primary and secondary research methodology

• Primary vs Secondary Research Methods: 15 Key Differences

When carrying out a systematic investigation, you can choose to be directly involved in the data collection process or to rely on already acquired information. While the former is described as primary research, the latter is known as secondary research. 

The distinguishing factor between primary research and secondary research is the degree of involvement of the research with the data gathering process . In this article, we’ll be detailing other key differences between primary and secondary research, and also show you how to conduct primary research with Formplus. 

What is Primary Research?

Primary research is a type of research that requires the researcher to participate directly in the data-gathering process. In primary research, the researcher does not depend on already existing data, rather he or she collects first-hand information which serves as research materials for the systematic investigation. 

This type of research gives the researcher absolute ownership of the data which is extremely important for businesses and organisations in fast-paced markets. These organisations utilise primary research to gather valuable information about consumer needs and preferences before launching a new product or service.  

Usually, primary research focuses on the specific needs of the research contexts. However, this type of research is expensive, time-consuming and it usually requires a lot of skilled resources that may not be readily available and this is why many businesses outsource this to 3rd party market research companies. 

What is Secondary Research?

Secondary research is a type of research approach in which the researcher relies solely on existing research materials rather than gather data directly for research. This research approach is less expensive and time-efficient unlike primary research.. 

Data for secondary research can be accessed from the internet, archive, libraries, educational institutions and organisational reports. However, extra care must be taken by the researcher to ensure that the data is valid as this can have a negative impact on the research process and outcomes. 

Differences Between Primary and Secondary Research

Primary research is a research approach that involves gathering data directly while secondary research is a research approach that involves relying on already existing data when carrying out a systematic investigation. 

This means that in primary research, the researcher is directly involved in the data collection and categorization process. In secondary research, on the other hand, the researcher simply depends on existing materials for the research without any need to collect raw information from the field. 

• Sources of Data

Surveys, interviews, focus groups and observation techniques are common sources of data in primary research. In secondary research, the researcher collects existing research materials through a number of sources like the internet, libraries and archives.

These data collection methods require some sort of interaction with the research subjects in order to gather first-hand information that will be useful in the research. Many times,secondary sources are free to access but some of them will require you to pay an access fee before you can make use of the information. 

• Other Names

Secondary research is also known as desk research because it does not necessarily require the researcher to move from one place to another. Meanwhile, primary research is also referred to as a field research design because it requires the researcher to get totally involved with the data collection process.

In secondary research, researchers can easily access information from the comfort of their desk; especially when using the internet to source for research materials. In some cases, the researcher would need to co-exist with the research subjects for a specific period of time in order to get information for the research. 

• Advantages of Primary Research over Secondary Research

Unlike secondary research, primary research gives the researcher 100% ownership of the research data which is extremely useful for organisations in highly competitive markets. Data from secondary research can be accessed by everyone and does not yield any specific benefits to organisations. 

Also, in primary research, the researcher can fully account for the authenticity of the data because he or she is an active participant in the data collection process. Because the researcher is not directly involved in gathering secondary research data, he or she cannot ascertain the authenticity of the research materials. 

• Advantages of Secondary Research over Primary Research.

Unlike primary research that is expensive and time-consuming, secondary research can be completed in limited time and with limited resources. Since the research data already exists, the secondary researcher does not need to invest time or resources to gather first-hand information. 

Also, secondary research helps to prevent knowledge repetition by mapping out already existing research efforts and this helps the primary researcher to concentrate on exploring new areas of knowledge. Hence, it is important for every research effort to begin with secondary research. 

Common tools used to collect data in secondary research include bots, internet-enabled devices like laptops, smartphones and tablets. On the other hand, surveys, questionnaires and interviews are common data gathering tools in primary research.

Secondary research devices help researchers to access sources of secondary data like libraries, archives and peer-reviewed journals; without needing to go to the field.  Primary research tools help the researcher to access first-hand information about the characteristics, dispositions and behaviours of research subjects in line with the context of the systematic investigation.  

Primary research makes use of real-time information while secondary research makes use of past or already existing research materials. During primary research, the research is ultimately concerned with gathering first-hand information about the research subjects and contexts while in secondary research, the researcher simply re-examines existing data. 

Hence, the type of data used in secondary research is described as “past data” because it reflects past occurrences and only provides insights into dealing with present situations. The role of the secondary researcher is primarily to specify how this past data informs his or her current research.

• Research Purpose

The purpose of primary research is to gather real-time data that will be useful in solving a specific problem. On the other hand, the purpose of secondary research is to gather existing research materials that may not directly address the problem at hand. 

The primary research process is carefully tailored towards the specific research problem from start to finish and this is why it relies on first-hand data. Secondary research is not tailored towards solving a specific problem rather, it provides general information that can prove useful for primary research. 

• When to Conduct Primary and Secondary Research

Primary or field research is usually carried out when an individual or organization needs to gather recent data that is useful for a specific research context. When organisations need to gather information on the changing needs of target markets, they typically employ primary research methods. 

Secondary research, on the other hand, is used when the researcher needs to identify existing knowledge that can provide useful insight in research. With this information, the researcher can identify knowledge gaps which would form the core of his or her research efforts. 

• Data Recency

Primary research relies on recent data for its systematic investigation because it addresses present situations. As earlier asserted, primary research efforts are ultimately tailored towards the needs of a specific research context from start to finish;hence, the primary researcher must gather real-time data in order to arrive at relevant research outcomes. 

Secondary research, on the other hand, makes use of past data in an attempt to understand existing research efforts, identify knowledge gaps and map out the recent research to fill these knowledge gaps. This, findings from secondary research do not necessarily apply to specific research contexts.  

• Feasibility

Secondary research is more feasible than primary research. For example, it may be improbable for a company to attempt to observe the buying culture of all the individuals in its target market. 

In this case, the researcher may have to depend on existing research findings that detail the buying culture of the target market. Alternatively, the researcher can use other sampling methods that would help him or her gather feedback from a section of the market. 

Examples of primary research data are student thesis, market research and first-person accounts of trauma survivors while examples of secondary research data include newspapers, books, academic journals and magazines. 

Secondary research data often represent an aggregation of already existing information with little or no additions while primary data contains new information. Usually, primary research collects data from the original source unlike secondary research that relies on reported information. For example, a student who wants to write a thesis would need to either interact with the research subjects in their natural environment or carry out an experiment. 

• Specificity

Primary research is more specific than secondary research because primary research is aimed at addressing issues peculiar to a business, organisation or institution. On the other hand, secondary research that does not cater to the specific needs of an organization. 

For example, when carrying out a primary research on consumer satisfaction for a product, the entirety of the research process is tailored towards the product in question. In secondary research, however, the data collected may not be exactly what the researcher needs. 

In primary research, the researcher has 100% ownership and control over the data and he or she can choose to make such information available to others or not. This means that the primary researcher has absolute discretion over the research materials. 

In secondary research, however, the researcher does not own the data and as such, he or she does not have absolute discretion over it. Secondary research can aptly be described as a “free-for-all” situation because everyone can gain access to the data. 

• Data Accuracy

Data gathered through primary research is more accurate than secondary research data. In primary research, the researcher is fully involved in the data collection process and he or she takes care to collect valid data that can be easily authenticated. 

The secondary researcher, on the other hand, has no control over the data and he or she cannot account for the validity of the research materials. For instance, there is a lot of inaccurate information on the internet which can affect research outcomes when used as the basis of a systematic investigation.  

Similarity between Primary and Secondary Research

Primary and secondary research makes use of quantitative and qualitative data. Quantitative data collection methods such as surveys and questionnaires are used to gather numerical data while qualitative data collection methods like observation are used to gather descriptive data . 

How to Conduct Primary Research with Formplus 

Primary research can be conducted with Formplus using a survey or questionnaire . Here is a step-by-step guide on how to go about this. 

• Sign into Formplus

With Formplus, you can create different types of surveys and questionnaires for primary research. Sign into your Formplus account to access the form builder where you can seamlessly add and modify different form fields for your primary research survey. 

Once you sign in, click on “create new form” to begin. 

In the builder page, you can specify your form title to be “Primary Research Survey” in the title box. Next, click on or drag your desired form fields into your survey form from the builder’s inputs section. 

• Edit fields
• Click on “Save”
• Preview form. 
• Form Customization

In the form customization section in the form builder, you can easily personalize your primary research survey by modifying its outlook to suit your needs. Formplus allows you to change your form theme, add background images and even change the font according to your needs. 

• Multiple Sharing Options

With Formplus, you can easily share your primary research survey with respondents using the available multiple sharing options. You can use the direct social media sharing buttons to share your form link to your organization’s social media pages. 

You can send out your survey form as email invitations to your research subjects too. If you wish, you can share your form’s QR code or embed it in your organization’s website for easy access. 

Conclusion   

Many times, researchers combine primary and secondary data collection methods in order to arrive at the most valid outcomes at the end of a systematic investigation. Usually, they start off with secondary research to effectively map out a relevant scope for their research effort, before proceeding to conduct primary research. 

It is important for you to consider the strengths and weaknesses of secondary and primary research before opting for any of these research methods. More importantly, you should pay attention to the overall aim of your systematic investigation as this is the fundamental determinator for choosing primary or secondary research.

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• Primary vs. Secondary Sources | Difference & Examples

Primary vs. Secondary Sources | Difference & Examples

Published on June 20, 2018 by Raimo Streefkerk . Revised on May 31, 2023.

When you do research, you have to gather information and evidence from a variety of sources.

Primary sources provide raw information and first-hand evidence. Examples include interview transcripts, statistical data, and works of art. Primary research gives you direct access to the subject of your research.

Secondary sources provide second-hand information and commentary from other researchers. Examples include journal articles, reviews, and academic books . Thus, secondary research describes, interprets, or synthesizes primary sources.

Primary sources are more credible as evidence, but good research uses both primary and secondary sources.

Table of contents

What is a primary source, what is a secondary source, primary and secondary source examples, how to tell if a source is primary or secondary, primary vs secondary sources: which is better, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about primary and secondary sources.

A primary source is anything that gives you direct evidence about the people, events, or phenomena that you are researching. Primary sources will usually be the main objects of your analysis.

If you are researching the past, you cannot directly access it yourself, so you need primary sources that were produced at the time by participants or witnesses (e.g. letters, photographs, newspapers ).

If you are researching something current, your primary sources can either be qualitative or quantitative data that you collect yourself (e.g. through interviews , surveys , experiments ) or sources produced by people directly involved in the topic (e.g. official documents or media texts).

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A secondary source is anything that describes, interprets, evaluates, or analyzes information from primary sources. Common examples include:

• Books , articles and documentaries that synthesize information on a topic
• Synopses and descriptions of artistic works
• Encyclopedias and textbooks that summarize information and ideas
• Reviews and essays that evaluate or interpret something

When you cite a secondary source, it’s usually not to analyze it directly. Instead, you’ll probably test its arguments against new evidence or use its ideas to help formulate your own.

Examples of sources that can be primary or secondary

A secondary source can become a primary source depending on your research question . If the person, context, or technique that produced the source is the main focus of your research, it becomes a primary source.

Documentaries

If you are researching the causes of World War II, a recent documentary about the war is a secondary source . But if you are researching the filmmaking techniques used in historical documentaries, the documentary is a primary source .

Reviews and essays

If your paper is about the novels of Toni Morrison, a magazine review of one of her novels is a secondary source . But if your paper is about the critical reception of Toni Morrison’s work, the review is a primary source .

Newspaper articles

If your aim is to analyze the government’s economic policy, a newspaper article about a new policy is a secondary source . But if your aim is to analyze media coverage of economic issues, the newspaper article is a primary source .

To determine if something can be used as a primary or secondary source in your research, there are some simple questions you can ask yourself:

• Does this source come from someone directly involved in the events I’m studying (primary) or from another researcher (secondary)?
• Am I interested in evaluating the source itself (primary) or only using it for background information (secondary)?
• Does the source provide original information (primary) or does it comment upon information from other sources (secondary)?

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Most research uses both primary and secondary sources. They complement each other to help you build a convincing argument. Primary sources are more credible as evidence, but secondary sources show how your work relates to existing research. Tertiary sources are often used in the first, exploratory stage of research.

What do you use primary sources for?

Primary sources are the foundation of original research. They allow you to:

• Make new discoveries
• Provide credible evidence for your arguments
• Give authoritative information about your topic

If you don’t use any primary sources, your research may be considered unoriginal or unreliable.

What do you use secondary sources for?

Secondary sources are good for gaining a full overview of your topic and understanding how other researchers have approached it. They often synthesize a large number of primary sources that would be difficult and time-consuming to gather by yourself. They allow you to:

• Gain background information on the topic
• Support or contrast your arguments with other researchers’ ideas
• Gather information from primary sources that you can’t access directly (e.g. private letters or physical documents located elsewhere)

When you conduct a literature review or meta analysis, you can consult secondary sources to gain a thorough overview of your topic. If you want to mention a paper or study that you find cited in a secondary source, seek out the original source and cite it directly.

Remember that all primary and secondary sources must be cited to avoid plagiarism . You can use Scribbr’s free citation generator to do so!

If you want to know more about ChatGPT, AI tools , citation , and plagiarism , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

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Common examples of primary sources include interview transcripts , photographs, novels, paintings, films, historical documents, and official statistics.

Anything you directly analyze or use as first-hand evidence can be a primary source, including qualitative or quantitative data that you collected yourself.

Common examples of secondary sources include academic books, journal articles , reviews, essays , and textbooks.

Anything that summarizes, evaluates or interprets primary sources can be a secondary source. If a source gives you an overview of background information or presents another researcher’s ideas on your topic, it is probably a secondary source.

To determine if a source is primary or secondary, ask yourself:

• Was the source created by someone directly involved in the events you’re studying (primary), or by another researcher (secondary)?
• Does the source provide original information (primary), or does it summarize information from other sources (secondary)?
• Are you directly analyzing the source itself (primary), or only using it for background information (secondary)?

Some types of source are nearly always primary: works of art and literature, raw statistical data, official documents and records, and personal communications (e.g. letters, interviews ). If you use one of these in your research, it is probably a primary source.

Primary sources are often considered the most credible in terms of providing evidence for your argument, as they give you direct evidence of what you are researching. However, it’s up to you to ensure the information they provide is reliable and accurate.

Always make sure to properly cite your sources to avoid plagiarism .

A fictional movie is usually a primary source. A documentary can be either primary or secondary depending on the context.

If you are directly analyzing some aspect of the movie itself – for example, the cinematography, narrative techniques, or social context – the movie is a primary source.

If you use the movie for background information or analysis about your topic – for example, to learn about a historical event or a scientific discovery – the movie is a secondary source.

Whether it’s primary or secondary, always properly cite the movie in the citation style you are using. Learn how to create an MLA movie citation or an APA movie citation .

Articles in newspapers and magazines can be primary or secondary depending on the focus of your research.

In historical studies, old articles are used as primary sources that give direct evidence about the time period. In social and communication studies, articles are used as primary sources to analyze language and social relations (for example, by conducting content analysis or discourse analysis ).

If you are not analyzing the article itself, but only using it for background information or facts about your topic, then the article is a secondary source.

Cite this Scribbr article

If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the “Cite this Scribbr article” button to automatically add the citation to our free Citation Generator.

Streefkerk, R. (2023, May 31). Primary vs. Secondary Sources | Difference & Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved August 12, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/working-with-sources/primary-and-secondary-sources/

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Home » Primary Vs Secondary Research

Primary Vs Secondary Research

Table of Contents

Primary and secondary research are two different types of research methods used to gather information for a study or research project.

Primary Research

Primary Research involves collecting original data for a specific research purpose. This type of research is designed to answer specific research questions and is often conducted through methods such as surveys, interviews, focus groups, or experiments. Primary research is time-consuming and requires careful planning and execution to ensure that the data collected is valid and reliable. However, it provides researchers with first-hand information that is relevant to their specific research questions and can be tailored to their specific needs.

Secondary Research

Secondary research involves gathering data that has already been collected by someone else. This type of research can be conducted through various sources, such as academic journals, books, government reports, and online databases. Secondary research is less time-consuming and less expensive than primary research, as the data has already been collected and analyzed. However, the data may not be specific to the researcher’s research questions or may be outdated. Therefore, it is essential to evaluate the quality and relevance of the data collected through secondary research carefully.

Difference Between Primary and Secondary Research

Here are some key differences between primary and secondary research:

Also see Research Methods

About the author

Muhammad Hassan

Researcher, Academic Writer, Web developer

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Unit 3: Getting to, and thinking critically about, the [Secondary] Research

11 *primary vs secondary research.

Students tend to get a wee bit discombobulated in this chapter and I’ll tell you why — it’s those STINKIN’ PRIMARY SOURCES !

In 1305 we’re talking about social scientific r esearch methods and primary RESEARCH . Although our humanistic friends give us some great advice about how to evaluate a primary source , a primary source is pretty darned different from primary  research.

Learning Objectives

What is the difference between primary and secondary research? When and how to utilize each type of research? And how is primary research different from a primary source??

• Primary vs Secondary Research

Research can be categorized into two types: Primary vs Secondary

Primary  Research is original research (e.g., qualitative, quantitative ) that a researcher performs to explore or answer a question. This is the type of research a scientist performs to answer their own questions with data that they collect themselves .

Ex. conducting scholarly interviews, surveys, analysis, observations, etc. Used to create new science (then published via journal or book).

Secondary Research is research has been conducted independently of you is used to further your own research or knowledge. Often published in journals and accessible through databases. By conducting secondary research, you can develop a combination or summary of existing research. These resources can be used to help form your research question or hypothesis, then conduct your own primary research. Mainly used for preparing primary research.

Ex. Traditional textbooks, market research, literature reviews

These two types of research can be distinguished by thinking of primary as the original person conducting their own new research and secondary as a summary or collection of existing original, primary research.

So, what’s the big deal about Secondary Research? 

Five main purposes of secondary research:.

• While reading secondary research regarding a topic, researchers can see what research has already been done and how they might attempt to further study the topic or what questions they might attempt to answer.
• Through reading compiled summaries of past research, researchers can see what problems or limitations other studies have encountered, and formulate ways to counteract that.
• By comparing to past research, researchers can create a plan for which methodology and sampling method they will use.
• Secondary research can provide a clearer picture of the population the researcher intends to reach, and which avenues are best to represent the population most effectively.
• Comparing your data to other study’s data can be helpful to see what new things may have been found in your study.  

No Primary research should be done without conducting Secondary research first!

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Example contributed by: Monica Buchholz, Erica Cole, Charlie Boyle, Marvin Gutierrez, Edwin Leon

Here are some key points to remember about primary v secondary research compiled by Caroline McCullough and Abby Lundvall! (Fall 2022)

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• Research through databases
• Publishing and Predators

Introduction to Social Scientific Research Methods in Communication (3rd Edition) Copyright © 2023 by Kate Magsamen-Conrad. All Rights Reserved.

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Secondary research: definition, methods, & examples.

19 min read This ultimate guide to secondary research helps you understand changes in market trends, customers buying patterns and your competition using existing data sources.

In situations where you’re not involved in the data gathering process ( primary research ), you have to rely on existing information and data to arrive at specific research conclusions or outcomes. This approach is known as secondary research.

In this article, we’re going to explain what secondary research is, how it works, and share some examples of it in practice.

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What is secondary research?

Secondary research, also known as desk research, is a research method that involves compiling existing data sourced from a variety of channels . This includes internal sources (e.g.in-house research) or, more commonly, external sources (such as government statistics, organizational bodies, and the internet).

Secondary research comes in several formats, such as published datasets, reports, and survey responses , and can also be sourced from websites, libraries, and museums.

The information is usually free — or available at a limited access cost — and gathered using surveys , telephone interviews, observation, face-to-face interviews, and more.

When using secondary research, researchers collect, verify, analyze and incorporate it to help them confirm research goals for the research period.

As well as the above, it can be used to review previous research into an area of interest. Researchers can look for patterns across data spanning several years and identify trends — or use it to verify early hypothesis statements and establish whether it’s worth continuing research into a prospective area.

How to conduct secondary research

There are five key steps to conducting secondary research effectively and efficiently:

1.    Identify and define the research topic

First, understand what you will be researching and define the topic by thinking about the research questions you want to be answered.

Ask yourself: What is the point of conducting this research? Then, ask: What do we want to achieve?

This may indicate an exploratory reason (why something happened) or confirm a hypothesis. The answers may indicate ideas that need primary or secondary research (or a combination) to investigate them.

2.    Find research and existing data sources

If secondary research is needed, think about where you might find the information. This helps you narrow down your secondary sources to those that help you answer your questions. What keywords do you need to use?

Which organizations are closely working on this topic already? Are there any competitors that you need to be aware of?

Create a list of the data sources, information, and people that could help you with your work.

3.    Begin searching and collecting the existing data

Now that you have the list of data sources, start accessing the data and collect the information into an organized system. This may mean you start setting up research journal accounts or making telephone calls to book meetings with third-party research teams to verify the details around data results.

As you search and access information, remember to check the data’s date, the credibility of the source, the relevance of the material to your research topic, and the methodology used by the third-party researchers. Start small and as you gain results, investigate further in the areas that help your research’s aims.

4.    Combine the data and compare the results

When you have your data in one place, you need to understand, filter, order, and combine it intelligently. Data may come in different formats where some data could be unusable, while other information may need to be deleted.

After this, you can start to look at different data sets to see what they tell you. You may find that you need to compare the same datasets over different periods for changes over time or compare different datasets to notice overlaps or trends. Ask yourself: What does this data mean to my research? Does it help or hinder my research?

5.    Analyze your data and explore further

In this last stage of the process, look at the information you have and ask yourself if this answers your original questions for your research. Are there any gaps? Do you understand the information you’ve found? If you feel there is more to cover, repeat the steps and delve deeper into the topic so that you can get all the information you need.

If secondary research can’t provide these answers, consider supplementing your results with data gained from primary research. As you explore further, add to your knowledge and update your findings. This will help you present clear, credible information.

Primary vs secondary research

Unlike secondary research, primary research involves creating data first-hand by directly working with interviewees, target users, or a target market. Primary research focuses on the method for carrying out research, asking questions, and collecting data using approaches such as:

• Interviews (panel, face-to-face or over the phone)
• Questionnaires or surveys
• Focus groups

Using these methods, researchers can get in-depth, targeted responses to questions, making results more accurate and specific to their research goals. However, it does take time to do and administer.

Unlike primary research, secondary research uses existing data, which also includes published results from primary research. Researchers summarize the existing research and use the results to support their research goals.

Both primary and secondary research have their places. Primary research can support the findings found through secondary research (and fill knowledge gaps), while secondary research can be a starting point for further primary research. Because of this, these research methods are often combined for optimal research results that are accurate at both the micro and macro level.

Sources of Secondary Research

There are two types of secondary research sources: internal and external. Internal data refers to in-house data that can be gathered from the researcher’s organization. External data refers to data published outside of and not owned by the researcher’s organization.

Internal data

Internal data is a good first port of call for insights and knowledge, as you may already have relevant information stored in your systems. Because you own this information — and it won’t be available to other researchers — it can give you a competitive edge . Examples of internal data include:

• Database information on sales history and business goal conversions
• Information from website applications and mobile site data
• Customer-generated data on product and service efficiency and use
• Previous research results or supplemental research areas
• Previous campaign results

External data

External data is useful when you: 1) need information on a new topic, 2) want to fill in gaps in your knowledge, or 3) want data that breaks down a population or market for trend and pattern analysis. Examples of external data include:

• Government, non-government agencies, and trade body statistics
• Company reports and research
• Competitor research
• Public library collections
• Textbooks and research journals
• Media stories in newspapers
• Online journals and research sites

Three examples of secondary research methods in action

How and why might you conduct secondary research? Let’s look at a few examples:

1.    Collecting factual information from the internet on a specific topic or market

There are plenty of sites that hold data for people to view and use in their research. For example, Google Scholar, ResearchGate, or Wiley Online Library all provide previous research on a particular topic. Researchers can create free accounts and use the search facilities to look into a topic by keyword, before following the instructions to download or export results for further analysis.

This can be useful for exploring a new market that your organization wants to consider entering. For instance, by viewing the U.S Census Bureau demographic data for that area, you can see what the demographics of your target audience are , and create compelling marketing campaigns accordingly.

2.    Finding out the views of your target audience on a particular topic

If you’re interested in seeing the historical views on a particular topic, for example, attitudes to women’s rights in the US, you can turn to secondary sources.

Textbooks, news articles, reviews, and journal entries can all provide qualitative reports and interviews covering how people discussed women’s rights. There may be multimedia elements like video or documented posters of propaganda showing biased language usage.

By gathering this information, synthesizing it, and evaluating the language, who created it and when it was shared, you can create a timeline of how a topic was discussed over time.

3.    When you want to know the latest thinking on a topic

Educational institutions, such as schools and colleges, create a lot of research-based reports on younger audiences or their academic specialisms. Dissertations from students also can be submitted to research journals, making these places useful places to see the latest insights from a new generation of academics.

Information can be requested — and sometimes academic institutions may want to collaborate and conduct research on your behalf. This can provide key primary data in areas that you want to research, as well as secondary data sources for your research.

Advantages of secondary research

There are several benefits of using secondary research, which we’ve outlined below:

• Easily and readily available data – There is an abundance of readily accessible data sources that have been pre-collected for use, in person at local libraries and online using the internet. This data is usually sorted by filters or can be exported into spreadsheet format, meaning that little technical expertise is needed to access and use the data.
• Faster research speeds – Since the data is already published and in the public arena, you don’t need to collect this information through primary research. This can make the research easier to do and faster, as you can get started with the data quickly.
• Low financial and time costs – Most secondary data sources can be accessed for free or at a small cost to the researcher, so the overall research costs are kept low. In addition, by saving on preliminary research, the time costs for the researcher are kept down as well.
• Secondary data can drive additional research actions – The insights gained can support future research activities (like conducting a follow-up survey or specifying future detailed research topics) or help add value to these activities.
• Secondary data can be useful pre-research insights – Secondary source data can provide pre-research insights and information on effects that can help resolve whether research should be conducted. It can also help highlight knowledge gaps, so subsequent research can consider this.
• Ability to scale up results – Secondary sources can include large datasets (like Census data results across several states) so research results can be scaled up quickly using large secondary data sources.

Disadvantages of secondary research

The disadvantages of secondary research are worth considering in advance of conducting research :

• Secondary research data can be out of date – Secondary sources can be updated regularly, but if you’re exploring the data between two updates, the data can be out of date. Researchers will need to consider whether the data available provides the right research coverage dates, so that insights are accurate and timely, or if the data needs to be updated. Also, fast-moving markets may find secondary data expires very quickly.
• Secondary research needs to be verified and interpreted – Where there’s a lot of data from one source, a researcher needs to review and analyze it. The data may need to be verified against other data sets or your hypotheses for accuracy and to ensure you’re using the right data for your research.
• The researcher has had no control over the secondary research – As the researcher has not been involved in the secondary research, invalid data can affect the results. It’s therefore vital that the methodology and controls are closely reviewed so that the data is collected in a systematic and error-free way.
• Secondary research data is not exclusive – As data sets are commonly available, there is no exclusivity and many researchers can use the same data. This can be problematic where researchers want to have exclusive rights over the research results and risk duplication of research in the future.

When do we conduct secondary research?

Now that you know the basics of secondary research, when do researchers normally conduct secondary research?

It’s often used at the beginning of research, when the researcher is trying to understand the current landscape . In addition, if the research area is new to the researcher, it can form crucial background context to help them understand what information exists already. This can plug knowledge gaps, supplement the researcher’s own learning or add to the research.

Secondary research can also be used in conjunction with primary research. Secondary research can become the formative research that helps pinpoint where further primary research is needed to find out specific information. It can also support or verify the findings from primary research.

You can use secondary research where high levels of control aren’t needed by the researcher, but a lot of knowledge on a topic is required from different angles.

Secondary research should not be used in place of primary research as both are very different and are used for various circumstances.

Questions to ask before conducting secondary research

Before you start your secondary research, ask yourself these questions:

• Is there similar internal data that we have created for a similar area in the past?

If your organization has past research, it’s best to review this work before starting a new project. The older work may provide you with the answers, and give you a starting dataset and context of how your organization approached the research before. However, be mindful that the work is probably out of date and view it with that note in mind. Read through and look for where this helps your research goals or where more work is needed.

• What am I trying to achieve with this research?

When you have clear goals, and understand what you need to achieve, you can look for the perfect type of secondary or primary research to support the aims. Different secondary research data will provide you with different information – for example, looking at news stories to tell you a breakdown of your market’s buying patterns won’t be as useful as internal or external data e-commerce and sales data sources.

• How credible will my research be?

If you are looking for credibility, you want to consider how accurate the research results will need to be, and if you can sacrifice credibility for speed by using secondary sources to get you started. Bear in mind which sources you choose — low-credibility data sites, like political party websites that are highly biased to favor their own party, would skew your results.

• What is the date of the secondary research?

When you’re looking to conduct research, you want the results to be as useful as possible , so using data that is 10 years old won’t be as accurate as using data that was created a year ago. Since a lot can change in a few years, note the date of your research and look for earlier data sets that can tell you a more recent picture of results. One caveat to this is using data collected over a long-term period for comparisons with earlier periods, which can tell you about the rate and direction of change.

• Can the data sources be verified? Does the information you have check out?

If you can’t verify the data by looking at the research methodology, speaking to the original team or cross-checking the facts with other research, it could be hard to be sure that the data is accurate. Think about whether you can use another source, or if it’s worth doing some supplementary primary research to replicate and verify results to help with this issue.

We created a front-to-back guide on conducting market research, The ultimate guide to conducting market research , so you can understand the research journey with confidence.

In it, you’ll learn more about:

• What effective market research looks like
• The use cases for market research
• The most important steps to conducting market research
• And how to take action on your research findings

Download the free guide for a clearer view on secondary research and other key research types for your business.

Related resources

Market intelligence 10 min read, marketing insights 11 min read, ethnographic research 11 min read, qualitative vs quantitative research 13 min read, qualitative research questions 11 min read, qualitative research design 12 min read, primary vs secondary research 14 min read, request demo.

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What is Primary Research and How do I get Started?

Welcome to the Purdue OWL

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Primary research is any type of research that you collect yourself. Examples include surveys, interviews, observations, and ethnographic research. A good researcher knows how to use both primary and secondary sources in their writing and to integrate them in a cohesive fashion.

Conducting primary research is a useful skill to acquire as it can greatly supplement your research in secondary sources, such as journals, magazines, or books. You can also use it as the focus of your writing project. Primary research is an excellent skill to learn as it can be useful in a variety of settings including business, personal, and academic.

But I’m not an expert!

With some careful planning, primary research can be done by anyone, even students new to writing at the university level. The information provided on this page will help you get started.

What types of projects or activities benefit from primary research?

When you are working on a local problem that may not have been addressed before and little research is there to back it up.

When you are working on writing about a specific group of people or a specific person.

When you are working on a topic that is relatively new or original and few publications exist on the subject.

You can also use primary research to confirm or dispute national results with local trends.

What types of primary research can be done?

Many types of primary research exist. This guide is designed to provide you with an overview of primary research that is often done in writing classes.

Interviews: Interviews are one-on-one or small group question and answer sessions. Interviews will provide a lot of information from a small number of people and are useful when you want to get an expert or knowledgeable opinion on a subject.

Surveys: Surveys are a form of questioning that is more rigid than interviews and that involve larger groups of people. Surveys will provide a limited amount of information from a large group of people and are useful when you want to learn what a larger population thinks.

Observations: Observations involve taking organized notes about occurrences in the world. Observations provide you insight about specific people, events, or locales and are useful when you want to learn more about an event without the biased viewpoint of an interview.

Analysis: Analysis involves collecting data and organizing it in some fashion based on criteria you develop. They are useful when you want to find some trend or pattern. A type of analysis would be to record commercials on three major television networks and analyze gender roles.

Where do I start?

Consider the following questions when beginning to think about conducting primary research:

• What do I want to discover?
• How do I plan on discovering it? (This is called your research methods or methodology)
• Who am I going to talk to/observe/survey? (These people are called your subjects or participants)
• How am I going to be able to gain access to these groups or individuals?
• What are my biases about this topic?
• How can I make sure my biases are not reflected in my research methods?
• What do I expect to discover?

Primary vs secondary market research: types, sources and examples

Jun 9th, 2021

Types of primary research

There are two main types of primary market research: quantitative and qualitative. Both types of research are vital for obtaining different kinds of information.

• Quantitative market research deals with numerical data rather than consumers’ feelings, opinions, and attitudes. The process implies collecting large amounts of statistical points using surveys, polls, and questionnaires. The mathematical, statistical, and computational methods allow for gathering the data that researchers can further analyze to determine the patterns and averages, form predictions, and make generalizations. The purpose of quantitative market research is to determine the problem and understand its prevalence. Quantitative market research can provide a very accurate result that helps companies develop a clear picture of their objectives and how to reach them.
• Qualitative market research focuses on collecting behavioral, observational, and non-numerical data like audio, text, or video to gain insights into consumer opinions, motivations, or experiences. Qualitative market research involves open-ended questions and a small sample consisting of six to ten respondents and allows for an in-depth discussion of the topics. The primary methods used for conducting qualitative market research include focus groups and interviews. 

Sources of primary research

Primary research sources are in-depth interviews, surveys, focus groups, social media monitoring, and questionnaires. Let’s discuss them in detail below:

• In-depth interviews are great for understanding how the customer group perceives a brand or product. In-depth interviews are interactive and usually have a flexible structure. These interviews are conducted by a trusted moderator who considers not just the respondent’s answers but also body language and general impression.
• Surveys help collect a large amount of information about the population’s characteristics and preferences. In the future, marketers can use this data to predict consumers’ behavior. 
• Focus groups are the interviews of selected participants involving the representatives of the target audience. The group participants are selected according to specific criteria, such as location, age, socioeconomic status, etc. 
• Questionnaires are research tool that includes a series of closed-ended or open-ended questions to obtain feedback from your customers. There are different types of questionnaires, such as computer, telephone, mail questionnaires.
• Hypothesis testing for existing products through A/B testing or multivariate testing allows for examining the price for different markets or different audiences, comparing web page design and conversion effectiveness, etc. Both methods have similar core mechanisms; however, multivariate testing compares a more significant number of variables and provides more information.
• MVP testing for new products is based on releasing a version of the product with a small number of first-priority features needed for early customers. Later, the customers can provide valuable feedback to improve the future versions of the product.
• Targeted social media monitoring helps determine the information about your company, your industry, and your competitors. This information involves all mentions of your brand, such as reviews, product questions, or service repair complaints.

Primary research allows for collecting data that has not been previously gathered, provides specific results that address the issues relevant for your company, and delivers up-to-date information. The other benefit of primary market research is the uniqueness of the data that competitors would not be able to access. Thus, you receive a competitive advantage. Due to the approaches of this method, you can research a small sample and then apply the results to the entire market. On the other hand, primary market research is often expensive, time-consuming, and requires face-to-face contact with customers. 

Secondary market research is a kind of market research that relies on using data from secondary sources, which was not previously prepared specifically for the goals of current research. In other words, in secondary research, marketers gather and analyze the previously collected data to serve a purpose other than the purpose of their research. The secondary information is often acquired from industry and trade associations, government agencies, media agencies, industry-focused newsletters, magazines, and newspapers. This type of research is usually more cost-effective and accessible than primary market research.

Types of secondary research

There are two types of secondary market research: secondary market research from internal sources and secondary market research from external sources.

• Internal data. Internal data can be found in the databases of the company and used for future reference purposes. A company’s internal data includes customer account information, product usage data, sales records, or previously prepared research reports. There are also records of previous advertising and marketing campaigns, departmental records, etc.
• External data.  External data is initially prepared by people outside the current company environment, such as data from competitors, journals and magazines, industry surveys, and market reports. 

Sources of secondary research

As well as with primary research, secondary research may also use lots of different sources of information. Below are some of the most widely used.

• Sales data is a valuable source of information for secondary market research. Every company collects data concerning everyday operations, delivered orders, invoices, and returned goods. This information is handy for marketers because it allows gathering insights into sales by territory, customer type, average sales by salesperson, prices, discounts, and other data.
• Financial data allows for estimating the efficiency of marketing operations. It includes the production costs, storing, transportation, and marketing costs. It can also supply insights into which products or services bring you more significant profits or drive your business into the red.
• Governmental and local statistical data. Many governmental, regional and municipal organizations collect data that businesses and non-profits can use for market research purposes. This information includes demographic data, economic data, trade statistics, and production statistics. For example, you can find volumes of US-focused data on data.gov , while for European Union statistics, you can explore the official site of Eurostat .
• Trade associations often provide free and paid reports to inform professionals about the situation in the economic sector.
• Specialized journals and media regularly publish news, research, press releases, and professional articles, which can be excellent sources of up-to-date secondary data.
• Commercial marketing research data is collected by specialized research organizations that resell it to other companies. The data gathered by these companies concerns the consumer population, attitudes, trends and behaviors, online and offline purchases. 
• Search engine results are a good source of free and commercially available data.
• Competitor research. You can acquire information about competitors from different sources, such as their websites, review sites, and media publications. This approach enables you to develop a profound understanding of how market participants and clients perceive a particular company.

Secondary market research is a perfect basis for primary research as it helps determine and predict the latter’s effectiveness and suitability. The information from government sources, libraries, and media is reliable, extensive, and covers many issues. The other advantages of secondary market research are low cost, time-effectiveness, and the opportunity to obtain a broad spectrum of free data in a shorter time than primary research. 

The disadvantages of secondary market research are the lack of quality and accuracy of data collected by a third party. The information provided by secondary research is not specific and not always recent enough. Besides, the data is available for many companies, so it deprives your company of a competitive advantage. 

Market research will help you reduce the risk of making business decisions and determine the pitfalls before launching the new product. We will provide several examples to demonstrate how companies can use market research to identify and solve business challenges in practice.

The world-famous coffee company conducts market research in many ways, including primary research methods, such as consumer feedback, in-store product testing, and social media monitoring. In 2008, Starbucks even created a specialized platform, My Starbucks Idea , where the customers can provide their ideas about new offerings or changes to the existing products.

The corporation also applies the social media monitoring method and collects feedback from different platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Reddit , to improve the products. Starbucks tests the new ideas in selected stores to understand the feasibility of making some changes before the official launch. 

The company applies secondary market research methods to shape the new product lines. Starbucks gathers data from the market research companies and analyzes the data from the stores. Due to the feedback on My Starbucks Idea and combined market research, Starbucks successfully launched dairy-free milk alternatives in European and US stores.

Primary research methods: consumer feedback, in-store product testing, social media monitoring.

Secondary research methods: social media monitoring, competitor monitoring, existing data from market research providers.

Ecommerce market research into new product launch

If you are going to launch an e-commerce platform or introduce a new product to the existing store, conducting market research may bring the needed transparency into this business decision prior to moving forward with it. Firstly, it is vital to determine the market size for the business or the product. Then you will need several pieces of information concerning statistics and trends in your industry, consumer behavior, and current demand for your product. 

To discover information about the industry size, trends, and growth rates, you can apply secondary market research methods and dig into the industry articles and search for information from marketing companies about the things people tend to buy online. The other helpful source will be market research reports.

The further step is to understand the needs of your potential customers, their socioeconomic and geographic conditions. The perfect way to get this information is to perform primary research and conduct customer surveys. You can start with specialized forums, Facebook groups, or other social media channels. 

For example, if you are launching an online clothing store, you can conduct the online survey using Google Forms, Google Surveys or TypeForm and target specific customer segments. You can include questions about age, location, income, favorite brands, and stores where these people typically buy clothes.

You can also use the form to inquire if some of the surveyed customers would be willing to participate in in-depth interviews. For in-depth interviews, prepare a list of open-ended questions, which can facilitate your discussion with each interviewee.

Primary research methods: customer surveys, questionnaires, in-depth interviews.

Secondary research methods: industry articles, competitor research, market research reports.

SaaS market research for new solution launch

Before the new SaaS product launch, you need to conduct market research and analysis to understand the competition and customer preferences and dislikes. First, you can make a list of existing players in the segment. You can monitor social media for mentions of each competitor to understand what their clients are saying about the solution, product features, and functionality, customer service to find opportunities, which a new product can explore on the market. In addition to social media, you can use specialized review platforms, such as Capterra or TrustRadius .

As the next step in analyzing your competitors, you can gather data about their online performance. With Ahrefs , you can get information on how your competitors rank on Google. SimilarWeb allows you to analyze your competitors’ websites and see engagement rate, traffic ranking, keyword ranking, and other audience metrics. Besides, you can conduct secondary market research and find research on businesses in your industry with the help of Google Scholar .

You can expand your market research by finding information about your potential customers. Continuing with the methods of secondary research, you can gather data about your target audience’s behavior. With the help of a business account on Facebook, you can collect information about the demographics, including gender, age, location, activity, purchases, and design customer personas.

If you’re building a unique product in the segment with low competition, you can explore Product Hunt to see if anyone has recently created similar products. Product hunt can show you if similar products have received positive feedback or ideas for improvement on top of how you envision your future solution.

As the final stage of your exploration, you can start developing the basics of your future solution to attract your potential audience. The simplest way to do it is by making a landing page, which describes your future product and allows visitors to subscribe to future releases and updates. This is how Dropbox started back in 2007. If this option is not sufficient for you, you can develop an MVP to provide users with initial functionality to test if they will be interested in signing up. Of course, this approach would give you the most significant volume of feedback, although it’s the most expensive one to undertake.

Primary research methods: product landing page, minimum viable product, Product Hunt launch.

Secondary research methods: social media monitoring, specialized industry-focused websites,  social media analytics tools.

You can perform market research at any stage of your business life cycle, starting from pre-launch. Primary market research allows for evaluating the competition within the market, understanding the competitors’ quality of service, and discovering their communication channels. With the help of secondary market research, you can analyze the existing surveys and studies concerning your industry, read newspaper reports, explore company reports data and government data. The overall market research usually consists of the following steps:

Step 1. Define the goals of the research

The first stage of comprehensive market research is to define the central problem and research objectives. You will also need to define the purpose of the study, what information is required, and find relevant background data. This step includes interviews with industry experts and discussions with the decision-makers.

Step 2. Secondary research 

At the second stage, you need to conduct secondary research and analyze all the secondary data sources on the target segment. The goal of this step is to compare the information and create a high-level overview. 

Step 3. Primary research

Once you have completed the secondary research and collected the available information, you can move to primary research. You need to start from the most cost-efficient methods of primary research that include paper questionnaires, online surveys, phone interviews, and face-to-face interviews. 

Social media is an excellent source for primary research. You have the opportunity to analyze the large amounts of data provided by different people on a variety of platforms. You can save money by selecting the students as focus groups or target audiences.

Step 4. The concluding stage of research

If you meet the research objectives by completing the previous steps, you can finalize the market research. In some cases, secondary research may already provide you enough information to complete the research. Other times, there is a lack of data in secondary sources, so you will have to conduct primary research.

Once you feel like you have gathered enough data to answer the initial research question, prepare a report, which will provide a summary of findings. Even if you’re doing it for your own purposes, putting it in writing helps build a comprehensive overview of the findings and research results. You can sometimes find out that you have new questions at this stage, which need to be researched using the same methodology. Or, hopefully, you’ve been able to answer all your questions - now comes the time to act on it!

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• v.106(15); 2009 Apr

Types of Study in Medical Research

Bernd röhrig.

1 MDK Rheinland-Pfalz, Referat Rehabilitation/Biometrie, Alzey

Jean-Baptist du Prel

2 Zentrum für Präventive Pädiatrie, Zentrum für Kinder- und Jugendmedizin, Mainz

Daniel Wachtlin

3 Interdisziplinäres Zentrum Klinische Studien (IZKS), Fachbereich Medizin der Universität Mainz

Maria Blettner

4 Institut für Medizinische Biometrie, Epidemiologie und Informatik (IMBEI), Johannes Gutenberg Universität Mainz

The choice of study type is an important aspect of the design of medical studies. The study design and consequent study type are major determinants of a study’s scientific quality and clinical value.

This article describes the structured classification of studies into two types, primary and secondary, as well as a further subclassification of studies of primary type. This is done on the basis of a selective literature search concerning study types in medical research, in addition to the authors’ own experience.

Three main areas of medical research can be distinguished by study type: basic (experimental), clinical, and epidemiological research. Furthermore, clinical and epidemiological studies can be further subclassified as either interventional or noninterventional.

Conclusions

The study type that can best answer the particular research question at hand must be determined not only on a purely scientific basis, but also in view of the available financial resources, staffing, and practical feasibility (organization, medical prerequisites, number of patients, etc.).

The quality, reliability and possibility of publishing a study are decisively influenced by the selection of a proper study design. The study type is a component of the study design (see the article "Study Design in Medical Research") and must be specified before the study starts. The study type is determined by the question to be answered and decides how useful a scientific study is and how well it can be interpreted. If the wrong study type has been selected, this cannot be rectified once the study has started.

After an earlier publication dealing with aspects of study design, the present article deals with study types in primary and secondary research. The article focuses on study types in primary research. A special article will be devoted to study types in secondary research, such as meta-analyses and reviews. This article covers the classification of individual study types. The conception, implementation, advantages, disadvantages and possibilities of using the different study types are illustrated by examples. The article is based on a selective literature research on study types in medical research, as well as the authors’ own experience.

Classification of study types

In principle, medical research is classified into primary and secondary research. While secondary research summarizes available studies in the form of reviews and meta-analyses, the actual studies are performed in primary research. Three main areas are distinguished: basic medical research, clinical research, and epidemiological research. In individual cases, it may be difficult to classify individual studies to one of these three main categories or to the subcategories. In the interests of clarity and to avoid excessive length, the authors will dispense with discussing special areas of research, such as health services research, quality assurance, or clinical epidemiology. Figure 1 gives an overview of the different study types in medical research.

Classification of different study types

*1 , sometimes known as experimental research; *2 , analogous term: interventional; *3 , analogous term: noninterventional or nonexperimental

This scheme is intended to classify the study types as clearly as possible. In the interests of clarity, we have excluded clinical epidemiology — a subject which borders on both clinical and epidemiological research ( 3 ). The study types in this area can be found under clinical research and epidemiology.

Basic research

Basic medical research (otherwise known as experimental research) includes animal experiments, cell studies, biochemical, genetic and physiological investigations, and studies on the properties of drugs and materials. In almost all experiments, at least one independent variable is varied and the effects on the dependent variable are investigated. The procedure and the experimental design can be precisely specified and implemented ( 1 ). For example, the population, number of groups, case numbers, treatments and dosages can be exactly specified. It is also important that confounding factors should be specifically controlled or reduced. In experiments, specific hypotheses are investigated and causal statements are made. High internal validity (= unambiguity) is achieved by setting up standardized experimental conditions, with low variability in the units of observation (for example, cells, animals or materials). External validity is a more difficult issue. Laboratory conditions cannot always be directly transferred to normal clinical practice and processes in isolated cells or in animals are not equivalent to those in man (= generalizability) ( 2 ).

Basic research also includes the development and improvement of analytical procedures—such as analytical determination of enzymes, markers or genes—, imaging procedures—such as computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging—, and gene sequencing—such as the link between eye color and specific gene sequences. The development of biometric procedures—such as statistical test procedures, modeling and statistical evaluation strategies—also belongs here.

Clinical studies

Clinical studies include both interventional (or experimental) studies and noninterventional (or observational) studies. A clinical drug study is an interventional clinical study, defined according to §4 Paragraph 23 of the Medicines Act [Arzneimittelgesetz; AMG] as "any study performed on man with the purpose of studying or demonstrating the clinical or pharmacological effects of drugs, to establish side effects, or to investigate absorption, distribution, metabolism or elimination, with the aim of providing clear evidence of the efficacy or safety of the drug."

Interventional studies also include studies on medical devices and studies in which surgical, physical or psychotherapeutic procedures are examined. In contrast to clinical studies, §4 Paragraph 23 of the AMG describes noninterventional studies as follows: "A noninterventional study is a study in the context of which knowledge from the treatment of persons with drugs in accordance with the instructions for use specified in their registration is analyzed using epidemiological methods. The diagnosis, treatment and monitoring are not performed according to a previously specified study protocol, but exclusively according to medical practice."

The aim of an interventional clinical study is to compare treatment procedures within a patient population, which should exhibit as few as possible internal differences, apart from the treatment ( 4 , e1 ). This is to be achieved by appropriate measures, particularly by random allocation of the patients to the groups, thus avoiding bias in the result. Possible therapies include a drug, an operation, the therapeutic use of a medical device such as a stent, or physiotherapy, acupuncture, psychosocial intervention, rehabilitation measures, training or diet. Vaccine studies also count as interventional studies in Germany and are performed as clinical studies according to the AMG.

Interventional clinical studies are subject to a variety of legal and ethical requirements, including the Medicines Act and the Law on Medical Devices. Studies with medical devices must be registered by the responsible authorities, who must also approve studies with drugs. Drug studies also require a favorable ruling from the responsible ethics committee. A study must be performed in accordance with the binding rules of Good Clinical Practice (GCP) ( 5 , e2 – e4 ). For clinical studies on persons capable of giving consent, it is absolutely essential that the patient should sign a declaration of consent (informed consent) ( e2 ). A control group is included in most clinical studies. This group receives another treatment regimen and/or placebo—a therapy without substantial efficacy. The selection of the control group must not only be ethically defensible, but also be suitable for answering the most important questions in the study ( e5 ).

Clinical studies should ideally include randomization, in which the patients are allocated by chance to the therapy arms. This procedure is performed with random numbers or computer algorithms ( 6 – 8 ). Randomization ensures that the patients will be allocated to the different groups in a balanced manner and that possible confounding factors—such as risk factors, comorbidities and genetic variabilities—will be distributed by chance between the groups (structural equivalence) ( 9 , 10 ). Randomization is intended to maximize homogeneity between the groups and prevent, for example, a specific therapy being reserved for patients with a particularly favorable prognosis (such as young patients in good physical condition) ( 11 ).

Blinding is another suitable method to avoid bias. A distinction is made between single and double blinding. With single blinding, the patient is unaware which treatment he is receiving, while, with double blinding, neither the patient nor the investigator knows which treatment is planned. Blinding the patient and investigator excludes possible subjective (even subconscious) influences on the evaluation of a specific therapy (e.g. drug administration versus placebo). Thus, double blinding ensures that the patient or therapy groups are both handled and observed in the same manner. The highest possible degree of blinding should always be selected. The study statistician should also remain blinded until the details of the evaluation have finally been specified.

A well designed clinical study must also include case number planning. This ensures that the assumed therapeutic effect can be recognized as such, with a previously specified statistical probability (statistical power) ( 4 , 6 , 12 ).

It is important for the performance of a clinical trial that it should be carefully planned and that the exact clinical details and methods should be specified in the study protocol ( 13 ). It is, however, also important that the implementation of the study according to the protocol, as well as data collection, must be monitored. For a first class study, data quality must be ensured by double data entry, programming plausibility tests, and evaluation by a biometrician. International recommendations for the reporting of randomized clinical studies can be found in the CONSORT statement (Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials, www.consort-statement.org ) ( 14 ). Many journals make this an essential condition for publication.

For all the methodological reasons mentioned above and for ethical reasons, the randomized controlled and blinded clinical trial with case number planning is accepted as the gold standard for testing the efficacy and safety of therapies or drugs ( 4 , e1 , 15 ).

In contrast, noninterventional clinical studies (NIS) are patient-related observational studies, in which patients are given an individually specified therapy. The responsible physician specifies the therapy on the basis of the medical diagnosis and the patient’s wishes. NIS include noninterventional therapeutic studies, prognostic studies, observational drug studies, secondary data analyses, case series and single case analyses ( 13 , 16 ). Similarly to clinical studies, noninterventional therapy studies include comparison between therapies; however, the treatment is exclusively according to the physician’s discretion. The evaluation is often retrospective. Prognostic studies examine the influence of prognostic factors (such as tumor stage, functional state, or body mass index) on the further course of a disease. Diagnostic studies are another class of observational studies, in which either the quality of a diagnostic method is compared to an established method (ideally a gold standard), or an investigator is compared with one or several other investigators (inter-rater comparison) or with himself at different time points (intra-rater comparison) ( e1 ). If an event is very rare (such as a rare disease or an individual course of treatment), a single-case study, or a case series, are possibilities. A case series is a study on a larger patient group with a specific disease. For example, after the discovery of the AIDS virus, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) in the USA collected a case series of 1000 patients, in order to study frequent complications of this infection. The lack of a control group is a disadvantage of case series. For this reason, case series are primarily used for descriptive purposes ( 3 ).

Epidemiological studies

The main point of interest in epidemiological studies is to investigate the distribution and historical changes in the frequency of diseases and the causes for these. Analogously to clinical studies, a distinction is made between experimental and observational epidemiological studies ( 16 , 17 ).

Interventional studies are experimental in character and are further subdivided into field studies (sample from an area, such as a large region or a country) and group studies (sample from a specific group, such as a specific social or ethnic group). One example was the investigation of the iodine supplementation of cooking salt to prevent cretinism in a region with iodine deficiency. On the other hand, many interventions are unsuitable for randomized intervention studies, for ethical, social or political reasons, as the exposure may be harmful to the subjects ( 17 ).

Observational epidemiological studies can be further subdivided into cohort studies (follow-up studies), case control studies, cross-sectional studies (prevalence studies), and ecological studies (correlation studies or studies with aggregated data).

In contrast, studies with only descriptive evaluation are restricted to a simple depiction of the frequency (incidence and prevalence) and distribution of a disease within a population. The objective of the description may also be the regular recording of information (monitoring, surveillance). Registry data are also suited for the description of prevalence and incidence; for example, they are used for national health reports in Germany.

In the simplest case, cohort studies involve the observation of two healthy groups of subjects over time. One group is exposed to a specific substance (for example, workers in a chemical factory) and the other is not exposed. It is recorded prospectively (into the future) how often a specific disease (such as lung cancer) occurs in the two groups ( figure 2a ). The incidence for the occurrence of the disease can be determined for both groups. Moreover, the relative risk (quotient of the incidence rates) is a very important statistical parameter which can be calculated in cohort studies. For rare types of exposure, the general population can be used as controls ( e6 ). All evaluations naturally consider the age and gender distributions in the corresponding cohorts. The objective of cohort studies is to record detailed information on the exposure and on confounding factors, such as the duration of employment, the maximum and the cumulated exposure. One well known cohort study is the British Doctors Study, which prospectively examined the effect of smoking on mortality among British doctors over a period of decades ( e7 ). Cohort studies are well suited for detecting causal connections between exposure and the development of disease. On the other hand, cohort studies often demand a great deal of time, organization, and money. So-called historical cohort studies represent a special case. In this case, all data on exposure and effect (illness) are already available at the start of the study and are analyzed retrospectively. For example, studies of this sort are used to investigate occupational forms of cancer. They are usually cheaper ( 16 ).

Graphical depiction of a prospective cohort study (simplest case [2a]) and a retrospective case control study (2b)

In case control studies, cases are compared with controls. Cases are persons who fall ill from the disease in question. Controls are persons who are not ill, but are otherwise comparable to the cases. A retrospective analysis is performed to establish to what extent persons in the case and control groups were exposed ( figure 2b ). Possible exposure factors include smoking, nutrition and pollutant load. Care should be taken that the intensity and duration of the exposure is analyzed as carefully and in as detailed a manner as possible. If it is observed that ill people are more often exposed than healthy people, it may be concluded that there is a link between the illness and the risk factor. In case control studies, the most important statistical parameter is the odds ratio. Case control studies usually require less time and fewer resources than cohort studies ( 16 ). The disadvantage of case control studies is that the incidence rate (rate of new cases) cannot be calculated. There is also a great risk of bias from the selection of the study population ("selection bias") and from faulty recall ("recall bias") (see too the article "Avoiding Bias in Observational Studies"). Table 1 presents an overview of possible types of epidemiological study ( e8 ). Table 2 summarizes the advantages and disadvantages of observational studies ( 16 ).

1 = slight; 2 = moderate; 3 = high; N/A, not applicable.

*Individual cases may deviate from this pattern.

Selecting the correct study type is an important aspect of study design (see "Study Design in Medical Research" in volume 11/2009). However, the scientific questions can only be correctly answered if the study is planned and performed at a qualitatively high level ( e9 ). It is very important to consider or even eliminate possible interfering factors (or confounders), as otherwise the result cannot be adequately interpreted. Confounders are characteristics which influence the target parameters. Although this influence is not of primary interest, it can interfere with the connection between the target parameter and the factors that are of interest. The influence of confounders can be minimized or eliminated by standardizing the procedure, stratification ( 18 ), or adjustment ( 19 ).

The decision as to which study type is suitable to answer a specific primary research question must be based not only on scientific considerations, but also on issues related to resources (personnel and finances), hospital capacity, and practicability. Many epidemiological studies can only be implemented if there is access to registry data. The demands for planning, implementation, and statistical evaluation for observational studies should be just as high for observational studies as for experimental studies. There are particularly strict requirements, with legally based regulations (such as the Medicines Act and Good Clinical Practice), for the planning, implementation, and evaluation of clinical studies. A study protocol must be prepared for both interventional and noninterventional studies ( 6 , 13 ). The study protocol must contain information on the conditions, question to be answered (objective), the methods of measurement, the implementation, organization, study population, data management, case number planning, the biometric evaluation, and the clinical relevance of the question to be answered ( 13 ).

Important and justified ethical considerations may restrict studies with optimal scientific and statistical features. A randomized intervention study under strictly controlled conditions of the effect of exposure to harmful factors (such as smoking, radiation, or a fatty diet) is not possible and not permissible for ethical reasons. Observational studies are a possible alternative to interventional studies, even though observational studies are less reliable and less easy to control ( 17 ).

A medical study should always be published in a peer reviewed journal. Depending on the study type, there are recommendations and checklists for presenting the results. For example, these may include a description of the population, the procedure for missing values and confounders, and information on statistical parameters. Recommendations and guidelines are available for clinical studies ( 14 , 20 , e10 , e11 ), for diagnostic studies ( 21 , 22 , e12 ), and for epidemiological studies ( 23 , e13 ). Since 2004, the WHO has demanded that studies should be registered in a public registry, such as www.controlled-trials.com or www.clinicaltrials.gov . This demand is supported by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) ( 24 ), which specifies that the registration of the study before inclusion of the first subject is an essential condition for the publication of the study results ( e14 ).

When specifying the study type and study design for medical studies, it is essential to collaborate with an experienced biometrician. The quality and reliability of the study can be decisively improved if all important details are planned together ( 12 , 25 ).

Acknowledgments

Translated from the original German by Rodney A. Yeates, M.A., Ph.D.

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest in the sense of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors.

Primary Vs. Secondary Research

Shannon mccrocklin | oct. 04, 2018 | 2 min. read.

Secondary research is usually where most research begins. This is because secondary research may provide a researcher with a basis of knowledge on what relevant information had already been compiled by other researchers in the past.

Primary research fills in the subsequent gaps in information that a researcher was not able to gather through secondary research methods. The goal of primary research is to answer specific questions that directly pertain to the project at hand. This type of research is extremely valuable, yet, due to its nature, takes more time to collect than secondary research.

Secondary Research

Conducting secondary research is similar to the research that students conduct throughout school. Answers to research questions are already available online, in academic databases, in the news, in published books, journals, etc.—the work is in wading through the information that is already available and finding data that coincides with the particular research project.

The volume of information available on a particular topic may be overwhelming at the beginning of the secondary research process . Research questions should be used to guide the researcher as they focus on finding project-specific information. The best source to answer a particular research question may vary widely, and a single project will likely require more than one source.

Primary Research

The purpose of primary research is to gather information and answer questions that have not been asked before. Primary research is typically more time-consuming and has higher associated costs, so it is in the best interest of an organization to only conduct primary research after the gaps in available secondary research have been identified.

Primary research should be conducted only after comprehensive secondary research is completed. This is important to note because primary research uses more resources than secondary research. In primary research, the research team is in charge of everything from choosing the best method to reach a desired audience, to what specific metrics should be measured. Conducting secondary research beforehand is necessary to determine what information is not already available so time and money is not wasted on redundant primary research.

Just like secondary market research, the best primary research method for each individual project is determined by the research questions that need to be answered.

Pros and cons of primary vs secondary research

Every market research method, whether it is categorized as a primary or secondary method, has positive aspects and drawbacks. Generally speaking, secondary research is where most researchers should begin when opening a new research project. Whether primary research is necessary or not, secondary research is a valuable step in the market research process.

Secondary research is worthwhile because it is generally more cost-effective than primary research and it provides a foundation for any project. Evaluating the current landscape of available information before moving on to primary research methods can save time and money that may be better spent elsewhere.

The main limitations of secondary research are associated with chance. Depending on the research questions, there may or may not be information available that provides concrete answers. If there is not enough information from past studies, it may be necessary to funnel time and money into primary methods of research.

Subsequent primary research, when necessary, should be planned out carefully in advance. The purpose of primary research is to answer specific questions that accomplish a project’s research goals. The specific nature of answering questions tailored to individual needs is one reason why primary research is valuable. Timeline and budget restrictions may be limiting factors for primary research, but planning ahead is worthwhile for the valuable information that this method can provide.

GeoPoll’s Primary Research Services

GeoPoll is a leader in facilitating remote, mobile data collection in emerging markets. The complicated process of connecting with survey respondents is made simple and fast for GeoPoll partners. We provide assistance throughout the research process that may be invaluable to your company’s primary research projects. From planning, through execution, and finally the evaluation of results, GeoPoll has expert staff to provide guidance on best practices and insights on findings. Let GeoPoll help your research team get the most out of their next project. Contact us today to learn more!

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• Tags market research , Primary research , secondary research

What is Secondary Research? Types, Methods, Examples

Appinio Research · 20.09.2023 · 13min read

Have you ever wondered how researchers gather valuable insights without conducting new experiments or surveys? That's where secondary research steps in—a powerful approach that allows us to explore existing data and information others collect.

Whether you're a student, a professional, or someone seeking to make informed decisions, understanding the art of secondary research opens doors to a wealth of knowledge.

What is Secondary Research?

Secondary Research refers to the process of gathering and analyzing existing data, information, and knowledge that has been previously collected and compiled by others. This approach allows researchers to leverage available sources, such as articles, reports, and databases, to gain insights, validate hypotheses, and make informed decisions without collecting new data.

Benefits of Secondary Research

Secondary research offers a range of advantages that can significantly enhance your research process and the quality of your findings.

• Time and Cost Efficiency: Secondary research saves time and resources by utilizing existing data sources, eliminating the need for data collection from scratch.
• Wide Range of Data: Secondary research provides access to vast information from various sources, allowing for comprehensive analysis.
• Historical Perspective: Examining past research helps identify trends, changes, and long-term patterns that might not be immediately apparent.
• Reduced Bias: As data is collected by others, there's often less inherent bias than in conducting primary research, where biases might affect data collection.
• Support for Primary Research: Secondary research can lay the foundation for primary research by providing context and insights into gaps in existing knowledge.
• Comparative Analysis : By integrating data from multiple sources, you can conduct robust comparative analyses for more accurate conclusions.
• Benchmarking and Validation: Secondary research aids in benchmarking performance against industry standards and validating hypotheses.

Primary Research vs. Secondary Research

When it comes to research methodologies, primary and secondary research each have their distinct characteristics and advantages. Here's a brief comparison to help you understand the differences.

Primary Research

• Data Source: Involves collecting new data directly from original sources.
• Data Collection: Researchers design and conduct surveys, interviews, experiments, or observations.
• Time and Resources: Typically requires more time, effort, and resources due to data collection.
• Fresh Insights: Provides firsthand, up-to-date information tailored to specific research questions.
• Control: Researchers control the data collection process and can shape methodologies.

Secondary Research

• Data Source: Involves utilizing existing data and information collected by others.
• Data Collection: Researchers search, select, and analyze data from published sources, reports, and databases.
• Time and Resources: Generally more time-efficient and cost-effective as data is already available.
• Existing Knowledge: Utilizes data that has been previously compiled, often providing broader context.
• Less Control: Researchers have limited control over how data was collected originally, if any.

Choosing between primary and secondary research depends on your research objectives, available resources, and the depth of insights you require.

Types of Secondary Research

Secondary research encompasses various types of existing data sources that can provide valuable insights for your research endeavors. Understanding these types can help you choose the most relevant sources for your objectives.

Here are the primary types of secondary research:

Internal Sources

Internal sources consist of data generated within your organization or entity. These sources provide valuable insights into your own operations and performance.

• Company Records and Data: Internal reports, documents, and databases that house information about sales, operations, and customer interactions.
• Sales Reports and Customer Data: Analysis of past sales trends, customer demographics, and purchasing behavior.
• Financial Statements and Annual Reports: Financial data, such as balance sheets and income statements, offer insights into the organization's financial health.

External Sources

External sources encompass data collected and published by entities outside your organization.

These sources offer a broader perspective on various subjects.

• Published Literature and Journals: Scholarly articles, research papers, and academic studies available in journals or online databases.
• Market Research Reports: Reports from market research firms that provide insights into industry trends, consumer behavior, and market forecasts.
• Government and NGO Databases: Data collected and maintained by government agencies and non-governmental organizations, offering demographic, economic, and social information.
• Online Media and News Articles: News outlets and online publications that cover current events, trends, and societal developments.

Each type of secondary research source holds its value and relevance, depending on the nature of your research objectives. Combining these sources lets you understand the subject matter and make informed decisions.

How to Conduct Secondary Research?

Effective secondary research involves a thoughtful and systematic approach that enables you to extract valuable insights from existing data sources. Here's a step-by-step guide on how to navigate the process:

1. Define Your Research Objectives

Before delving into secondary research, clearly define what you aim to achieve. Identify the specific questions you want to answer, the insights you're seeking, and the scope of your research.

2. Identify Relevant Sources

Begin by identifying the most appropriate sources for your research. Consider the nature of your research objectives and the data type you require. Seek out sources such as academic journals, market research reports, official government databases, and reputable news outlets.

3. Evaluate Source Credibility

Ensuring the credibility of your sources is crucial. Evaluate the reliability of each source by assessing factors such as the author's expertise, the publication's reputation, and the objectivity of the information provided. Choose sources that align with your research goals and are free from bias.

4. Extract and Analyze Information

Once you've gathered your sources, carefully extract the relevant information. Take thorough notes, capturing key data points, insights, and any supporting evidence. As you accumulate information, start identifying patterns, trends, and connections across different sources.

5. Synthesize Findings

As you analyze the data, synthesize your findings to draw meaningful conclusions. Compare and contrast information from various sources to identify common themes and discrepancies. This synthesis process allows you to construct a coherent narrative that addresses your research objectives.

6. Address Limitations and Gaps

Acknowledge the limitations and potential gaps in your secondary research. Recognize that secondary data might have inherent biases or be outdated. Where necessary, address these limitations by cross-referencing information or finding additional sources to fill in gaps.

7. Contextualize Your Findings

Contextualization is crucial in deriving actionable insights from your secondary research. Consider the broader context within which the data was collected. How does the information relate to current trends, societal changes, or industry shifts? This contextual understanding enhances the relevance and applicability of your findings.

8. Cite Your Sources

Maintain academic integrity by properly citing the sources you've used for your secondary research. Accurate citations not only give credit to the original authors but also provide a clear trail for readers to access the information themselves.

9. Integrate Secondary and Primary Research (If Applicable)

In some cases, combining secondary and primary research can yield more robust insights. If you've also conducted primary research, consider integrating your secondary findings with your primary data to provide a well-rounded perspective on your research topic.

You can use a market research platform like Appinio to conduct primary research with real-time insights in minutes!

10. Communicate Your Findings

Finally, communicate your findings effectively. Whether it's in an academic paper, a business report, or any other format, present your insights clearly and concisely. Provide context for your conclusions and use visual aids like charts and graphs to enhance understanding.

Remember that conducting secondary research is not just about gathering information—it's about critically analyzing, interpreting, and deriving valuable insights from existing data. By following these steps, you'll navigate the process successfully and contribute to the body of knowledge in your field.

Secondary Research Examples

To better understand how secondary research is applied in various contexts, let's explore a few real-world examples that showcase its versatility and value.

Market Analysis and Trend Forecasting

Imagine you're a marketing strategist tasked with launching a new product in the smartphone industry. By conducting secondary research, you can:

• Access Market Reports: Utilize market research reports to understand consumer preferences, competitive landscape, and growth projections.
• Analyze Trends: Examine past sales data and industry reports to identify trends in smartphone features, design, and user preferences.
• Benchmark Competitors: Compare market share, customer satisfaction , and pricing strategies of key competitors to develop a strategic advantage.
• Forecast Demand: Use historical sales data and market growth predictions to estimate demand for your new product.

Academic Research and Literature Reviews

Suppose you're a student researching climate change's effects on marine ecosystems. Secondary research aids your academic endeavors by:

• Reviewing Existing Studies: Analyze peer-reviewed articles and scientific papers to understand the current state of knowledge on the topic.
• Identifying Knowledge Gaps: Identify areas where further research is needed based on what existing studies still need to cover.
• Comparing Methodologies: Compare research methodologies used by different studies to assess the strengths and limitations of their approaches.
• Synthesizing Insights: Synthesize findings from various studies to form a comprehensive overview of the topic's implications on marine life.

Competitive Landscape Assessment for Business Strategy

Consider you're a business owner looking to expand your restaurant chain to a new location. Secondary research aids your strategic decision-making by:

• Analyzing Demographics: Utilize demographic data from government databases to understand the local population's age, income, and preferences.
• Studying Local Trends: Examine restaurant industry reports to identify the types of cuisines and dining experiences currently popular in the area.
• Understanding Consumer Behavior: Analyze online reviews and social media discussions to gauge customer sentiment towards existing restaurants in the vicinity.
• Assessing Economic Conditions: Access economic reports to evaluate the local economy's stability and potential purchasing power.

These examples illustrate the practical applications of secondary research across various fields to provide a foundation for informed decision-making, deeper understanding, and innovation.

Secondary Research Limitations

While secondary research offers many benefits, it's essential to be aware of its limitations to ensure the validity and reliability of your findings.

• Data Quality and Validity: The accuracy and reliability of secondary data can vary, affecting the credibility of your research.
• Limited Contextual Information: Secondary sources might lack detailed contextual information, making it important to interpret findings within the appropriate context.
• Data Suitability: Existing data might not align perfectly with your research objectives, leading to compromises or incomplete insights.
• Outdated Information: Some sources might provide obsolete information that doesn't accurately reflect current trends or situations.
• Potential Bias: While secondary data is often less biased, biases might still exist in the original data sources, influencing your findings.
• Incompatibility of Data: Combining data from different sources might pose challenges due to variations in definitions, methodologies, or units of measurement.
• Lack of Control: Unlike primary research, you have no control over how data was collected or its quality, potentially affecting your analysis. Understanding these limitations will help you navigate secondary research effectively and make informed decisions based on a well-rounded understanding of its strengths and weaknesses.

Secondary research is a valuable tool that businesses can use to their advantage. By tapping into existing data and insights, companies can save time, resources, and effort that would otherwise be spent on primary research. This approach equips decision-makers with a broader understanding of market trends, consumer behaviors, and competitive landscapes. Additionally, benchmarking against industry standards and validating hypotheses empowers businesses to make informed choices that lead to growth and success.

As you navigate the world of secondary research, remember that it's not just about data retrieval—it's about strategic utilization. With a clear grasp of how to access, analyze, and interpret existing information, businesses can stay ahead of the curve, adapt to changing landscapes, and make decisions that are grounded in reliable knowledge.

How to Conduct Secondary Research in Minutes?

In the world of decision-making, having access to real-time consumer insights is no longer a luxury—it's a necessity. That's where Appinio comes in, revolutionizing how businesses gather valuable data for better decision-making. As a real-time market research platform, Appinio empowers companies to tap into the pulse of consumer opinions swiftly and seamlessly.

• Fast Insights: Say goodbye to lengthy research processes. With Appinio, you can transform questions into actionable insights in minutes.
• Data-Driven Decisions: Harness the power of real-time consumer insights to drive your business strategies, allowing you to make informed choices on the fly.
• Seamless Integration: Appinio handles the research and technical complexities, freeing you to focus on what truly matters: making rapid data-driven decisions that propel your business forward.

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• Key Differences

Know the Differences & Comparisons

Difference Between Primary and Secondary Research

On the contrary, Secondary research is a research method which involves the use of data, already collected through primary research. The main difference between primary and secondary research lies in the fact that whether the research is conducted previously or not.

Content: Primary Research Vs Secondary Research

Comparison chart.

Definition of Primary Research

A type of research, wherein the research aims at acquiring new and original data by primary sources, is known as Primary Data. As the term ‘primary’ implies ‘first and foremost’ and when it is linked with research, it means an in-depth exploration of facts by the researcher himself and that too with the one to one communication with the people, who know about the subject.

It is a bit difficult to conduct primary research because it requires a lot of time, money, resources and some prior information about the subject. With a view to getting needed information, the researcher has to start from scratch. The research can be performed through interviews, questionnaires, observations, etc.

Definition of Secondary Research

The research which involves analysis, interpretation and summarization of primary research, is called secondary research. In finer terms, the research in which data is obtained from readily available sources is secondary. As the data available is already analysed and interpreted, the researcher only needs to figure out the data of his choice, i.e. the relevant information for the project.

In this type of research, the researcher uses information gathered by government agencies, associations, labour unions media sources and so on. The data assembled is primarily published in newsletters, magazines, pamphlets, newspapers, journals, reports, encyclopaedias etc.

Key Differences Between Primary and Secondary Research

You can find out the difference between primary and secondary research, in the following points in detail:

• Research conducted to gather first-hand information, for the current problem is called Primary Research. Secondary Research is one that involves the use of information obtained originally by primary research.
• Primary Research is based on raw data, whereas secondary research is based on analysed and interpreted information.
• The primary research, the data is collected by the researcher himself or by the person hired by him. As against this, the secondary research, the data collection is performed by someone else.
• The primary research process is very involved which deeply explores the topic. Conversely, the secondary research process is fast and easy, which aims at gaining broad understanding about the subject.
• In primary research, as the researcher conducts the research, the data collected is always specific to the needs of the researcher. As opposed to secondary research, wherein the data lacks particularity, i.e. it may or may not be as per the requirements of the researcher.
• Primary research is an expensive process; wherein high cost is involved in the exploration of data and facts from various sources. Unlike Secondary research, is an economical process wherein the low cost is involved in acquiring pertinent information because the data is already collected by someone else.
• Primary research consumes a lot of time as the research is done from scratch. However, in the case of secondary research, the collection of data is already done, the research takes comparatively less time.

Both primary and secondary research have their advantages and disadvantages. While primary data is need-specific and quality is also up to the mark, but it is expensive and consumes more time. Secondary research, on the other hand, is cheap, and the data collection is easy, but it is also possible that the data may be outdated and does not suit your requirements. So, before choosing any of these two, first examine your requirements, sources, costs, etc. to choose the best research type for your project.

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Dr. Patrick Okobi says

September 10, 2016 at 12:17 am

That was a very good summary of the concepts of research.

George Dunham says

May 11, 2020 at 8:12 am

Athumani says

February 4, 2021 at 11:53 am

GOD bless you beloved

Gladys PATRICK-PhD Student says

January 22, 2023 at 3:18 am

I am so blessed with this information-May you be blessed and thank you so much.

September 3, 2023 at 9:16 pm

this helped with my school assignment and it is great i love this!

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9 Best Marketing Research Methods to Know Your Buyer Better [+ Examples]

Published: August 08, 2024

One of the most underrated skills you can have as a marketer is marketing research — which is great news for this unapologetic cyber sleuth.

From brand design and product development to buyer personas and competitive analysis, I’ve researched a number of initiatives in my decade-long marketing career.

And let me tell you: having the right marketing research methods in your toolbox is a must.

Market research is the secret to crafting a strategy that will truly help you accomplish your goals. The good news is there is no shortage of options.

How to Choose a Marketing Research Method

Thanks to the Internet, we have more marketing research (or market research) methods at our fingertips than ever, but they’re not all created equal. Let’s quickly go over how to choose the right one.

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1. Identify your objective.

What are you researching? Do you need to understand your audience better? How about your competition? Or maybe you want to know more about your customer’s feelings about a specific product.

Before starting your research, take some time to identify precisely what you’re looking for. This could be a goal you want to reach, a problem you need to solve, or a question you need to answer.

For example, an objective may be as foundational as understanding your ideal customer better to create new buyer personas for your marketing agency (pause for flashbacks to my former life).

Or if you’re an organic sode company, it could be trying to learn what flavors people are craving.

2. Determine what type of data and research you need.

Next, determine what data type will best answer the problems or questions you identified. There are primarily two types: qualitative and quantitative. (Sound familiar, right?)

• Qualitative Data is non-numerical information, like subjective characteristics, opinions, and feelings. It’s pretty open to interpretation and descriptive, but it’s also harder to measure. This type of data can be collected through interviews, observations, and open-ended questions.
• Quantitative Data , on the other hand, is numerical information, such as quantities, sizes, amounts, or percentages. It’s measurable and usually pretty hard to argue with, coming from a reputable source. It can be derived through surveys, experiments, or statistical analysis.

Understanding the differences between qualitative and quantitative data will help you pinpoint which research methods will yield the desired results.

For instance, thinking of our earlier examples, qualitative data would usually be best suited for buyer personas, while quantitative data is more useful for the soda flavors.

However, truth be told, the two really work together.

Qualitative conclusions are usually drawn from quantitative, numerical data. So, you’ll likely need both to get the complete picture of your subject.

For example, if your quantitative data says 70% of people are Team Black and only 30% are Team Green — Shout out to my fellow House of the Dragon fans — your qualitative data will say people support Black more than Green.

(As they should.)

Primary Research vs Secondary Research

You’ll also want to understand the difference between primary and secondary research.

Primary research involves collecting new, original data directly from the source (say, your target market). In other words, it’s information gathered first-hand that wasn’t found elsewhere.

Some examples include conducting experiments, surveys, interviews, observations, or focus groups.

Meanwhile, secondary research is the analysis and interpretation of existing data collected from others. Think of this like what we used to do for school projects: We would read a book, scour the internet, or pull insights from others to work from.

So, which is better?

Personally, I say any research is good research, but if you have the time and resources, primary research is hard to top. With it, you don’t have to worry about your source's credibility or how relevant it is to your specific objective.

You are in full control and best equipped to get the reliable information you need.

3. Put it all together.

Once you know your objective and what kind of data you want, you’re ready to select your marketing research method.

For instance, let’s say you’re a restaurant trying to see how attendees felt about the Speed Dating event you hosted last week.

You shouldn’t run a field experiment or download a third-party report on speed dating events; those would be useless to you. You need to conduct a survey that allows you to ask pointed questions about the event.

This would yield both qualitative and quantitative data you can use to improve and bring together more love birds next time around.

Best Market Research Methods for 2024

Now that you know what you’re looking for in a marketing research method, let’s dive into the best options.

Note: According to HubSpot’s 2024 State of Marketing report, understanding customers and their needs is one of the biggest challenges facing marketers today. The options we discuss are great consumer research methodologies , but they can also be used for other areas.

Primary Research

1. interviews.

Interviews are a form of primary research where you ask people specific questions about a topic or theme. They typically deliver qualitative information.

I’ve conducted many interviews for marketing purposes, but I’ve also done many for journalistic purposes, like this profile on comedian Zarna Garg . There’s no better way to gather candid, open-ended insights in my book, but that doesn’t mean they’re a cure-all.

What I like: Real-time conversations allow you to ask different questions if you’re not getting the information you need. They also push interviewees to respond quickly, which can result in more authentic answers.

What I dislike: They can be time-consuming and harder to measure (read: get quantitative data) unless you ask pointed yes or no questions.

Best for: Creating buyer personas or getting feedback on customer experience, a product, or content.

2. Focus Groups

Focus groups are similar to conducting interviews but on a larger scale.

In marketing and business, this typically means getting a small group together in a room (or Zoom), asking them questions about various topics you are researching. You record and/or observe their responses to then take action.

They are ideal for collecting long-form, open-ended feedback, and subjective opinions.

One well-known focus group you may remember was run by Domino’s Pizza in 2009 .

After poor ratings and dropping over $100 million in revenue, the brand conducted focus groups with real customers to learn where they could have done better.

It was met with comments like “worst excuse for pizza I’ve ever had” and “the crust tastes like cardboard.” But rather than running from the tough love, it took the hit and completely overhauled its recipes.

The team admitted their missteps and returned to the market with better food and a campaign detailing their “Pizza Turn Around.”

The result? The brand won a ton of praise for its willingness to take feedback, efforts to do right by its consumers, and clever campaign. But, most importantly, revenue for Domino’s rose by 14.3% over the previous year.

The brand continues to conduct focus groups and share real footage from them in its promotion:

What I like: Similar to interviewing, you can dig deeper and pivot as needed due to the real-time nature. They’re personal and detailed.

What I dislike: Once again, they can be time-consuming and make it difficult to get quantitative data. There is also a chance some participants may overshadow others.

Best for: Product research or development

Pro tip: Need help planning your focus group? Our free Market Research Kit includes a handy template to start organizing your thoughts in addition to a SWOT Analysis Template, Survey Template, Focus Group Template, Presentation Template, Five Forces Industry Analysis Template, and an instructional guide for all of them. Download yours here now.

3. Surveys or Polls

Surveys are a form of primary research where individuals are asked a collection of questions. It can take many different forms.

They could be in person, over the phone or video call, by email, via an online form, or even on social media. Questions can be also open-ended or closed to deliver qualitative or quantitative information.

A great example of a close-ended survey is HubSpot’s annual State of Marketing .

In the State of Marketing, HubSpot asks marketing professionals from around the world a series of multiple-choice questions to gather data on the state of the marketing industry and to identify trends.

The survey covers various topics related to marketing strategies, tactics, tools, and challenges that marketers face. It aims to provide benchmarks to help you make informed decisions about your marketing.

It also helps us understand where our customers’ heads are so we can better evolve our products to meet their needs.

Apple is no stranger to surveys, either.

In 2011, the tech giant launched Apple Customer Pulse , which it described as “an online community of Apple product users who provide input on a variety of subjects and issues concerning Apple.”

"For example, we did a large voluntary survey of email subscribers and top readers a few years back."

While these readers gave us a long list of topics, formats, or content types they wanted to see, they sometimes engaged more with content types they didn’t select or favor as much on the surveys when we ran follow-up ‘in the wild’ tests, like A/B testing.”  

Pepsi saw similar results when it ran its iconic field experiment, “The Pepsi Challenge” for the first time in 1975.

The beverage brand set up tables at malls, beaches, and other public locations and ran a blindfolded taste test. Shoppers were given two cups of soda, one containing Pepsi, the other Coca-Cola (Pepsi’s biggest competitor). They were then asked to taste both and report which they preferred.

People overwhelmingly preferred Pepsi, and the brand has repeated the experiment multiple times over the years to the same results.

What I like: It yields qualitative and quantitative data and can make for engaging marketing content, especially in the digital age.

What I dislike: It can be very time-consuming. And, if you’re not careful, there is a high risk for scientific error.

Best for: Product testing and competitive analysis

Pro tip:  " Don’t make critical business decisions off of just one data set," advises Pamela Bump. "Use the survey, competitive intelligence, external data, or even a focus group to give you one layer of ideas or a short-list for improvements or solutions to test. Then gather your own fresh data to test in an experiment or trial and better refine your data-backed strategy."

Secondary Research

8. public domain or third-party research.

While original data is always a plus, there are plenty of external resources you can access online and even at a library when you’re limited on time or resources.

Some reputable resources you can use include:

• Pew Research Center
• McKinley Global Institute
• Relevant Global or Government Organizations (i.e United Nations or NASA)

It’s also smart to turn to reputable organizations that are specific to your industry or field. For instance, if you’re a gardening or landscaping company, you may want to pull statistics from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

If you’re a digital marketing agency, you could look to Google Research or HubSpot Research . (Hey, I know them!)

What I like: You can save time on gathering data and spend more time on analyzing. You can also rest assured the data is from a source you trust.

What I dislike: You may not find data specific to your needs.

Best for: Companies under a time or resource crunch, adding factual support to content

Pro tip: Fellow HubSpotter Iskiev suggests using third-party data to inspire your original research. “Sometimes, I use public third-party data for ideas and inspiration. Once I have written my survey and gotten all my ideas out, I read similar reports from other sources and usually end up with useful additions for my own research.”

9. Buy Research

If the data you need isn’t available publicly and you can’t do your own market research, you can also buy some. There are many reputable analytics companies that offer subscriptions to access their data. Statista is one of my favorites, but there’s also Euromonitor , Mintel , and BCC Research .

What I like: Same as public domain research

What I dislike: You may not find data specific to your needs. It also adds to your expenses.

Best for: Companies under a time or resource crunch or adding factual support to content

Which marketing research method should you use?

You’re not going to like my answer, but “it depends.” The best marketing research method for you will depend on your objective and data needs, but also your budget and timeline.

My advice? Aim for a mix of quantitative and qualitative data. If you can do your own original research, awesome. But if not, don’t beat yourself up. Lean into free or low-cost tools . You could do primary research for qualitative data, then tap public sources for quantitative data. Or perhaps the reverse is best for you.

Whatever your marketing research method mix, take the time to think it through and ensure you’re left with information that will truly help you achieve your goals.

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There is a critical need to generate age– and sex-specific survival curves to characterize chronological aging consistently across nonhuman primates (NHP) used in biomedical research. Accurate measures of chronological aging are essential for inferences into genetic, demographic, and physiological variables driving differences in NHP lifespan within and between species. Understanding NHP lifespans is relevant to public health because unraveling the demographic, molecular, and clinical bases of health across the life course in translationally relevant NHP species is fundamentally important to the study of human aging. Data from more than 110,000 captive individual NHP were contributed by 15 major research institutions to generate sex-specific Kaplan-Meier survival curves using uniform methods in 12 translational aging models: Callithrix jacchus (common marmoset), Chlorocebus aethiops sabaeus (vervet/African green), Macaca fascicularis (cynomolgus macaque), M. fuscata (Japanese macaque), M. mulatta (rhesus macaque), M. nemestrina (pigtail macaque), M. radiata (bonnet macaque), Pan troglodytes spp. (chimpanzee), Papio hamadryas spp. (baboon), Plecturocebus cupreus (coppery titi monkey), Saguinus oedipus (cotton-top tamarin), and Saimiri spp. (squirrel monkey). After employing strict inclusion criteria, primary analysis results are based on 12,269 NHP that survived to adulthood and died of natural/health-related causes. A secondary analysis was completed for 32,616 NHP that died of any cause. For the primary analyses, we report ages of 25 th , 50 th , 75 th , and 85 th percentiles of survival, maximum observed ages, rates of survivorship, and sex-based differences captured by quantile regression models and Kolmogorov-Smirnov tests. Our findings show a pattern of reduced male survival among catarrhines (African and Asian primates), especially macaques, but not platyrrhines (Central and South American primates). For many species, median lifespans were lower than previously reported. An important consideration is that these analyses may offer a better reflection of healthspan than lifespan. Captive NHP used in research are typically euthanized for humane welfare reasons before their natural end of life, often after diagnosis of their first major disease requiring long-term treatment with reduced quality of life (e.g., endometriosis, cancer, osteoarthritis).

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Numerical analysis of secondary system subjected to underground blast loading

• Published: 16 August 2024

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• D. Rajkumar 1  

The vulnerability of secondary systems (SS) to seismic activities has become a critical area of research due to their potential for significant damage even under low-intensity seismic waves, particularly those caused by underground blast induced ground motion (UBIGM). Unlike the extensively studied Primary System (PS), SS are prone to significant damage, necessitating a deeper understanding of their dynamic responses. The study introduces a novel modeling approach for analyzing the response of secondary structures (SS) under underground blast-induced ground motion (UBIGM). Utilizing MATLAB code for the Newmark’s Beta method, this research evaluates the peak acceleration of SS, considering variables such as mass ratio, explosive mass, and the transmission medium of the blast wave. The results reveal that peak accelerations of SS are 5.8 to 6.0 times higher when the blast waves travel through soil compared to rock, underscoring soil's amplifying effect on ground motion. Furthermore, linear regression analysis identifies the primary factors influencing SS response, leading to the development of a predictive equation for peak acceleration. These findings are instrumental in improving the design and survivability of SS against underground blast-induced excitations, thereby contributing to the overall safety and stability of structures in seismic-prone areas.

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Rajkumar, D. Numerical analysis of secondary system subjected to underground blast loading. Asian J Civ Eng (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42107-024-01140-7

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