Market research

Collection of first hand data that didn’t exist before and is original.

e.g. surveys and questionnaires, face-to-face interviews, focus groups.

Advantages:

• Directly focused on research objectives = fit for purpose

• Tends to be more up-to-date than secondary research

• Provides more detailed insights - particularly into customer views

Disadvantages:

• Time-consuming and often costly to obtain

• Risk of survey bias – research samples may not be representative of the population

Collection of research that has been collected by someone else and is already existing.

e.g. internet, government statistics, academic applications (university studies)

Advantages:

• Free and easy to obtain
• Good source of market insight
• Cheaper to use than primary research

Disadvantages:

• Can quickly become out of date
• Not always tailored to specific research needs
• Specialist reports are often expensive