MRS Advanced Certificate in Market & Social Research Practice

MRS Advanced Certificate in Market & Social Research Practice Summary

Overview

The MRS Advanced Certificate has been developed by MRS and drawing on best practice across the profession, the Advanced Certificate is designed to provide a practical grounding in the principles and techniques which underpin effective research.

With over 8,000 members in more than 50 countries, The Market Research Society (MRS) is the world's largest international membership organisation for professional researchers and others engaged or interested in market, social and opinion research.

Who should study this course?

This degree level qualification is for:

Practitioners who have just entered or are seeking to enter the research profession, those working in the areas of commercial market and/or social research (either within research agencies or client-side research departments), those wishing to join the profession or marketing professionals whose work would benefit from a greater knowledge of the research process

What you will learn

The qualification will enable candidates to develop a wide range of research skills.

This includes the ability to:

understand, define and evaluate research objectives for given research problems
design appropriate research solutions to identified problems, based on a clear understanding of a range of research approaches and techniques
select appropriate techniques for the collection and analysis of the data necessary to inform effective decision-making
provide recommendations to support the decision-making process, based on a clear understanding of the information gathered during the research process
analyse and evaluate choices made at each stage in the process

Course programme

The MRS Advanced Certificate is a single-unit qualification, comprising eight elements which follow the research process from problem definition to reporting on research results.

In order to reflect the inter-dependence of the various stages in the research process, the assessment of the qualification follows an integrated approach.

All candidates must complete two components of assessment:

A coursework element (the Integrated Assignment, or IA): This 3000 - 3500 assignment requires candidates either to prepare a proposal for a research project, or a critical review of a research project with which they have been involved. Both formats require candidates to integrate knowledge from across the syllabus.

A written examination: All questions in the examination draw on at least two elements of the syllabus, and, in order to be successful, candidates must demonstrate that they can integrate knowledge from different elements. In each examination round, a minimum of 80% of syllabus areas will be assessed through the range of questions.

Exam Duration: 2 hrs 30mins.

You will attend three intensive days training at our West End centre:

Saturday 12th July 10:00 am to 5:00 pm
Saturday 26th July 10:00 am to 5:00 pm
Saturday 4th October 10:00 am to 5:00 pm (Revision & Exam technique Day)

Course structure: CIM Diploma exemptions

If you have completed the CIM Professional Diploma Marketing Research and Information (MRI) course unit you will be exempt for certain elements of the MRS Advanced Certificate.

The MRS Advanced Certificate assessment has two elements: an exam and an assignment.

If you have passed the CIM Diploma MRI unit via exam, you will be exempt from the exam element of the MRS assessment. You will still have to complete the assignment though.

Similarly, if you have passed the CIM Diploma MRI unit via assignment you will be exempt from the assignment element of the MRS programme, but will still need to complete the exam element.

Syllabus

The focus of the MRS Advanced Certificate is on the development of understanding of both key principles and ‘real world’ research practice and on the application of this understanding to research problems.

The learning outcomes for the qualification cover the eight elements as follows: