What are your approaches for market research?

I'm working on a new idea called MetricDeal, a crowdsourcing marketplace for affordable market research reports and industry insights.

I'm seeking for your story of market research as well as your feedback to my product idea above. I know market research to understand an industry is one top business task for entrepreneurs. I want to create this platform to help each other.

Starter questions for you

• What are your approaches for conducting market research to your business idea?
• Have you paid any useful information / services to help you understand the market?
• Have you sold your own reports or any other digital assets?

Thanks.