This guide contains links to resources for the market research workshop, as well as workshop slides.

The left navigation includes links to further resources for market research, pharmacy subject focused databases and tools, and "grey literature" searching. These won't be covered in the workshop.

If you have any questions about market research, please email Carey Toane at carey.toane@utoronto.ca or book a 30-miinute research consultation.

Questions related to searching the health sciences literature can be directed to Gerstein Science Information Centre staff at ask.gerstein@utoronto.ca.

Applied business research is the research you do to create a company, product, or service, rather than to conduct a research study or academic article. This kind of research is less well defined than traditional health sciences literature searching. For those who are used to the latter, it's worth pointing out that the business sources linked below are:

• Created for a corporate audience
• Not typically peer reviewed or published in an academic journal
• Built on reputation and trust, rather than empirical method
• Provide information to test assumptions and reduce risk
• Future predictions based on past behaviour (not a crystal ball!)
• Finding a clear answer is by no means guaranteed

How is business information organized?

Typically, a report will focus on industry, company, or user/customer information. As shown in the diagram to the right, these categories often overlap. Resources in the Entrepreneurship guide are organized according to these categories.

U of T Libraries aims to select resources of the best quality. However, we recommend that you always assess the information you find before using it to make [business] decisions. The RADAR framework (Mandalios, 2013) is a tool to help guide your critical assessment of information sources. RADAR stands for:

• Relevance: How is the information relevant to your research question or assignment? Why choose this source over others available? What is the scope of the information provided within? 
• Authority: Who is the author? Is there an author listed? Do they have credentials? How are they connected to the topic? How does this information impact your assessment of the accuracy of the information? Have they shared their methodology or approach? 
• Date: When was the source published? When was the data gathered? Note that for fast-changing technology sectors, a maximum age of 2 years is acceptable for market research. 
• Appearance: Does the source look professional and free of errors? Does it include a logo or URL of a publisher or institution you trust? 
• Reason for writing: What is the apparent purpose of the information source? Is it to inform, persuade, educate or sell? Who does the author seem to be addressing? Is it for a general or specialized audience? What is the author's bias?

For more databases available through U of T Libraries, visit the Entrepreneurship research guide via the left navigation.

Ask yourself: Who cares to collect this information? Is it of interest to the general public? What stakeholder groups would be represented? The following can be accessed via search engine. We recommend a tool like Google Advanced Search for better precision.

• Academic journals
• Associations and research groups
• Government sources
• Mainstream news sources
• Trade publications
• Specialized sources