Primary and Secondary Research

Primary Research - a type of research design in which the researcher is directly involved in the data collection process

Examples:

• Interviews (telephone or face-to-face)
• Surveys (online or mail)
• Questionnaires (online or mail)
• Focus groups.
• Visits to competitors' locations.

Secondary Research - a research method that involves using already existing data. Existing data is summarized and collated to increase the overall effectiveness of research.

Examples:

• textbooks.
• news articles.
• university-published studies.
• encyclopaedias.
• published market research.
• academic journals.
• published demographic research.
• government records

Quantitive Data - Numerical, easy to analyse data

Qualitative Data - Rich, detailed, hard to analyse data