Hi there!
People regularly confuse the terms "market" and "marketing" research - even people who ought to know better. In this post, I want to explain to you the difference between the two. 
Market research refers to investigating a particular market. For instance, you might want to look at the market for children's clothes or the market for dog food. Market testing a product, consumer attitudes, or finding out how people intend to vote at an election would also fall into that category. In other words, your research is singular and focuses entirely on your chosen market.
You might use market research if you are a new business and you want to find out if there is a market for your idea. You might also use it if you intend to launch a new product or service.
Marketing research, on the other hand, is much more comprehensive and it deals with the whole marketing process. You would apply this, for instance, when writing a marketing plan. The areas this covers include: the wider world around you (macroenvironment); your markets; competitors; customers; and your own business. From the information you gather in that research, you would develop a SWOT Analysis.
You'll see that I've included "your markets" in this list. This would involve market research. However, when your focus is marketing research, you would not normally analyze your markets to the same depth as you would when conducting market research.
If you want to find out more about market and marketing research and learn how to conduct these on your own, check out my Learning E-Manual: "How to Write a Marketing Plan for the Small Business".
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