Top 5 Market Research Certifications that are highly respected
Growth of Market Research Industry
The Market Research Industry is growing exponentially and the demand for Market Research professionals is at an all time high. The market research industry’s global sales in 2020 surpassed 76.5 billion U.S. dollars, more than doubling since 2010. The U.S. market research industry produces $23 billion in sales annually, according to the research company IBISWorld.
What does a Market Research Analyst do?
A market research career will offer you a fast-paced and fulfilling career. As a market researcher, you will collect and analyze the data and information you want to present to your clients. The data helps the clients to make business decisions after carefully evaluating social, political and economical issues. Most companies require information on customer opinions, investment and marketing trends. The majority of market researchers are generally employed by Consulting firms, Market Research companies, IT companies, Manufacturing firms as well as Banks of varying sizes, where work is carried out on numerous projects.
As a Research Analyst, you will be expected to:
- Design of questionnaires and advice on data collection methodology
- Data collection and statistical assimilation using statistical software
- Monitoring progress in the collection of data
- Collect and interpreting information for clients
- Make recommendations on the basis of the data collected
- Present findings to clients in an easy-to-understand manner
- Manage a data collection team and data input assistants
- Negotiate research project contracts
- Manage focus groups, conducting interviews and conducting surveys
Management of budgets
What skills are required to become a successful Market Researcher?
- Ability to cope with fast-paced, pressured work
- Precision
- Strong attention to detail and an analytical mind.
- Ability to report patterns within statistics
- Interest in psychology and behavior
- Good organizational skills
- Excellent communication skills (spoke and written)
- Confident presentation capabilities
- Commercial Knowledge
- Methodical approach to working
- Have a strong IT skills and knowledge or interest in learning statistical software packages
- Be flexible and work as part of a team.
Salary of a Market Research Analyst
As per the statistics from Payscale.com, Market Research Analysts are paid salary in the range of $63,790 to $89,580 per year. While Senior Market Research Analysts were paid $88,000 to $105,000 per year. With a work experience of 5+ years, a Research Manager earns around $105,000 to $120,000 per year.
Importance of a Certification
Having a certification can help describe the level of knowledge you have in Market Research. Certification ensures that you meet a certain skill level and can give you a competitive advantage, more work prospects, a higher pay scale, and job protection.
They’re looking for reasons to hire candidates … if they see anything that’s relevant to their industry, to their company, to the specific position, it’s definitely going to help to make that candidate more attractive.
Tim Gates
Adecco Staffing, Senior Regional Vice President
According to Pearson Vue, professionals with Certifications earn 11% more than non-certified professionals.
- The report says professionals who learnt new skills and earned a certification last year received a salary raise of $12,000-$13,000.
- 91% of hiring managers report certification as an important criterion for hiring.
- Certification makes job candidates stand out in a crowded labor market.
- Certification makes a better case for a salary hike.
- Skills validation by third parties is far more powerful than self-promotion.
Which Certifications have more value?
| NAME OF THE CERTIFICATION | NAME OF THE CERTIFYING BODY | FEE | DURATION | MEMBERS FROM |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |  | $500 | 1.5 Months | 75+ Countries |
 | | $600 | 2 Months | 75+ Countries |
 | | $700 | 3 Months | 70+ Countries |
 |  | $1795 | 12 Months | 50+ Countries |
 |  | $4499 | 5 Months | 12+ Countries |
The International Institute for Procurement and Market Research (IIPMR)
IIPMR is the world’s largest Market Research Training Institute and offers three levels of globally recognized Certifications in Market Research.
- Certified Research Analyst (CRA)
- Certified Research Expert (CRE)
- Certified Research Professional (CRP)
It deals with Primary & Secondary Research, Qualitative & Quantitative Research, Business Research, Consumer Research, Economic Analysis, Data Collection & Interpretation, Supply Chain Research, Procurement Intelligence, Data Analysis, Price Analysis, Market Entry Strategy, Competitive Intelligence and Report creation.
The biggest advantage with these Certifications is that the top 25 market research companies have completed CRE/CRP Certifications making it the most preferred by recruiters.
No work experience is required in order to be eligible for CRA. However a bachelor’s degree is mandatory. Whereas for CRE/CRP Certifications work experience in market research is compulsory in order to be eligible to apply.
Executives from top companies such as Accenture, Frost & Sullivan, Ernst & Young, JP Morgan, Deloitte, IBM, Mckinsey, AC Nielsen, Capgemini, US Department of Homeland Security, Government of Canada, Ministry of Business of Guyana, Government of Kenya, World Bank, Bank of America, Citibank etc have completed CRE/CRP Certifications.
Since it has Market Research Professionals from 75+ Countries that have completed the Certifications, the CRA/CRE and CRP Credentials are by and far the best in terms of global recognition.
Upon successful completion of online exam, the members can use the CRA/CRE/CRP Credentials. The membership is free and the certification is valid for life time.
Website: https://www.iipmr.com/education
The University of Georgia
The University of Georgia offers an online course called Principles of Market Research. It consists of 13 modules and can be completed within a span of 12 months.
The course consists of Market Research Process Flow, Data Collection, Data Analysis, Global Market Analysis and Ethical norms to be followed.
This certificate is quite popular since it has members from 50+ Countries that have completed it online.
Website: https://www.georgiacenter.uga.edu/courses/market-research/principles-of-market-research
UC Davis
The University of California (UC Davis) is the third most preferred Institute to learn Market Research and it offers a Market Research Certification that teaches right from the basics and moves on to the advance levels by including all the important research tools that should be known by students in order to secure a job as a Research Analyst and grow within the Market Research Industry.
The course has comprehensive modules on how to create a Research proposal, Qualitative Research Methods, Quantitative Research Techniques, Questionnaire Design, Data Collection, Data Analysis using Statistical Software tools and how to write Research Reports for clients.
This course is mostly popular only within the US as it has students not more than 12 Countries.
Website: https://cpe.ucdavis.edu/section/market-research-specialization-coursera
