Over the past 20 years, Quirk’s has kept track of its readership and their research-buying habits. What services are the buyers of research most involved and interested in? What are their areas of research involvement? By asking these questions as part of our circulation management process we’ve been able not only to tailor our content to best suit the majority of our readers but also to track trends in corporate research: What industries are picking up their research-buying? What are people doing more of? Less? What can this tell us about the journey the research industry has taken? Or about the decades to come?

Quirk’s new and existing subscribers are asked each year about their role in the research industry (i.e., job title); their involvement in different industries (i.e., consumer, non-durable; consumer, durable; services; business-to-business; and health care); and what research products and services they purchase - from full-service research, syndicated studies and personal interviewing to panels, focus group moderating and statistical analysis.

All the talk of research having suffered a serious blow during the Great Recession was not entirely imagined although many areas that were reportedly hit the hardest didn’t suffer as badly as hyped, according to what our buyer-side readers reported.

Aside from online services, panels and omnibus studies, reported use among client-side researchers of nearly all other research products and services purchased fell off after 2008, with the biggest declines in telephone interviewing, mail surveys/lists, mall intercepts, focus group moderating and the purchasing of software packages and data services. Research buyers appear to have been investing their energy into more bang-for-your-buck services and software like secondary research, omnibus studies, panels and online interviewing - all of which increased from 2008 to 2011.

However, the ease and aff...