 2) - £579
For more UDACITY training courses: UDACITY Course and Nanodegree Calendar
For the German-speakers among us (myself included) BVM has some very interesting offerings. My current favourites, the 2-day: Customer Focus - Service Quality, Customer Satisfaction, Customer Loyalty and the 1-day: Introduction and Realisation of Behavioural Economics @ Market Research courses, both taking place in Berlin.
As insight professionals, we are all involved in customer research in some way – it’s key to business success after all. Both BVM courses have been specifically designed to take your customer research design and outcome interpretation skills to the next level, to challenge traditional market research techniques and inspire new approaches.
Date
Wednesday, 29 November 2017 - Thursday, 30 November 2017
Pricing
Members - 1280 EUR
Non-members - 1600 EUR
Date
Wednesday, 27 September 2017
Pricing
Members - 790 EUR
Non-members - 990 EUR
For more BVM training courses: BVM Event Calendar
If you’d rather stay in the English-speaking realms, have a look at the upcoming webinar on GreenBook.org: Non-Conscious Behaviour. Measure it. Understand it. Drive it. Another embarkation into behavioural economics, here you have the chance to learn how behavioural research and design is empowering next generation insights and marketing including real life success stories. If you’d like to identify and activate against four, non-conscious factors driving consumer behaviour, then mark 12 October 2PM ET in your calendar for this webinar. (If you miss the live stream, a recording will be available.)
Date
Thursday, 12 October 2017 (or watch the recording at a later date)
Pricing
Free
For more Greenbook training courses: GreenBook Webinar Calendar (and past recordings)
ERA provides useful resources, e-presentations, courses and tools around all things legal. Of particular interest to market researchers: Data Protection Impact Assessment: Best Practices. After all, we work with data on a daily basis and need to stay on top of the latest developments. Dip into this free e-presentation to get up to speed from the comfort of your own desk in your own time.
Date
Watch online at any time
Pricing
Free
Our entire content ethos here at FlexMR is that of education and inspiration. Whether it’s via our blog or our resource centre our insight experts are passionate about sharing their market research expertise, both generic and specialist. If any of the training courses above did catch your eye but you are unable to attend, here are a selection of related FlexMR blogs and free whitepapers for perusal at your leisure.
Date
Read online at any time
Pricing
Free
Whether it is a free webinar, an online course, an in-person training session or a full academic program – there’s a wealth of educational resource out there, with a fitting offer for everybody. And if all else fails, don’t forget that your colleagues are wandering information sources, too. We all have our passions and unique skill sets; just get chatting the next time you meet at the water cooler!