Editor's note: Bryan J. Rader is a marketing research analyst for Marketing Spectrum, Inc., a full-service marketing research and consulting firm based in Atlanta.

In the past, there have been few formal academic marketing research programs to teach the essential tools necessary to become a good marketing researcher. Some business schools have offered marketing research courses designed to give students a basic understanding of how the research function fits into America's corporations, yet these introductory courses have not provided enough knowledge to produce well-trained marketing research professionals.

Previous generations received their training from liberal arts or social science backgrounds (psychology, English, sociology, etc.) or from on-the-job training. However, the demand for better training and education has recently surfaced in our industry and has required a look at the options that are available.

Where are the academic and training programs that can teach our future researchers? Which programs are most effective in teaching practical knowledge and technique? And what training is available today to continue improving our craft?

As the demand for better academic programs increases, the opportunities to obtain a solid educational background in marketing research become greater. "There is a growing demand for good marketing researchers-not just in statistics, but also in general business knowledge and practical marketing skills," says Gilbert Churchill, Jr., chair of the marketing research program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

His school has taken steps to meet this demand with the opening of the A.C. Nielsen Center for Marketing Research and a program that involves internships and research project assistantships. "(The program) was designed with three foundations in mind: general business knowledge, substantive marketing knowledge, and technique courses. A good researcher must be able to understand business solutions and problems, and communicate and translate solutions to product management. Our program works towards teaching practical knowledge."

The two-year program, a Masters in Business with a specialization in marketing research, includes a summer internship and involves courses in research technique, general marketing and business. "A quality marketing researcher must have good business decision-making skills in order to conduct quality marketing research," Churchill says.

One university noticed the growing demand for better-trained researchers several years ago. Malcolm McNiven, director of the research program at the University of Georgia-Athens, says, "The demand for better marketing research professionals began over ten years ago among both clients and suppliers. A group of concerned professionals wanted to offer research students practical orientation as opposed to textbook information from a single course." Thus, the university created its Masters in Marketing Research program.

The program's curriculum is designed to teach students everything about conducting a survey, from questionnaire writing to fielding, costing, and tabbing. It also includes three courses on analytical application. Thirty seminars on topics of current interest are given annually by industry practitioners-who are often program alumnae. Students can also participate in a research study, work with a client, and present results.

The Georgia program has been very successful in meeting the needs of employers, though McNiven says, "There are twice as many job openings as students. At first, packaged goods companies were the first ones to hire our graduates. But now, large service companies and marketing research firms are also bidding for our students."

With the success of that program have come other academic programs for students interested in marketing research. One of these new programs is at the University of Arizona, where, says Program Coordinator Deborah MacInnis, "A great deal of interest has been generated from companies for continued and updated training of their researchers. That is why we developed our program about two years ago."

The program at University of Arizona is a two-year Master's degree that covers all facets of quantitative and qualitative research, from methodological design to multivariate statistics. Students are also required to take an internship between the first and second year of the program. They typically spend a summer working on one project with a large company. "It's a win-win situation. It gives the company an opportunity to evaluate students and gives the students a chance to learn hands-on research," MacInnis says.

"We have a balanced approach of teaching both quantitative and qualitative research. Our goal is to offer students insight into utilizing the information after the research is conducted. We attempt to teach conceptualization of the marketing problem up front to help determine what kind of conclusions can be drawn at the end."

Employer demand has lead to other research programs, such as those at the University of Texas-Arlington and Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville. Roger Gates, a professor of marketing at UT-Arlington who runs the school's marketing research program, says, "We don't just teach research in our curriculum. Marketing research professionals don't just do research anymore. We have included courses to help with presentations, report design, and writing skills. We will soon be adding a course called 'Creative Problem Solving.' We are even trying to offer students an opportunity to take a psychology class."

The academic program at UT-Arlington does not require an internship. However, two field research classes are required for students, and they also have an option to work with clients on routine projects. According to Gates, the school currently has 15 students enrolled in the program.

Madhav Segal, the director of the program at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville, reports that his marketing research program currently has 30-35 students enrolled. "Our program at SIU is a two-year program designed to teach business operations, marketing processes, and marketing research. At the end of two years, students are required to take a four month paid internship. Our graduates must be able to show that they can integrate marketing information and research."

As helpful as these new academic programs have been for the industry, there are still quite a few limitations. Gary Mullet, of Gary Mullet Associates, a statistician consulting firm, says, "You don't have to worry about real-life situations in textbook cases. In textbooks, every respondent answers every question, sampling isn't a problem, and everything is ideal. Most courses only teach a handful of techniques and people tend to use them in the wrong situation."

However, he says, there is a solution. "Taking seminars and courses that touch on specific subjects of interest can be helpful. While these seminars don't offer hands-on experience, they help in providing the basis for actual use."

Ambar Rao, a professor at New York University's Stern School of Business, sees the same problem. "I think there is a need for constant re-education and updating of skills." There are several ways to do this, including taking an executive education course from a university, going to seminars offered by suppliers such as Burke or Nielsen, or attending a workshop sponsored by an industry professional organization.

As the marketing research industry changes, so should the academic programs, Rao says. "Over the last few years, there has been a surge of information through scanner data. Companies are inundated with data, and they need well-trained people to help analyze this data. This requires a different kind of training-better scanner knowledge-and the existing programs must adapt to suit these needs."

Many business schools still have not chosen to include marketing research in their curriculum. Steve Greyser, a professor of marketing at Harvard University, says, "Our M.B.A. program has no overt training in marketing research and students receive limited exposure to it in their management practices. We teach application to the marketing management issue at hand."

There are other problems. There appears to be a lack of students interested in a career in marketing research. There are more internships available than there are students to fill these positions. Rosann Spiro, vice president of marketing education for the American Marketing Association, says, "There needs to be more involvement in promoting the academic programs and the career itself. This can help create an adequate supply of students."

Another concern among industry observers is that a select few companies have dominated the internship alliances with the universities. This has cut down the number of choices for research students and has also hurt employers interested in offering internships.

Still the new marketing research academic programs are providing employers with better qualified research professionals who have the practical knowledge necessary for a successful career in marketing research. The demand is being met. Now it's time to work on increasing the supply of prospective researchers.