MRCA Charter

1. Purpose and Nature of the MRCA

The Market Research Chartered Association (MRCA) exists to provide a clear professional reference point for market research and fieldwork activities worldwide.

The contemporary market research industry relies increasingly on independent professionals operating across countries, methodologies, and organisational contexts. While these professionals play a central role in the delivery of research, their work often takes place within fragmented, informal, or opaque professional structures.

The MRCA was created to address this reality by establishing a shared professional frame that supports trust, clarity, and consistency in research practice, without centralising work or acting as a commercial intermediary.

The MRCA is not an agency, a platform, a marketplace, or a service provider. It does not allocate work, negotiate contracts, or intervene in commercial relationships. Its role is structural, not operational.

2. Independence and Non-Commercial Positioning

The MRCA operates independently from commercial interests.

It does not represent vendors, tools, agencies, buyers, or specific commercial actors. It does not promote products or services, nor does it participate in commercial competition within the market research ecosystem.

This independence is fundamental to the MRCA’s legitimacy. By remaining outside commercial dynamics, the MRCA provides a neutral professional reference that can be relied upon by independent professionals, agencies, and organisations alike.

The MRCA’s authority derives from professional alignment and shared standards, not from market power or commercial leverage.

3. Scope of Professional Activity

The MRCA covers the full spectrum of market research
and fieldwork practices, including but not limited to:

• Quantitative research
• Qualitative research
• Hybrid and mixed methodologies
• Operational and fieldwork-based activities
• Recruitment, moderation, interviewing, analysis, translation, and related research functions

The MRCA does not prescribe specific methodologies or tools. Instead, it focuses on professional conduct, reliability, and consistency of practice across different contexts, markets, and research environments.

Professional diversity is recognised as a strength of the research ecosystem, provided it operates within a shared professional frame.

4. Professional Alignment and Shared References

The MRCA was created to establish shared references that allow trust to exist without dependency.

Rather than centralising authority or control, the MRCA provides a common professional language that enables independent professionals to operate with clarity and mutual recognition across borders and organisational structures.

By aligning around shared principles and expectations, professionals move from isolated individual positioning toward collective professional credibility, while retaining full autonomy over their work and commercial relationships.

5. Long-Term Role and Professional Stability

The MRCA is designed as a long-term professional infrastructure.

Its mission is to support the professionalisation of independent research work while preserving independence, flexibility, and autonomy. The MRCA does not seek to dominate the profession, replace existing organisations, or impose uniformity.

Instead, it exists to stabilise professional practice over time by providing continuity, reference, and coherence in an evolving research landscape.

The MRCA’s role is not to define who may work, but to clarify how professional research work is recognised, understood, and trusted.

6. Relationship to Other MRCA Documents

This Charter establishes the foundational principles of the MRCA.

It is complemented by:
– the Code of Professional Practice, which sets out professional conduct expectations, and
– the Membership Terms & Conditions, which membership status, rights, and limitations.

Acceptance of MRCA membership implies adherence to the principles expressed in this Charter.