What MRCA Is
The Market Research Chartered Association (MRCA) is an independent professional reference body for market research and fieldwork.
It exists to provide structure in a fragmented industry where independent professionals play a central but often invisible role. The MRCA does not operate as an agency, a platform, or a commercial intermediary. Its purpose is to define a clear professional frame shared by those who produce, manage and rely on research work worldwide.
Why MRCA Exists
Market research increasingly relies on independent expertise. Yet this independence often comes with isolation, opacity and fragmented standards. The MRCA was created to address this gap: not by centralising work, but by establishing shared references that allow trust to exist without dependency. Its role is to bring coherence where practices are dispersed.
Professional Scope
The MRCA covers the full spectrum of market research and fieldwork. Quantitative, qualitative, hybrid and operational practices all fall within its scope. Rather than separating disciplines, the MRCA focuses on professional conduct, reliability and consistency of practice across contexts. Its ambition is alignment, not uniformity.
Full-Spectrum Research Coverage
The MRCA covers the full spectrum of market research and fieldwork practices.
Quantitative, qualitative, hybrid, and operational research all fall within its scope, regardless of methodology, market, or geography.
Rather than separating disciplines, the MRCA focuses on what unites them: professional conduct, methodological rigor, and accountability in practice.
Alignment, Not Uniformity
The MRCA does not impose a single way of working or a fixed methodology.
Its role is to provide a shared professional framework that allows diversity of approaches while maintaining consistency in standards.
The objective is alignment across contexts, not uniformity, so that research can be trusted, understood, and relied upon worldwide.