MARKET

RESEARCH
1
Grades: 3-5
 As a VentureLab instructor, you are enabling student confidence,
self-efficacy and ingenuity, ultimately preparing students to use an
entrepreneurial mindset to pave their own path. For your own journey
as an instructor, please use the resources below to complement the
VentureLab curriculum. There, you’ll find tips on how to create an
impactful learning experience.

USER ENTREPRENEURIAL
GUIDE MINDSET & SKILLSET

INTRODUCTORY
VIDEO

© 2021 VentureLab
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intellectual property rights in the Curriculum are owned by VentureLab. AlI use of this curriculum must be done in accordance with
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This is a summary of, not a substitute for, the full license agreement.
 TABLE OF CONTENTS
KEY TERMS /04

LESSON 1 OVERVIEW /05

LESSON 1 PREPARATION /09

ACTIVITY 1: INTRODUCTION TO MARKETS /11

Duration: 10 minutes

ACTIVITY 2: DESCRIBING THE MARKET /13

Duration: 30 minutes

ACTIVITY 3: SECONDARY RESEARCH /15

Duration: 50 minutes

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KEY TERMS
ENT REPRENEURS
spot an opportunity and develop a vision for a new product, business, or solution and
put together all the resources needed to bring their vision to life.

ENT REPRENEURSHIP
isn’t just about starting companies; it is a skillset and a way of thinking. The core of
entrepreneurship is having a vision and making it a reality.

A MARKET
is a group of people who like or need the same things. Competing businesses sell
similar products or services to this group.

MARKET RESEARCH
is how entrepreneurs find out what customers want, what problems exist for cus-
tomers, and uncover how those problems can best be solved or needs met. Market
research is key to helping entrepreneurs figure out if they have a great new idea that
will work, and if people will buy their product.

PRIMARY RESEARCH
is new research done by entrepreneurs by talking directly to their customers to un-
derstand their needs and wants better.

PROT OTYPING
is when entrepreneurs create their ideas into visual and physical representations to
show how they would work.

SECONDARY RESEARCH
is using information that already exists to get information about existing products or
markets.

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LESSON 1 OVERVIEW
TOTAL DURATION The aim of market research is to help
entrepreneurs and businesses make bet-
90 minutes
ter decisions so that they can be more
successful.

INTRODUCTION
Activity 1 serves as a discussion of images to elicit students’ understanding of the word
“market” and determine a common definition. Activity 2 dives deeper into the terms
“market” and “market research” by analyzing the different components of a market. In
Activity 3 students will work in small groups to identify potential products, services, or
business ideas and then carry out secondary market research.

T IP: There is a lot of business language surrounding market research and it

can be daunting for students. Model correct usage of the words as often as possible
and prompt students to repeat what you’re saying using complete sentences.

Note: This lesson is written with the assumption that your students have access to the
Internet. If they don’t, you will need to prepare some appropriate resources for students to
use in advance. These can include newspapers (local and national), government statistics
(most libraries have these), relevant books and journals. Librarians should be able to help
with the research, but to make the lesson meaningful, you will need to narrow down the
scope of markets and ideas that your students pursue so that it is easier to organize the
materials and conduct genuine market research.

BACKGROUND
Market research is the process of gathering and analyzing information about a market
for a product or service and its customers’ needs and wants. The aim of market research
is to help entrepreneurs and businesses make better decisions so that they can be more
successful.

The word market can be used to describe a range of things that relate to the buying and
selling of an entrepreneur’s products or services including:

• businesses selling similar products or services (competitors)

• the type of customers it aims to sell to (target market)

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 Although we present market research in these two lessons, the topic doesn’t neatly fit
into one place in the entrepreneurial process and is often done throughout the process
from idea generation to product launch (and beyond). Encourage students to see market
research as an ongoing activity providing a vital feedback loop that will help them develop
and improve their product or service and increase their chances of success.

Make students aware that market research often leads to more questions! Students will
need to grapple with the reality that they cannot get perfect information and know every-
thing they need to know. However, they can gain valuable insights into their market and
their customers. This will help them make better decisions, but they will always act with a
degree of uncertainty and have to decide which risks are worth taking. Taking calculated
risks based on the limited information you have is part of being an entrepreneur!

Types of Market Research

Market research is most often classified into primary research and secondary research.

Primary research is new research done by the entrepreneurs themselves by talking

directly to customers to better understand their needs, wants, buying habits, opinions, and
experiences. This enables entrepreneurs to focus on collecting the exact information they
need from the people they are interested in reaching. Primary research methods include
surveys, interviews, focus groups, consumer tests, experiments and observations. Primary
research is very useful but often difficult to do, time-consuming, and relatively expensive!

Speaking to customers is essential to ensure that what the entrepreneur is offering

meets the needs of the customers, is better and different than the competitors, and
will increase the entrepreneur’s likelihood of success. It can also help entrepreneurs
make better decisions about their business models such as distribution methods, prices,
branding, and promotional activities. In this lesson, students should also understand
some of the drawbacks of primary research for entrepreneurs. One drawback is that it is
time-consuming (which is why you could easily spend much more lesson time on these
activities!) and often more difficult to do than secondary research.

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 Secondary research is using information or data that already exists and has been collected
by someone else. Doing an online search is the most common form of secondary research.
Types of information found while searching include: government statistics, market reports,
research studies, competitor websites, online comparisons and review sites.

Secondary research may not be specific to the needs of the entrepreneur but can give a
low or no-cost way to get background information about the market conditions, trends
and competition. Online comparison sites also give some good information on customer
opinions.

Surveys
A survey involves asking the same questions to multiple individuals to find information
that will help the entrepreneur to make decisions. Surveys can be conducted in many
different ways, such as face-to- face, by phone, and online. Improvements in technology
make it easy for entrepreneurs to set up online surveys and analyze the results. However,
before students develop online surveys, it is very important that they have experience
asking questions face-to-face with their customers. This helps students both develop
their communication skills and overcome the fear of speaking directly to their potential
customers. It will also help students begin to understand how people interpret questions,
so they can improve their writing of questions in the future.

At VentureLab, we encourage students to survey 100 people when they are first doing
market research! Once they have done this they will always be confident about asking
people questions. We encourage you to try to get students to talk to as many people as
possible and then use an online survey tool (such as www.surveymonkey.com) to help
them get more responses to analyze.

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GOALS
The main goal of this lesson is for students to develop their understanding of market re-
search methods within the entrepreneurial process. Specifically, students will:

• Develop a deep understanding of what a market is and how to carry out market
research.

• Learn different methods of market research and be able to classify them as either
primary or secondary research methods.

• Identify key questions that entrepreneurs can have doing market research and
develop a market research plan to find answers to these questions.

• Practice collecting secondary research to answer research questions and to help

make decisions about entrepreneurial ideas and future research.

ENTREPRENEURIAL MINDSETS AND SKILLS

This lesson is designed to help students experience and develop the following:

Entrepreneurial Mindsets Entrepreneurial Skills

Curiosity Teamwork
Opportunity Seeking Market Research
Empathy Taking calculated risks
Problem Solving

Resourcefulness

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LESSON 1 PREPARATION
BEFORE LESSON
1) Read through the whole lesson including slides, handouts and instructor answers.
2) Read the Describe the Market Student Handout & Instructor Use Handout and identify
1-2 examples you can use that relate to local markets and businesses with which
students would be familiar. These examples will help students apply what they know
about the local area/region.

3) Plan use of computers and internet access for secondary research activity. Plan for
smart phones or computers in a 3:1, student to device ratio for secondary research.

4) Decide if you want students to focus on a particular idea/market for their research or if
you will allow students to decide.

5) Plan groups for secondary research task (groups of 2-5).

PRINT COPIES OF
1) Describe the Market Student Handout x 1 per pair/small group
2) Describe the Market (Instructor Use) Handout x 1
3) Secondary Research Handout x 1 per student

MATERIALS
• Entrepreneur Song

• Slides

• Describe The Market Student Handout x 1 per pair or small group

Note: students should work in pairs or small groups to complete but you may prefer to
give everyone a handout if you want them all to have the notes for future lessons

• Describe the Market (Instructor Use) Handout

• Group Up!

• Secondary Research Handout x 1 per student

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 DOWNLOADS

SLIDES SLIDES WITH NOTES

SECONDARY RESEARCH
HANDOUT GROUP UP!

ENTREPRENEUR SONG ENTREPRENEUR SONG

LYRICS

DESCRIBE THE MARKET DESCRIBE THE MARKET

(INSTRUCTOR USE)

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ACTIVITY 1: INTRODUCTION TO
MARKETS
INTRODUCTION Duration: 10 min
The word “market” has multiple meanings. Younger students often associate the term
with a physical space where items are sold and purchased. This activity uses images and
discussion to access student background knowledge and introduce the definition of market
as it is understood by entrepreneurs when carrying out market research.

PREPARATION
1) Have slides printed or ready to project.

MATERIALS
• Slides (slides 1-7)

• Entrepreneur Song

INSTRUCTIONS
Use slides 3-7 to guide you through this section.

1) Before beginning, play the Entrepreneur song for students. Have them take out their
lyric page (should be written or glued into their Idea Journal – have them do this if
they haven’t already) and follow along as you play the song one time. Play again and
have them sing along.

2) Explain that when entrepreneurs have an idea for a product or service, they need to
know if the idea already exists and if not, would people would be interested. In order
to find out, they need to understand the market.

3) On slide 3, point out that research means to find information. Markets, however, have
different meanings depending on the way the word is used.

4) Show slide 4 - “What is a market?” and ask students to describe what they see in the
pictures.

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 5) After taking a few ideas from the group, explain that when people are asked to explain
the word “market” they often think of a physical marketplace, like the one in the
picture, and that the common definition for a market is “a place where buyers and
sellers meet to exchange goods.”

6) Move to slide 5 and have students respond to the question, “What does this image
represent?”

7) Then, explain that today many people also sell and purchase things online. Ask
students to give examples of an online market place. eBay® and Etsy® are examples.

8) Move to slide 6 and talk about the fact that this idea of the market as a place that
connects buyers and sellers is correct, but it is not the same as “a market” in the term
“market research.”

9) On slide 7, explain that for entrepreneurs and businesses the word market means
much more. Read or have a student volunteer read what a market is.

POST-ACTIVITY DISCUSSION
• How has your understanding of the word “market” changed?

• Why is it useful for an entrepreneur to be able to describe its customers (in their
target market)?

EXTENSION (Optional)
• Have students list as many markets they can think of that they are a part of (12 year-
old girls, Americans, etc.).

• Have students print pictures of different markets to share with the rest of the group.

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ACTIVITY 2: DESCRIBING THE
MARKET
INTRODUCTION Duration: 30 min
Now that students understand that the word “market” can describe something other than
a place, they will dive into the specific parts of a market. The lesson divides the market of
a product or service into two sections: competition and target market. The target market
refers to the people who will most likely use the product or service. No matter how great
an idea for a product or service may be, if there is not a market for it, then a business that
sells it will not be successful.

PREPARATION
1) Have slides printed or ready to project.

MATERIALS
• Slides (slides 8-13)

• Describe The Market Handout x 1 per pair or small group

• Describe The Market Handout (Instructor Use)

• Group Up!

INSTRUCTIONS
1) Show slide 8 and hand out the Describe the Market Handout (1 per student or 1 per
small group). Instruct students to follow along as you read the Entrepreneur’s Mindset
box out loud. Have them read it with you a second time and point out that during the
lesson, they may notice themselves using this mindset. The mindset will be discussed
in-depth during post-activity discussion.

2) Tell students that you will be using the snack food market (row 3) as an example to
understand the different parts of a market.

3) Use slides 8 - 12 to explain each segment of the target market. Point out that the bold
column headings, the italicized guiding question on the handout, and the specific
information for the snack food market are connected. Move to slide 13 and explain
that it’s okay if someone not in your market wants to buy your product or service.

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 4) Complete other markets (footwear and video games) as a class or in small groups
based on your students’ comfort level. Use Group Up! for ideas on grouping kids.
Answers for each guiding question will vary greatly depending on the background of
the group of students. The goal is not to find specific, “correct” answers, but for them
to gain an understanding of what a market is.

5) Briefly discuss student ideas and answers (use the Instructor Use Handout to help you).

POST-ACTIVITY DISCUSSION
• Did you find yourself or anyone else using the Entrepreneur’s Mindset during the
activity? How?

• Why is it useful for an entrepreneur to know the competing businesses and products
in a market?

• Why is it useful for an entrepreneur to be able to describe its customers (target

market)?

EXTENSION (Optional)
Students can identify a local business and describe its market and target market.

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ACTIVITY 3: SECONDARY
RESEARCH
INTRODUCTION Duration: 50 min
The quickest and cheapest way for an entrepreneur to find information about a market is to
carry out secondary market research. This is information or data that already exists and has
been collected by someone else. This activity models searching and browsing the internet
for information. Students then carry out secondary market research.

PREPARATION
1) Read through entire activity.
2) Practice the online search you will be modeling ahead of time, so you know which key
words to use and which sites give you the best information. Plan to model ineffective
search terms usage as well as visiting sites that do NOT give helpful information.

T IP: We recommend you practice your online research in the same location
as the lesson will be conducted as some internet connections place restric-
tions on website access.
MATERIALS
• Secondary Research Handout x 1 per student

• Group Up!

INSTRUCTIONS
Groups will need a product or service to research in the second part of this activity. They
may use their ideas or prototypes developed in Idea Generation and Design Thinking
& Prototyping lessons. If time in the lesson is short or you want to have more time for
secondary research, you can have groups come up with their entrepreneurial idea before
the lesson.

1) Explain to students that they are going to be using a type of market research called
secondary research to learn about a market and determine if their product or service
could be successful. They will use the internet, or other publications, to find useful
information about the competition, other products or services that are similar, and the
people that are buying them.

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 T IP: Effectively using a search engine to find information is an emerging
skill that should be modeled for students in order to carry out successful
online research.

2) Divide students so each group has a computer. Keep groups small (3 max) to ensure
everyone can see the screen and take turns running the searches. Use Group Up! for
ideas on grouping kids.

3) Explain that you are going to model using a search engine to find information. Have
the students follow along.

4) Pass out Secondary Research Handout (1 per student) or project and have students
copy into their Idea Journal. They do NOT need to write anything until they carry out
their own market research in step 7. For an example product or service to use during
this modeling step, allow students to select a product or service from the Competitors
column of the Describe the Market Handout.

5) Tell students that together, you’re going to check the information that the group came
up with in Activity 2 by performing secondary market research.

6) Use keyword phrases such as: Lunchables® businesses, snack food market competitors,
Lunchables® age of consumer. Explore infographics, charts, and tables to help students
understand and extract information. One source may contain all the information that
you’re looking for. Depending on your search engine, you can switch to IMAGE search
to give students a different way to sift through and access content.

T IP: Try to keep the direct modeling to 10-15 minutes maximum to allow
students ample time to practice.

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 7) Now students will select a product or service and begin their secondary research.
8) Remind them to record the information on the Secondary Research Handout or in their
Idea Journal.

9) If students have completed the Idea Generation or Design Thinking & Prototyping
lessons, they already have ideas for products and services. If not, then they can select
a product or service from the Competitors column of the Describe the Market handout.

10) If students have an idea for which no market exists, such as a brand-new invention
from their imagination, allow them to quickly fill out the handout for what they think
the answers might be. Then, direct them to select a product or service for which a
market does exist so they can practice secondary research.

11) Check in with groups who are having difficulty finding information. If needed, model
again how to search key words, read through links or images, and read websites to find
useful information.

12) Approximately 10-15 minutes from the end of the lesson, bring the small groups back
together and allow them to share their research with the whole group.

POST-ACTIVITY DISCUSSION
• How has the research helped you understand a product or service?

• What did you find difficult about carrying out secondary research?

• What were your best sources of information?

• What advice would you give another entrepreneur about using secondary research?

EXTENSION (Optional)
Ask students to write a “How To Do Secondary Research Guide for Entrepreneurs.”

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REFERENCES
ccarlstead. “Writing exams.” Flickr, 15, January, 2007. https://www.flickr.com/photos/cris-
tic/359572656/. Accessed 23 August 2018.

cegoh. “maeklong-railway-market-thailand-546285.” Found, Pixabay, 26 November 2014,

https://pixabay.com/en/maeklong-railway-market-thailand-546285/. Accessed 23 Au-
gust 2018.

Jimee, Jackie, Tom & Asha. “Multicultural Globe.” Flickr, 10 August 2007, https://www.flickr.
com/photos/wilderdom/1061879878. Accessed 23 August 2018.

JuralMin. “template-layout-website-blog-theme-1599667.”Found, Pixabay, 19 August 2016,

https://pixabay.com/en/template-layout-website-blog-theme-1599667/. Accessed 15
December 2017.

OpenClipart-Vectors. “Red, Cancel, Delete, No.” Pixabay, 7 October 2013, https://pixabay.

com/en/red-cancel-delete-no-forbidden-146613/. Accessed 23 August 2018.

OpenClipart-Vectors. “Human, Jogging, Marathon.” Pixabay, 31 March 2016, https://pixabay.

com/en/human-jogging-marathon-nws-icons-1296749/. Accessed 23 August 2018.

OpenIcons. “Restroom, Public Restroom, Rest Room.” Pixabay, 2 April, 2013. https://pixabay.
com/en/restroom-public-restroom-rest-room-99226/. Accessed 23 August 2018.

skitterphoto. “Piggy Bank, Money, Savings, Financial.” Pixabay, 5 October 2015, https://pixa-
bay.com/en/piggy-bank-money-savings-financial-970340/. Accessed 23 August 2018.

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MARKET
RESEARCH
2
Grades: 3-5
 TABLE OF CONTENTS
LESSON 2 OVERVIEW /22

LESSON 2 PREPARATION /25

WARM UP: TWO EXTREMES /27

Duration: 10 minutes

ACTIVITY 1: PRODUCT OR SERVICE DESCRIPTION /29

Duration: 20 minutes

ACTIVITY 2: PRIMARY RESEARCH SURVEY /31

Duration: 30 minutes

ACTIVITY 3: SURVEY SUMMARY /33

Duration: 30 minutes

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LESSON 2 OVERVIEW
TOTAL DURATION Being an effective communicator is about
both listening and speaking.
90 minutes

INTRODUCTION

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