If you carry out, commission or buy market research, demonstrating best practice is a powerful driver to potential clients, consumers and competitors. ISO 20252:2006 market, opinion, social research, vocabulary and service requirements is the new international standard that unites and supersedes existing national standards and sets a common level of quality for market research globally.

Driven by the global market research industry and professional and trade associations, including European Society for Opinion and Market Research (ESOMAR) and Market Research Quality Standards Association (MRQSA), the standard provides an internationally recognized framework for market researchers to work to.

Cultural, social and behavioural differences between countries make conducting, monitoring and relying upon international research very difficult. The implementation and certification of a quality management system based on ISO 20252 enables you to regulate these differences and carry out cross-border, multi-country research studies with the assurance that working procedures are compatible.

The most common business sectors implementing and certifying to the standard tend to be in healthcare, automotive, finance, media and social research.