It is fascinating to think about the depth of data and connections that one can find when focusing on a particular topic.
Take "organic" or "all natural" My colleague Elizabeth Elfenbein and I wrote a Mediapost article with stats on organic trends in the USA. What seemed amorphous is actually quite organzed and is named: Lifestyle of Health and Sustainability. The trend is of continual growth.
We also brought up the perennial nature of organic online behavior, which tends to be of higher quality than promotion responses. This is because organic visitors to web sites usually have already gathered some other information and are motivated to learn more.
We were also brought into the community of the National Marketing Institute, who has done significant research in this area. They contacted us directly with their expertise.
Lesson learned: explore a research project in depth, and reach out to the experts.