Research techniques

What is research?
the correct definition of the term research is to collect data, information and facts for overall research into a certain subject or topic.

What is Primary research? 
primary research is when a person conduct research to go out and collect original data for their own needs. this can usually be done through questionnaires and interviews.
this can be planned by designing a research plan on what questions and how your going to get the answers and then carrying out a research plan.

Advantages of Primary research
One advantage is that it gives Greater Control on the research :–
Not only does primary research enable the researcher to specifically focus on specific issues but it also enables the researcher to have a higher levels of control over how the information is collected and maybe also what information is collected. By doing research like this the researcher can decide on specific issues depending on why they are doing this research and maybe the size of project. A few good examples of this is How many responses they get (the number of people they interviewed or gave the questionnaire to), The location of where this research is collected (the geographic area) for example city center or a school or even a university and the research can be completed according to the time frame for completing the entire project.

Another advantage is Proprietary Information:– Information collected by the researcher using primary research which is their own and is usually not shared with others.

Efficient Information is also another advantage :- Primary Research only focuses on issues specific to the researcher which can improves the chances that research time and finance will be spent efficiently and that the researchers time wont go to waste either. Unlike secondary research where the researcher wont need to go through information that is not needed.

Disadvantages of primary research 
A disadvantage is cost :- Compared to secondary research, primary data may be very expensive since there is a great deal of researchers/marketers involvement and the expenses in preparing and also carrying out the research.

Time Consuming :– To be done correctly primary data collection requires the development and also a execution of a research plan which is from the start-point of deciding to undertake the research project to the end were the marketer has got the results, this usually takes much longer than the time it takes to get hold of secondary data because primary is first hand and you have to get it yourself.

Examples of primary research

• Questionnaires

• Interviews

• Observations

•  Testing

• Surveys

What is secondary research?
Secondary research is one of the most widely used method for data collection. Secondary research is basically using information of existing research rather than getting your own primary research, In this there is no need to investigate or go and collect information as there is already existing information on the specific subject.

^{Advantages of secondary research} 
The Costs are low to Acquire :- The use of secondary data has allowed researchers and also marketers access to a lot of valuable information for either little or no cost to get hold of. This is cheaper and saves a lot of money for marketers and students as this information is much less expensive then if the researchers had to go and carry out the research themselves.

Has Easy Access :- An advantage of Using secondary research includes the relative ease of access to many different sources of secondary data. In the past secondary data accumulation required students and marketers to visit libraries or they would wait for reports to be shipped to them by mail, Now with the availability of the internet, secondary research is more easily accessed. This offers convenience and is generally a standardized usage method for all sources of secondary research now.

^{Disadvantages of secondary research}
Does not meet the marketers specific needs:- Its not actually specific to the researcher’s needs, a good example of this is a marketer gets a expensive research report that looks at how different age groups feel about certain products, if the marketer uses secondary research he will discover that the secondary research he uses in not of the exact same age range for his company's research.

secondary research is not timely:- this is because data that was collected in the past might not be accurate to the present information as it is out of date research.

Quality of the research:- research done using primary research  is controlled on the other hand this is not the case with using secondary research that is collected by others and the quality of secondary research should be looked at closely since the origins of the information may be correct.

^{Examples of secondary research}

• researching something up on the internet

• getting information from a book/magazine/newspaper

• getting information from your teacher

What is quantitative research?
the whole point of quantitative research is to develop and gather mathematical models, theories and hypotheses.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qualitative_research
http://www.postar.co.uk/research
What is qualitative research?