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The Art and Science of Interpreting Market Research Evidence D. V. L. Smith and J. H. Fletcher Wiley, 2004; £24.99; ISBN: 0470844248
On one level this book, and its accompanying training modules, could be described as a creative writing course. But the content is a far cry from the 'once upon a time' or 'I'm going to tell you a story' genres of literature. The use of 'story telling' as a method of presenting complex issues within a corporate context in order to involve and motivate the audience is a growing phenomenon - this book describes how to do it and the underlying rigour that must be present if the audience is to have faith in this method of presenting information.
Perhaps more than any other, this book underlines the sea change that is taking place in market analysis - in particular, the increasing need to synthesise, or blend, information from various sources using different methodologies to do so and then turn the output into a narrative, rather than taking the traditional step-by-step approach ('first we did this, then we did that...'). If you think this all sounds like a dry primer on data integration, then think again. By the time you have finished reading the content you will be familiar and comfortable with the concepts of Bayesian statistics, grounded theory and the Hermeneutic Circle - and why these, and other well-proven theoretical constructs, need to be centre stage when developing a holistic approach to information management. In essence, this is a text about evidence-based decision...