Sir; Your otherwise excellent overview of the consumer research market (Big Brother is Watching, January 6, p22) managed to skirt around the vital question businesses should ask about research. What value for money is my research giving me? Many businesses spend huge sums of money analysing past behaviour, often across whole categories, without questioning its real value. Researchers themselves admit in your article that past behaviour is little use in predicting of the future, so why do it? Is it a comfort factor to know you have a big research report that explains all about your consumers' behaviour, despite the fact no-one ever reads it or understands it! Businesses have to change to survive. Research has to help you make decisions about the future in the most cost effective way without compromising either its reliability or integrity. Paul Tolley Heawood Research {{LETTERS }}