Secondary Data to Find Your Career Industry
Marketing research is a tool used to determine the best market for launching, products and service. It can help to determine if the venture will be profitable of a fiasco. I believe that it can determine if a fad will become a basic staple or remain a passing fad and I believe all of that can be determined from market research that taps into individuals wants and desires that are felt so strongly the feel as if they are needs. And so I believe that market research can inspire parents to influence students to become all they can and compete in our job force to make a valuable contribution to our society.
In my mind education has become a business along with that statement comes the revelation that it is a business that our country is failing to excel in because it has become so much of a business that we are not educating our children at a level that will allow them to compete in our markets to fill job openings. We need marketing research to helps us “prioritize the more important and pressing problems selected for solution, reach the best possible solution based on the information available, implement the solution, modify the solution when additional information so dictates (Danaher, Hardie & Putsis, 2001)” (Al-Shatanawi, Osman & Halim, 2014, p. 151). I believe that preparing today’s youth to be tomorrow’s leaders through education should be a top priority for every American citizen and marketing research and presentation can move us in that direction. Societal problems must be managed by governing bodies just as business owner /executives must manage business. The individual in control of our lives need information to successfully manage larger issues, such as employment, affecting the quality of life in our country.
However with all the benefits that marketing research can bestow upon society, still problems that exist in this area of concentration such as the high cost of market research without any tangible returns on the investment (ROI); timing, is there enough time to perform the research and will the information still be relevant at the close of the project. Marketing is generally considered a support department without staff that produces product that brings in profits. This along with such problems as irrelevant (erroneous) data collection and the risk of participants deliberately providing incorrect information can create a waste of resources for firms and individual operating in marketing research.
I believe that objectives are determined based on the information and researchers are attempting to obtain and the research team should be prepared for those outcomes to be in their favor or not.
Depending on the issues the objective of research will vary however, according to (Burns & Bush, 2012).
A research objective should be specific and should satisfy these four criteria: (1) Specify from whom information is to be gathered, (2) specify what information is needed, (3) specify the unit of measurement used to gather the information, and (4) word questions used to gather the information in the respondents' frame of reference (p. 57).
I also believe that objective might change during the research depending on if the research team was anticipating certain outcomes.
Marketing research tools can be used to assist college students in determining what educational endeavors to pursue to attain their dreams based in the reality of what industries are growing. Overall industry analysis can reveal where our economy will be growing and with market research we can prepare young America to fulfill the jobs in our country. I see the problem as, lack of industry information for graduating from high school students that need guidance in selecting careers. Those undecided about what field of study to pursue could benefit from a layout of what is available and growing and could choose from a list defining what is emerging in the workforce. If the information is kept current, it could assist them proceed to the process of being educated and focused on their career choice. Thus I would create a study to track growing industries segments and make such information available to students entering their freshman year of high school. If their interest has not settled on a career for the future this information could prove beneficial. My vision is for our children to be educated to fulfill our economic needs in our job markets.
The very nature of marketing research defined by (Al-Shatanawi, Osman & Halim, 2014) as:
A process of gathering, analyzing and interpreting information about a market, about a product or service to be offered for sale in that market, and about the past, present and potential customers for the product or service; research into the characteristics, spending habits, location and needs of your business's target market, the industry as a whole, and the particular competitors you face (Gupta & Benedett & 2007) (p. 151), hints to me that it is a process of finding solutions to our educational problems at the high school level and beyond. I believe there is a need for marketing research based on growing industries and anticipated growth over a 10-15 years period, where (the physical area/city) jobs will be offered and a range of salaries corresponding to the locations. The requirements for entrance into the industry could help high school and college students decide where they would like to begin their careers by, city and state, or company. Given this information early enough it could determine what secondary degree could be pursued as a backup plan. I always had 2 – 3 different interest growing up and still decided on a completely different area of study. The objective of this study would be to provide information that offers students information on a variety of interest and allow them to eliminate areas that are less of a match and finally settle on a career that is best suited to their needs.
One of my siblings is a teacher and I recently spoke with one of her students that played football in high school and as with every high school athlete they want to be a professional. He told me of his first day on the football field with a potential Heisman Trophy Winner. He relayed how fast the player was and then he spent a week just watching his routine. By the end of the third week he had decided that he did not have the discipline to be a professional athlete. His goal changed and he decided to get an education in hopes of securing a good job that would provide a comfortable life and he would eventually settle down, get married, have children and watch football on his large television with his family.
The three research designs studied “exploratory, descriptive, and causal designs” (Burns & Bush, 2012, p. 54), I believe would not serve the purpose of collecting such a vast amount of information in such a change environment. If force to choose one of these designs I would be more inclined to use the casual design as the “casual research design as the methodology of the study since the casual design is best suited to determine cause and effects of the phenomenon” (Qin & Pastory, 2012, p. 134). With the changes that have emerged in communications over the past 5 years and continue to expand and exchange today I would look to current communications such and the internet connected to cell phones, laptops, tablets and etc. as way of informing our nation to focus on the travesty that in happening in educating our people. I believe that because our educational system does such a poor job of educating our youth industry must look to other countries to design and develop product to be sold to our inhabitants. I would first look at secondary information, which and then verify with firms within that industry that there are developing innovations that could lead to growth. I would also ascertain information to determine to what specifics areas would be the catalyst for expansion, how the expansion would be proceeding and for how long and what education would be necessary for an entry level position in that area. Almost every time I look up information on my computer I am asked survey questions, usually about MGM Hotels in Nevada, and then I am prompted to link this information to my cell phone and/or tablet. I would like to incorporate this technology into my design so of course now I need a computer specialist for this.
I believe that we should focus on attributes that will increase the knowledge imparted to educate American citizens to fulfill our job openings and become more competitive with other countries such as China and Japan in education. I believe I would prefer primary data and would start by collecting general information by telephone to compare to secondary information. On second thought recently I help collect data from county organizations and spent the 1st ½ hour explaining who I represented and why I wanted the information. I might be more inclined to contact a research firm that might already have the information.
My form for collecting primary research would require a scripted opening statement to be directed to marketing/public relations or wherever directed. The questions would include inquiries into; 1. How healthy of the industry? 2. The firms position within the industry? (Perhaps base on market share) 3. Is the industry actually experiencing growth? 4. How long is the growth anticipated to last? 5. What specific area(s) that initiates the growth? 6. Education required for entry level positions? 7. Education level required for growth with the firm and industry? 8. Are there internships available within the firm and/or industry? 9. In there any information on how often growth spurts happen within the industry? 10. Where would individual go to gather more information if they were interested in this expanding field? 11. Does the firm offer tours to students who may want to take a closer look at the industry? Each question would be rated 1 – 10 with 1 being the lowest and 10 the greatest. After collecting some primary information I would do research on line for secondary information to make a comparison for accuracy. If I find reliable data then I would be off to make some measurable comparisons that would be relevant to evaluating my goal. If the secondary data was inaccurate and/or unreliable I would start to look for analysis that would provide me with relevant data that has been “previously evaluated relevance and validity” Silva, Fresco, Monteiro, Rama, & Ribeiro, 2013, p. 560). Some excerpts of secondary information regarding the growth among occupation between 2012 and 2022 are as follows: Table 1.1 Employment by major occupational group, 2012 and projected 2022
(Numbers in thousands) | 2012 National Employment Matrix title and code | Employment | Change, 2012—22 | Median annual wage, 2012 (1) | | 2012 | 2022 | Number | Percent | | Total, All Occupations | 00-0000 | 145,355.8 | 160,983.7 | 15,628.0 | 10.8 | $34,750 | Computer and Mathematical Occupations | 15-0000 | 3,814.7 | 4,500.5 | 685.8 | 18.0 | $76,270 | Community and Social Service Occupations | 21-0000 | 2,374.7 | 2,783.4 | 408.8 | 17.2 | $40,400 | Legal Occupations | 23-0000 | 1,247.0 | 1,379.9 | 132.9 | 10.7 | $75,270 | Education, Training, and Library Occupations | 25-0000 | 9,115.9 | 10,131.7 | 1,015.8 | 11.1 | $46,020 | Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations | 29-0000 | 8,049.7 | 9,782.6 | 1,732.9 | 21.5 | $60,200 | Healthcare Support Occupations | 31-0000 | 4,110.2 | 5,266.0 | 1,155.8 | 28.1 | $25,550 | Construction and Extraction Occupations | 47-0000 | 6,092.2 | 7,394.1 | 1,301.9 | 21.4 | $40,120 | Footnotes: 1 Data are from the Occupational Employment Statistics program, U.S. Department of Labor, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Source: Employment Projections program, U.S. Department of Labor, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics |
(www.bls.gov, September 4, 2014)
This chart indicates overall growth to be 10.8% from 2012 – 2022 with the largest increases being in Healthcare Support Occupations of 28.1%, Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations 21.5% and Construction and Extraction Occupations 21.4%. I had no clue as to what Construction and Extraction Occupations were until I looked it up and it means “Construction laborers and helpers perform many basic tasks that require physical labor on construction sites” (www.bls.gov/ooh, September 4, 2014) and it is dangerous. This same web-site the government also provides a table on the occupations that are in a state of decline however, my focus was on industries that are growing.
My sample size would be varied based on the industries that expected the largest amount of growth and possible career and job options. I would endeavor to look at 500 companies, some of those considered to be tops in their fields and hopefully come up with some smaller, best in class operations. Everyone does not want to work for a conglomerate.
Next I would focus on high schools, attempting to enlist the aid of school faculty and staff to assist in the survey process to collect primary information. Focusing on high school offers a chance to influence how students come to regard college and the opportunities that education can prepare a young mind for. I would look at secondary information to determine how many high school graduates plan to attend college and if so have the decided on a specific area of study. I would be looking more closely at the students who do not plan to attend or have not decided on a major. Those are the areas that I believe would benefit most from my study. Questions to these students would include; 1. Do you plan to go to college? 2. If not, why? 3. Do you plan to attend any school beyond high school (Vocational School)? 4. Do you have any hobbies (hobbies often led to my interest)? 5. Do you like to read? 6. What do you like to read? 7. What are your best subjects in school? 8. What subjects do you like best (I loved photography but did poorly in the class)? 9. What subject(s) do you like the least? 10. What subject(s) do you perform poorly in (I would love to explore math but I could not get beyond Geometry)? 11. Do you plan to get married? 12. Do you want to have a family? 13. What size family would you like? 14. Do you plan to leave the town where you graduated from high school? 15. Do you want to own your own business?
Each question would be rated 1 – 10 with 1 being the lowest and 10 the greatest. The sample size would be determined more by the number of students not planning to obtain education or training beyond high school. The larger the number not planning on matriculating to a higher institution the more my sample size would increase. I would collect information regarding potential careers from students as early as the 9th grade. Some 9th graders know what they want to do while others do not have a single clue, I was one of those. My closet friend wanted to be a social worker but after a few years in that profession became dissatisfied and went back to school to become a teacher.
My desire would be to contact the 5 largest schools in each state and then focus on as many small communities as possible .Sometimes the available opportunities are not known in smaller communities. I really do not remember Efficiency Experts being mentioned in my high school and it was not until much later in my career that I started to believe that Efficiency Expert was a career that I possibly could have excelled at and I continue to hold it as an option today. Had I learned of it earlier I could be an Efficiency Expert already. The same questionnaire used for high school students could be used for students entering college for the first time with some minor adjustments as they progress through the process and select a major or decide to change their major.
The information would be looked at in prior years to determine the number of high school graduates that actually go to college and the number of college student that graduate in each category of the government tabulations. I would look at the percentages of growth or decrease and then I would compare the industry graduates to the percentages of growth among industry. I usually overcompensate so I will probably end up over analyzing the information but I would rather have too much information than not enough. In my opinion, America, as a super power seems to be oblivious to the seriousness of the problem within our educational system. Education in my small communities is treated more as a good old boy society where school officials do favors for jobs or hiring is based purely on nepotism, not who has the capabilities to actually impart knowledge and wisdom to very students that will be in charge of our society tomorrow. It really scares me. Instead of the standards continuing to rise we seem to be lowering the standards so that our children and proceed to the next level (grade). I graduated from my high school as one of a class of 125 graduates. Today my alma mater is lucky if to have 20 graduates in a given year with approximately 6 planning to attend college and that is after combining two school districts approximately 6 years ago.
I believe that the information shown in my report should be shown the industry leaders, schools, communities, churches, elderly centers and etc. to inspire our nation to take a closer look at the short comings in our education to employment and make a conscious choice to re-invest ourselves in the future of children and our economy. I have volunteered at schools, mentored students through college, encouraged adults to get a college degree to inspire their children and grandchildren and still the interest in correcting the correlation between employment opportunities and employable candidates seems at an all-time low. Without the necessary reinvestment I cannot image where the future of our country will take us, perhaps into our being subservient to China or Japan.
Al-Shatanawi, Osman & Halim, 2014) wrote;
As suggested by Goeree (2008), marketing research often focuses on understanding the “Customer” (purchasers, consumers, influencers), the “Company” (product design, promotion, pricing, placement, service, sales), and can also be expanded toward the environment to include “Competitors” (and how their market offerings interact in the market environment) (p. 151).
I believe that focusing on the afore-mentioned attributes, continuing to re-define our educational values and regular monitoring of this information make changes and updates in an effort to say one step ahead in anticipation of changes and we can get back on track with support valuable entrance into our work environment for future generations.

References
Al-Shatanawi, H., Osman, A., & Halim, M. S. A. (2014). The importance of market research in implementing marketing programs. International Journal of Academic Research in Economics and Management Sciences, 3(2), 150-159. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1536099301?accountid=32521
Burns, A. C. & Bush, R. F. (2012). Basic marketing research using Microsoft Excel data analysis(3rded.).Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall. ISBN: 978-0-13-507829-6
Silva, C., Fresco, P., Monteiro, J., Rama, A. C., & Ribeiro. (2013). Online drug databases: A new method to assess and compare inclusion of clinically relevant information. International Journal of Clinical Pharmacy, 35(4), 560-9. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11096-012-9746-8
Qin, X., & Pastory, D. (2012). Comparative analysis of commercial banks liquidity position: The case of tanzania. International Journal of Business and Management, 7(10), 134-141. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1019966048?accountid=32521 http://www.bls.gov/emp/ep_table_101.html www.bls.gov/ooh/Construction-and-Extraction/Construction-laborers...