I think most of us take part in some form of market research, even if it's only the occasional Ciao survey. I've taken part in many of those, and similar research, myself. If you want to participate in such surveys, I suggest looking round at sites like Brand Institute and Global Test Market (reviews of most of these sites/schemes are of course on Ciao). I'm going to focus on the other side, carrying out the research.

Again, I know many Ciao users take part in Mystery Shopping and so on, so I thought this might interest people. The idea of making a reasonable income for flexible, irregular work without being tied to a specific contract or employer is pretty appealing, particularly for students and housewives, or those temporarily unemployed from 'proper' jobs. I personally was offered the opportunity via a mailing list at university, so I can't give much advice on where to start, but I can tell you about my experience so you can see what it's really like. It'll be long, but I want to show the good and bad - how much work it can be, in case anyone thinks 'easy money'.

The advert said we could earn £50 a day for c.10-4:30, working for one week Monday-Thursday and maybe Friday, and giving A's contact details [I'm not going to use any real names]. The first thing I asked was whether we had to 'cold call' people (either on the phone or street) or only interview volunteers. I was told we'd be picking people off the street, but offering them £10 for the interview, so it shouldn't be a problem. The project was on coffee, and to begin with a training day in Reading (travel expenses paid). I was told there'd been quite a few volunteers, but not all could do the whole necessary period, so I was needed without any further screening or interview.

Diary:

Monday -
Since we had to be in Reading, we had to be at Oxford station at 9. Only a 25 minute journey, in theory, but we're a bit after 10. We're met at the station by M, from the research company HQ in Penzance, and just as well we're six young lads (and one girl) as we have to carry a load of equipment to today's base.

We meet another team from Southampton - who are all older and mostly female, and regular if not full time market researchers. It seems our company have regularly used students from Oxford, alongside their regulars elsewhere, since M's daughter went there, and found inexperience not a problem - but we're told to pretend we're regulars.

The base in Reading is a chance for us to look at the product (a new instant coffee), discuss it amongst ourselves and with the client, look through the questionnaire and then witness three trial interviews. The base has one of those rooms with a one-way glass windows, like in police films, so those of us who'll be 'on the street' can observe as M conducts the first interview with a pre-arranged volunteer.

The interview actually takes about an hour, rather than the scheduled 45 mins. We also get to notice some interviewer mistakes (getting a price wrong, responding to the interviewee rather than reading questions word for word as directed). After this, two trainees, one from each team, have a go while the rest of us watch to see how it's likely to go. A lot seems to depend on members of the public - one old lady seems all too happy to spent over an hour, taking her time over the questions, but doesn't think she can be much help.

Briefing and practices over, we make sure all the teams have a complete set of equipment - sets of coffee and cheap wooden shoe shelves to stand it on, plus various bits of paper - and we set off home (unfortunately the Oxford team have to carry it on the train, and no one has a car at the other end). In fact, the journey home proves eventful - shortly after the London bombings, we get stopped at Didcot Parkway because of a scare in Oxford. Despite leaving at 4, it takes us until 7 to get home, eventually completing the journey by taxi (checking the company will pay the extra £60 for two cars).

Tuesday -
Now we actually get to work! Despite the fuss over training and practice yesterday, it didn't really seem that difficult. The problem, as I predicted, is getting people off the street. Not only do we have difficulty stopping people (many just ignore us, or say they haven't time - what if I'd been offering £100?) Unfortunately we'd been let down a bit, and the incentive was only £8 in Boots vouchers.

Despite spending most of the day on my feet, approaching people, only 7 stopped for the screening interview (two of whom I knew!) A further problem is that we were quite fussy in who we wanted - women, aged 20-65, who drank instant coffee daily and were the main shoppers of their household. Of those screened, I only got two to do the full interview.

The interview itself could be quite repetitive and boring. We had to ask the same questions about each of a range of coffees. Many were full of usual market speak - e.g. does this name convey ultimate coffee enjoyment? (answer on a scale of 1-5). What's more, I noticed they tended to be focused on something specific - some the coffee itself, some the package, brand name or variety name. Often people would stray onto something not asked (or give reasons for a choice, interesting but not asked or needed) and this just made the interviews longer and more frustrating.

To hit our target, we needed to do five interviews per person per day (not helped by the fact the girl from yesterday had decided she didn't fancy it after all). As I said, I'd only managed two. Altogether, we had 24 though - not far short, and not bad for our first day. Some of the others had done much better, largely I think by telling people it'd only be 25-30 mins, rather than 40. Perhaps partly as a consequence, we'd had a few unfinished ones. The next day though we heard this had been a bigger problem in Southampton, where interviews were taking an hour+.

Wednesday -
We'd decided to start at 9:30 (finish at 4) as the morning had seemed more fruitful. It wasn't particularly successful, as we were largely brushed off by people on their way to work. Anyone around town at that time (I think) has to be there for a reason, our best hope was to go for old people with little better to do.

Unfortunately we had a real disaster. Around 11 a suit from the council walking past asked what I was doing, and when I replied 'market research' he told me I wasn't allowed to, handing me a copy of the bye-law. I had to go back and speak to A, and we certainly didn't think we'd broken the bye-law, which forbade various selling, soliciting and information-gathering on the streets IN SUCH WAYS AS TO CAUSE OBSTRUCTION OR REASONABLE GROUNDS FOR PUBLIC ANNOYANCE. I've often seen people on the streets with surveys, leaflets and even the Big Issue, I'm sure we were no more of a nuisance, but we decided to call our men off the street, think about our options, take a lunch and consult head office.

After some phone calls between head office and the council, it was decided we'd best not solicit on the streets. The plan was for some of us to remain in the interview hall, while the rest did all they could to drum up volunteers by taking posters and flyers to nearby shops, colleges and departments. With a lot of time spent cutting up flyers and so on, and the rest cycling around, it wasn't too productive. We could only hope it would work, or Thursday could be very slow.

Thursday -
The day looked like starting slowly, and it did. We put posters on the church railings (with permission) then sat and waited, but without much luck. A few women wondered in, until lunchtime. Unfortunately then we were two men down (one with a doctor's appointment) and we actually got women queuing - it was so busy A actually interviewed one or two himself (rather than supervising), and others left. I didn't get my lunch until gone 2.

The afternoon, again, was quiet, but we'd managed about 15-20 over the course of the day. Less than our original target, but that had been cut from 120 to 96 (with more to be done in Southampton and Penzance) and we were now looking at working not just Friday but Monday. (Unfortunately Saturday would probably have been better, but we couldn't get the church hall).

Friday -
Even better going, despite having to stop half an hour because of a funeral in the church whose hall we were using. Again we had to turn a few away at lunch (asking them to come back later), but by the end of the day we'd not only done 28, but filled our quota of 20-34 year olds, meaning we now had to turn down any more young ladies :( The only bad thing was not being able to leave our stuff set up over the weekend, so we not only had to pack away but carry it home (I had all the wooden shelves on my bike)

Monday -
We hadn't originally planned a second week, but with various events were still about 15 short of our (reduced) quota, so there was an extra day's work for those that wanted it. We had to set up the stuff again, but other than that it wasn't too hard. We all agreed that sitting and waiting for potential interviewees was far easier than finding them on the streets. The downside was we soon found ourselves needing to fill certain quotas (e.g. over 35), and now had a lot less control over who came up to us - so we just had to turn them away. Despite that, I did three or four interviews, and we were finished by about 3:20 - and able to take away a couple of sample products as a 'bonus'. A had offered some of us an extra two days on another project, so there was a quick briefing on that, and we were off. That evening he sent round details of payment. We all had to invoice head office. I thought there'd be an official form, but we each wrote what we wanted paying (6 days - £300), plus expenses (like Monday's transport), in a word file and sent it straight off ourselves. He told us pay day was Wednesday, but we might have to wait a week - I wasn't desperate for the money asap, just nervous about whether I'd actually get paid!

For the record, I did get paid no problems. When I did a second job for them - which was far easier, and better paid for less than full days - there was a few weeks' hold up in my pay, which took several emails, but again I did eventually receive the money. It goes to show sometimes the work itself is smoother, but also that the paperwork can be a hassle.

I can't recommend any route into market research. Nor can I guarantee that any experience you do have will be the same - or even similar - to mine. I hope I've given some insight into what you may expect. It certainly isn't 'easy money' - and certainly not an occupation if you don't like rejection. If you're prepared for a bit of work, that's sometimes repetitive, sometimes requires initiative, dealing with the public, varied, decent pay and flexible hours with little job security (as I said, might suit students, housewives or semi-retired), then it's certainly one way avenue to extra pocket money.