Using Market Research for the Dissemination and Utilization of Disability Research

Listening to users is the key to successful marketing. The goal of market research, as is the case with virtually any research, is to provide information for decision making. Marketers turn to market research when they need information about their customers' attitudes and behavior toward their organization and its products. This information can serve to conduct marketing planning, problem solving or monitoring.

Researchers funded by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) can use market research strategies to learn more about the needs, concerns, and ideas of potential users of disability research results. Effective market research can:

1. identify appropriate target users and groups;
2. ensure that research activities are pertinent to, and valued by, target users;
3. suggest dissemination strategies that attract users and result in awareness and behavior change; and
4. assist in evaluating customer satisfaction and the overall impact of dissemination.

This issue of The Research Exchange expands upon the overview of market research techniques described in the previous issue (Volume 5, Number 1). Some examples will be presented from NIDRR­funded researchers. Much of the research conducted by NIDRR's grantees includes strategies that are also used in market research. Grantees conduct research that includes analysis of secondary data; focus groups; pilot or usability testing; and surveys. These activities provide vital information concerning a range of disability issues and can also be used to identify ways to improve information sharing with consumers.

One concern commonly voiced by disability researchers relates to limited resources for conducting dissemination activities, including any market research. Market research is often thought to require a set of separate activities that relate primarily to dissemination. In this context, these activities may be considered subordinate to the research studies defined in the funded project. Successful models, however, have demonstrated that it is advantageous to include market research activities as integrated components of the research design and to implement them in conjunction with other research activities. When an effort is made to include market research from the beginning, human and financial resources are used more effectively and efficiently to learn about consumers' needs.

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