Research
Secondary Research
What is secondary research?
Secondary research is the most common research method in the
industry today. It involves processing data that has already been collected by
another party.
Secondary sources consist of data that has
already been produced and can be contemporary or historical.
Secondary sources include; Documentaries, Letters,
Diaries, Autobiographies and referencing other forms of research and using
quotes.
The benefits of the use of secondary
sources include;
·
Saving money and time
·
May provide information and
access to historical data
·
May be used to prove or
disprove an argument or theory
·
May be used to offer general
background information
·
Can be used to set the scene of
the research and its findings
·
May be useful for putting
research into context
Primary Research
What is Primary Research?
Primary research is the process of gathering information
directly from individuals who have access to it. Unlike secondary research,
primary research doesn’t focus on the published information. Primary research
sources could include competitor employers and former employers.
While primary research can address questions about past and current
activity, the goal is to learn about what the competitor is going to do; ‘ what
are the intentions and plan on the company?’ This is the reason why primary
research is competitive intelligence is the only way to really know what your
competitor and therefore the marker is going to do next.
Quantitative
and Qualitative Data
What is Quantitative and Qualitative
Data?
Some methods provide data that are
quantitative and some methods data, which are qualitative. Quantitative methods
are those, which focus on numbers and frequencies rather then on meaning and
experience. Quantitative methods,
For example; experiments, questionnaires and psychometric
tests) provide information which is easy to analyze statistically and fairly
reliable. Quantitative methods are associated with scientific and experimental
approach and are criticized for not providing in a depth description.
Qualitative methods are ways of
collecting data which are concerned with describing meaning, rather than with
drawing statistical inferences. What qualitative methods. For example;
case studies and interviews) lose on reliability they gain in terms of
validity. They provide a more in depth and rich description.
Quantitative methods have come
under considerable criticism. In modern research, most psychologists tend
to adopt a combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches, which allow
statistically reliable information obtained from numerical measurement to be
backed up by and enriched by information about the research participants'
explanations.
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