Ask HN: How do you conduct market research for your startup?

I'm assuming most active members on the board have raised less than $1mil. While operating on relatively tight budgets, how do you determine your optimal target market? Would you like to conduct market research if you could afford it?

I ask because our ranking software could aid with just about every solution these guys list: http://www.1000minds.com/solutions Yet, we believe market research holds the biggest potential if we add a qualitative component to the quantitative portion that's already been built.

Specifically, we're looking at the market that can't afford the crazy figures that market research agencies tend to charge. I'd imagine up-and-coming startups could make up a decent bit of the market that could value our DIY solution.

(I should clarify that we're probably not looking to appeal to the bootstrapping crowd)

In general, what types of questions would you like to get answered if you could conduct studies with your target market?

Any feedback is much appreciated!

-Adam