Unit 3 - Primary and Secondary research

Primary and Secondary research 


In this blog I will be talking about two different research methods and relating them back to the media industry. Primary and Secondary research is also used in media industries so they can use different research methods to find out what their audience think. 


Primary research

Primary research is information that a person will gather themselves. The aim of primary research is to answer questions relevant solely to the subject. This type of research involves questionnaires, surveys or interviews with individuals or small groups. There are various methods a person can use to get information from people such as questionnaires, interviews, surveys, focus groups and so on. 

Advantages and disadvantages of primary research 

A advantage of primary research is it addresses specific research issues because the researcher controls the search design to fit their needs and what they want so they have  great control over what is done. Not only does primary research let the marketer to focus on specific subjects, it also lets the researcher to have a higher control over how the information is collected. 

Another advantage of primary data is information that has been collected by the person doing the primary research is their own. All the information well be kept with them and not shared with others. This is good because information can be kept hidden from competition as it wouldn't be anywhere else until they decide to use it themselves. 

A disadvantage of primary research is when it's carried out it is not always guaranteed that people are always responding honestly this can mean that some people who answer the questions may be too distracted or too lazy to answer the question provided. This can be bad because the person carrying out their research would find it hard to get reliable results.

Primary data may also be very expensive in preparing and carrying out the research. Costs can be an issue when producing the paper for questionnaires. Money will have to go into buying any equipment that might come along. Also if a person is doing their research alone it can be very time consuming and the process of the research might take a long time, taking up all their time, which means by the time they are done with the research they have collected has might be out of date. 

There are high chances that feedback given is not correct. Feedbacks by their basic nature are usually biased or given just for the sake of it. This makes it difficult for the person to come to a conclusion and can put stress on them as they might have to do it again if people did not take the time out. 


Questionnaires


A questionnaire is a list of questions that a person will answer about a given topic that can be filled in by a someone who is being asked the questions. This is a good method to use as it targets specific questions on a topic being asked. This allows the person asking the questions to get various answers from the topic/people as they are able to have full control over the information the researcher can research exactly what they want, how they want, and possibly don’t have to rely on other peoples work, but it is also allows them to get more information they need. 

They are also relatively quick to collect information from which makes it easy to gather information from large portions of groups. This is very organised and quick as people can answer the questions easily as it is also an open question but they don't need to write much. 

However, there are some disadvantages. For example, it can be unreliable. Sometimes if a person is lazy they won't fill in the questionnaire properly making the results in the end bias or not making sense because they would just write down anything not really paying attention to the questions being answered or if the questionnaire is long they won't be bothered to complete anymore. 


Focus groups 


Another type of primary research is focus group. This is when a group of people gather together and talk about a certain subject to find out the whole group’s opinions and feelings about what they think. It is also used to see how people react to the idea of a new of something and see whether people will like it or not. This is another good method to use because of the variety of different opinions. All these opinions are honest and a person is able to gather more information from this as everyone in the group is contributing. 

Another advantage of focus groups is it saves time as interviewing large groups of people at once is more cost effective than interviewing people individually. Not only will being in a focus group save time by interviewing several people at once, but it will also benefit from only having one session rather than multiple sessions. This also have the benefit of gathering data quicker.

A disadvantage of primary research is some people participating may find the focus group  intimidating or off-putting. may feel under pressure to agree with the dominant view which might make the end result bias as they don't put their say into the group, which would not help the discussion if everyone participating isn't being honest. 


What is secondary research 

Secondary research is information that someone else has gathered. The information they have gathered has come from someone else. For example  books, the internet and archives are all secondary data as these are all ways to find information from someone else and use it. 

Advantages of secondary research 

Accessing secondary data can be very easy as there are many sources to find secondary data. Before the internet people had to get secondary data by visiting libraries etc. However, now with the internet secondary research is more openly accessed. This offers convenience and generally good usage methods for all sources of secondary research. 

The use of secondary data has allowed researchers access to information for little or no cost. This makes gaining information easier as a person doesn't have to pay for the information needed like they would need too if they were doing the research themselves. 

Finally another benefit of secondary research is it gives you access to data a person may not be able to access from primary research. This is because secondary data you can go deep into what you are researching which can provide a person information. This can benefit a person because it helps them to be able to research have more information about it. 

Disadvantages of secondary research

A disadvantage of secondary research is the information a person may be looking for might be out of date. This will cause problems because if a researcher needs information that is up to date and can't find any it may be difficult with their researches. This is because outdated information becomes unreliable and could turn out to be wrong. 

Another disadvantage of secondary research is not all the time is it specific. A person will sometimes need to go deeper if they can't find anything more about what they are researching. This is because they may get at the answers to their specific issues through this data directly. This can be time consuming for a person because this means spending unnecessary time looking to gather for information. 

Libraries 

An advantage of libraries are the broad information. Thee are a lot of books a person can find that is useful towards their research. This benefits a researcher also because they are able to books that can also help them. A library is also for public access so they can also go back anytime or if they wanted to borrow the book they want. This won't cost money and they are able to find information from books that can help them. 

Time and access can be difficult for library research as people must get to the library during library hours, which may not be convenient for them. They also may need to stay in the library for a long time to be sure they have gone through all resources. Some resources may not be available for checkout, which means the student must stay in the library to use them. 

The books you may be looking for might not even be in the library or can even be vandalised which can be a disadvantage as it takes a tool on a person's research as they will have to go looking for another book or wait for another one to be ordered in. 

Internet 

The internet a global computer network providing a variety of information and communication with networks. 

Getting information from the internet is easily accessible and fast. The internet has a very wide range of sources that can be used to find answers for a researchers specific subject, as it helps them gain more knowledge about it. 

There are also many sources a person can access on the internet. This means they can find sites that can help them with research as its unlimited with what you can access. 

However, it can be quite risky. Websites like Wikipedia are unreliable as the pages can be edited by anyone. Online articles that don’t say who the author is can be untrustworthy.