Role Guide: Research Assistant
For Narqix specialists who research leads, vendors, markets and competitors. After reading you will know how to turn a vague request into a clear brief, deliver research a client can act on, and never hand over an unsourced fact.
Track: Back Office & Admin · Role: Research Assistant · Time to complete: 15 min
What this role is
Clients ask for research because they need to make a decision: which vendor to hire, which leads to call, which market to enter, how a competitor prices. Your job is not to collect information. Your job is to give them verified facts, organized around their decision.
The one rule that defines this role at Narqix: no source, no fact. Every fact you deliver has a link the client can open to check it. If you cannot find a source, you do not write the fact.
What you own
- Turning every request into a written research brief and getting it confirmed before you start.
- Finding facts from primary sources first.
- Verifying, date-stamping and rating confidence on every fact.
- Delivering in the agreed format: a sheet, a one-page summary, or both.
- Writing a short summary of what you found at the top.
- Flagging what you could not find and why.
Types of research you will do
| Type | Example request | Typical output |
|---|---|---|
| Lead research | "Find 50 property management companies in Dallas with 100+ doors" | Sheet: company, website, decision maker, phone, email, source links |
| Vendor research | "Find three bookkeeping firms that work with HVAC companies" | Comparison table with prices, terms, reviews summary, sources |
| Market research | "What do roofers in Phoenix charge for an inspection?" | Short summary with price range, sample size and sources |
| Competitor research | "What do our three main competitors offer?" | Side-by-side table, dated |
| People and company checks | "Is this company real and active?" | Registry status, website, reviews, red flags |
| Travel and event research | "Hotels near the conference under 250 USD a night" | Options table, held not booked |
Your rhythm
- Brief (before any searching): confirm the question, the decision, scope, quantity, format, deadline and allowed sources. See the Research Briefs page.
- Plan: list where you will look first. Primary sources before directories.
- Collect in the sheet as you go: fact, source link, date checked, confidence.
- Check halfway: send the client 5 sample rows early. This catches a misunderstood brief before you waste a day.
- Finish and summarize: headline findings on top, gaps listed, delivered on time.
Coach's note: the halfway sample is the best habit in research. Clients often realize what they really want only when they see real rows. Five rows on day one can save forty wrong rows on day two.
How you are measured
| KPI | Target |
|---|---|
| Facts with a working source link | 100% |
| Facts with a date checked | 100% |
| Sampled facts that match their source (QA) | 98% or more |
| Delivered by deadline | 95% or more |
| Brief confirmed before work starts | 100% |
| Rework because of misunderstood scope | Under 5% |
Tools (generic)
Web browser, spreadsheet, shared drive, public business registries, company websites, professional networking sites, map listings, review sites, task tracker, team channel, and an AI tool only if your client approves it (see the AI Use Policy in Narqix Standards).
Handoffs
- You receive: a request from the client or a team lead.
- You pass on: a confirmed brief back to the client, then the finished research to the client or to the team who will use it (for example a calling team who will dial your leads).
Quality standards
- Primary sources first. The company's own website, government registries and official listings come before directories and aggregators.
- Two sources for anything important. A decision maker's name or a price should be confirmed in two places for High confidence.
- Facts and opinions in separate columns. Your judgment goes in "Notes", never mixed with facts.
- Date everything. Prices, staff names and phone numbers go out of date fast.
- Say what you did not find. An honest gap is better than a filled cell with a guess.
Escalation rules
- The brief is unclear or the deadline is impossible: tell the client within the first hour, with a suggested smaller scope.
- You find something worrying (a vendor with fraud complaints, a lead that is clearly a scam): flag it at the top of your summary and in your end of day report.
- A website asks you to log in, pay or download something: stop and ask. Never create accounts or pay for data without approval.
Never do this: never invent, guess or "fill in" a fact, a name, an email address or a phone number. A made-up fact is an automatic QA fail and breaks client trust instantly. Write "Not found" and move on.
Never do this: never pass AI-generated facts to a client without opening and checking the real source yourself. AI tools can produce confident, wrong names, numbers and links.
Common mistakes
| Mistake | Fix |
|---|---|
| Starting before the brief is confirmed | Brief first, always |
| Using one directory for everything | Primary sources first, directories to fill gaps |
| Guessing email formats (first.last at company) and presenting them as facts | Mark as "pattern guess, Low confidence" or leave blank, per the brief |
| A huge sheet with no summary | 3 to 5 headline findings on top |
| Links to search result pages | Link to the exact page where the fact appears |
Check yourself
- What does "no source, no fact" mean in practice?
- Why do you send 5 sample rows halfway through?
- You find a price on one website only. What confidence rating does it get?
- A site asks you to create a free account to see contact details. What do you do?
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