Researching Consumers - BUS 315 - Yox - Research Guides at Cleveland State University

Michael Schwartz Library

Researching Consumers

Demographics refer to factors of a target market like age, gender, income, and residence. This data is likely to be tracked by government agencies for statistical purposes.

U.S. Census
Best suited to researching specific communities in the U.S. You will find population, age, gender, income, education, occupation, and more topics covered here for the United States at the state, county, city levels (and even more detailed if needed).

ReferenceUSA This link opens in a new window
Provides real-time access to directory information for 10.5 million businesses. Locate every business in the U.S. by company name, location, or type of business. In addition to contact information, ReferenceUSA provides full corporate affiliation linkage, multiple contact names, FAX and toll free numbers, single point mapping, and credit ratings.

Psychographics look beyond someone's age, socioeconomic status, and other demographic attributes to who they are people; their likes and dislikes, behavior, and cultural dimensions. This information is usually either generated out of surveys, or by tracking individual's online behavior and purchases. It can be more difficult to access.

Richard K. Miller reports
Extensive collection of research publications including statistics and insights
Roper Center for Public Opinion Research
The largest collection of poll data anywhere—1935 to present, all US polling firms, broad topical coverage of opinions and behavior on social issues, politics, pop culture, international affairs, and more. International and US datasets available for immediate download.

Business Source Complete This link opens in a new window
Index, abstracts, and full text covering scholarly business journals, business and industry news on management, economics, marketing, finance, accounting, international business and much more.

Pew Research Center
Reports on media consumption and technology usage for different segments of the American population
YouGov Audience Explorer
Find demographics and attitudes for different brand audiences.

Consumer Expenditure Survey
Find average and aggregate spending on product and expense categories for various population segments of Americans
Census Business Builder
The Census Busienss Builder tool has consumer spending estimates for various product areas. The expenditures can be generated for counties down to the census tract (neighborhood) level, but not individual consumer segments.

Facebook Audience Insights
Take advantage of the trove of audience data available from Facebook

Tutorial