"Other effective methods also are available—at little or no cost—for newspapers to gain valuable information about readers and advertisers and to learn what could make newspapers more attractive to them. Newspapers are encouraged to use some or all of these methods to complement their periodic professional studies, or as a substitute when resources are not available for professional research. Most of these alternate market research techniques can be conducted by the newspaper and its employees. Others can be conducted by part-time workers employed specifically for the research. The results will not be as comprehensive and will not reflect responses of the total population as precisely as professional market research. But they can provide samplings of information that: 1. Help the newspaper discover ways to better serve its customers, and, 2. Inform its executives and employees about opinions and preferences of readers and advertisers. Both of these results will build a stronger, more successful newspaper. These lower-cost research methods include: Focus Groups; Meetings with Readers or Advertisers; Telephone Surveys of Readers or Advertisers; Mailed Questionnaires for Advertisers; In-Paper Questionnaires for Readers; Face-to-Face Interviews. The first sections of this guidebook discuss how newspapers can plan, organize, conduct and use these lowcost forms of research—and how some already have done so. The final section discusses professional market research, how it should be planned and conducted and how it can be used to improve newspapers." (Introduction, pages 8-9)