ZIMSEC O Level Business Studies Notes: Marketing: Secondary and Primary Research
- Market research can be grouped into two:
- Primary and
- Secondary Research
Secondary Research
- It involves the further investigation and analysis of data collected for another purpose or/and collected by someone else
- It is also known as desk research
- The data already exists at the time the research is conducted
- The data can be within the organisation in which case it is known as internal secondary research or
- It can be from sources external to the organisation in which case it is known as external secondary research
Internal sources
- Internal sources are those found from within the organisation
- These include:
- Customer sales records
- Customer payment records
- Client databases
- Reports made by sales representatives
- Internal assessments of the market
- Analysis of competitors
- Correspondence with customers e.g. emails, letters etc
External sources
- These include:
- Trade publications such as Forbes.com
- Reports made by Trade Associations
- Specialist publications such as economist.com and the wsj.com
- Published Company Accounts of rival organisations
- Goverment Statistics e.g. ZIMSTATS:
- National Income
- Family Expenditure surveys
- Trade Figures
- GDP and GNP
- Social Trends
- Demographic Trends
- Census surveys
Click here to see the advantages and disadvantages of secondary research
Primary Research
- These is the process of collecting data first hand for the purposes of the current research rather than using data from existing sources
- Data obtained this way is known as primary data
- Primary data is defined as data that originates as a result of the current investigation
- Collecting data this way is also known as field research as it involves going into the field
- There are three basic techniques of field research viz:
- surveys
- observation
- experiments
Surveys
- A detailed study of a market or geographical area to gather data on attitudes, impressions, opinions, satisfaction level, etc., by polling a section of the population
- Surveys typically involve engaging only a sample of the population
- A representative sample of the market is obtained using sampling techniques
- Survey techniques include:
- Questionnaires
- Personal interviews
- Internet surveys
- Postal surveys
- Telephone surveys
- Panel surveys
- Group interviews etc
Observation
- Involves careful visual,audio or record monitoring rather than directly engaging with the customer
- Observation may take the form of video cameras on the subject
- It can also be conducted in the form of audits e.g. stock audits to determine how much of a product has been bought in a given period
- Actual observers can be employed
- This method has a major drawback:
- If a customer is aware that they are being monitored they are likely to alter their behaviour
Experiments
- This is when scientific methods are used to:
- Create a hypothesis or assumption
- Systematically test the assumption
- Disprove or prove the assumption
- Restate the assumption in scientific terms e.g. as a theory
- Examples include test marketing where a limited version of the product is launched
Click here to read the advantages and disadvantages of primary research
To access more topics go to theĀ O Level Business Notes