9:00 am: In the office bright and early – not too many people around yet. Grab a cup of tea and read the morning paper.
9:30 am: Work starts in earnest. I am in the middle of2 different market research studies for clients, one involving the effectiveness of internet advertising in the Middle East and the other related to real estate preferences. Both due end of week. Both are online surveys so I check the quantity of responses and their demographic breakdown to make sure we have achieved the right quantity and mix for the2 surveys. We are on target for one but need to give the other a push as we are short of respondents in one particular demographic group.
10:00 am: Spreadsheets ready for the real estate survey and the business of analysis begins. My spreadsheets are organized in such an efficient and organized way that the analytical work becomes a breeze! Our clients rely on our analysis of present preferences and perceptions and past statistical data to make important decisions related to product design, price, promotions etc.
12:00 pm: Analysis work well underway for real estate project and the findings are very compelling. I begin the powerpoint presentation with a description of survey methodology and key data on number of respondents, their demographic breakdown and income brackets. I then start showing the results for the questions we asked to gauge the health of the real estate market in the GCC and the nature of real estate demand and preferences.
1:00 pm: Lunch! The team goes out to an Italian restaurant nearby to celebrate winning a very important new client.
2:30 pm: Back at the drawing board churning data, analysing the answers of the survey and summarizing findings in a compelling powerpoint presentation. Take time off from this survey to discuss with the other client team how we can raise response figures for their survey. They agree to send another survey mailer inviting responses and to extend the deadline for responses for another week.
3:30 am: Weekly team meeting to discuss outstanding projects.
4:30 pm: On phone with a banking client. They are not happy with the way we have translated their survey questionnaire into Arabic and are also requesting we add a whole new section to the questionnaire. Since the questionnaire has not bee programmed yet, this poses no problems, but I bring it to the bank’s attention that this entails a significant addition to the analytical work and hence that time required for completion. I think to myself the cost should also be raised but after a quick meeting with my boss we agree that we can maintain the price point as is.
5:15 pm: Client emails to respond to. Also a client has sent in a set of questions from a newspaper which require some analytical work to answer so I set aside some time to take care of them. Still have data on a research press release to check. Marketing handles all PR but I am responsible for making sure that data on the releases that pertains to my research is accurate and the angle of the release is correct.
6:30 pm: Presentation for tomorrow is looking good, some very interesting results on real estate moods and preferences for the different markets in the GCC. Our client will be pleased. I still have a good2 days work to do on this presentation to finish it but its developing in the right direction! I admire my powerpoint acumen and graphic skills, log off and head home.
7:15 pm: At home reading about real estate trends in research published by other parties. I always like to be fully informed about the markets and industries I am researching. Tomorrow I guess I will be researching third party literature related to trends in online advertising . . . . you can never be too prepared or too informed.
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