TS ISO 20252

TS ISO 20252 is the standard that brings together the vocabulary and service requirements used in market, opinion and social research, including insights and data analytics. It provides a common technical framework for understanding how these research services are named and what baseline expectations apply to providers that deliver them.

How the research fields relate to one another

Market research focuses on information used to support commercial decisions, including consumer behaviour and brand perception. Opinion research is concerned with attitudes and views, while social research examines patterns in society, populations and public life. By explicitly including insights and data analytics, the standard reflects the wider modern research environment, where structured analysis may draw on both survey-based and digitally generated data. In general technical terms, these fields overlap in methods and outputs, but they differ in purpose, data sources and the way findings are interpreted.

What this standard addresses for service providers

The document is aimed at providers operating in these research areas and defines the terminology and service requirements that support consistent practice across projects. In practical terms, that means a shared language for planning, fieldwork, data collection, analysis, reporting and service quality. As a general concept, standards of this type help make services more comparable across organisations and easier to specify in professional environments. The scope also states that non-market research activities, such as direct marketing, are outside its boundaries.

• Covers terminology and service requirements for market, opinion and social research.
• Includes insights and data analytics within the same service framework.
• Excludes non-market research activities such as direct marketing.
• Centers on common language and service organisation for research providers.