Additional Information
Market researchers typically have at least a bachelor's degree. The most
common degree to have is in marketing. There are also bachelor and master's
programs focused specifically on market research.
"I do have people working who have [only] a bachelor's," says Sherry Schneider.
She works at a staffing firm and specializes in recruiting market researchers.
"You don't have to have a master's," Schneider adds. "You can get an entry-level
position with a bachelor's, but inevitably to rise up in the ranks... you
would eventually need a master's."
Many market researchers have degrees in something other than marketing.
"Market researchers can come from all walks of life," says Tom Bernthal.
He's the CEO and founder of a market research company in New York. "Here
at Kelton Research we have folks who come from varied industries such as journalism,
marketing, public relations and political consulting, in addition to classically
trained statisticians and cultural anthropologists."
Those on the quantitative side of market research -- the number crunchers
-- typically have degrees in math or statistics. "I hire a lot of marketing
analytics people who have a bachelor's or a master's in statistics," says
Schneider. "Most people, if they're going to get a master's in statistics,
tend to go [into] finance... so very few people go into marketing with it,
and when they do, they're not going to have a hard time finding a job, believe
me."