Desk Research Course
There is an expectation these days that whatever information you need about products, markets or competitors, can be found online. But it is important to be clear what type of answers can be found through desk research and when you may require primary research.
And putting keywords into Google is not the most effective or efficient way to build the picture. This course will focus on improving your efficiency when searching for information and suggest ways in which you can increase the chances of success in finding the key market information you are looking for whether about the home or export market.
Key Topics
The main topics that are covered in the 1 day course on Desk Research are shown below. The agenda can be adapted according to the specific interests of your organisation.
Understanding what desk research may or may not be good for
While there is a great deal of information in the public domain, some may have access restricted, be costly to acquire or simply not exist in a usable format. Information can be biased or out of date and the fact that it published online does not automatically give it credibility. Be clear on what you can realistically expect to find online and in which situations it may be advisable to undertake primary research.
How to use Google and other search engines more productively
Learn how to be more effective in your search by using a variety of search engines, being clear in advance what information you are looking for and looking directly for the kinds of sources where such information is more likely to be found
10 key types of information source you can look for
Instead of putting random key words into Google- which can often result in a page of advertisements trying to sell you products -instead of facts, data and market information, use specific sources to locate Country Information, Product Information, Market Information, Competitor Information, Trend data and Economic data.
What to do with the information once you have collected it
Instead of starting from scratch every time you have a request for some desk research, learn how to systematically store the most useful references so that you can easily locate the updated or similar information in the future.