Types of Research
primary research
Primary research involves gathering new data firsthand for a specific purpose.
This type of research is done to fill in gaps found during the secondary research review. That is, you would not conduct primary research if you could find data relevant to your research question with already existing secondary sources.
The following are common methods of conducting primary research:
- Interviews: Interviews are conversations, typically in small groups, where one party asks questions of another. Interviews are usually conducted in person, between two people (the person asking questions and the person answering them); however, these can also take place over the phone and may involve multiple parties.
- Surveys: Surveys are typically written documents that are sent out to individuals to fill out. Surveys are more rigid than interviews, as an interviewer can change their planned questions based on the subject’s responses. Surveys, however, are pre-written and can only respond in limited anticipated ways.
- Observations: Observations are just what they sound like—the researcher watches something and records what they see. It is important to avoid influencing whatever you’re watching. However, if it’s impossible to not influence your subject, make sure to include the fact that your presence may have influenced your observations.
- Analysis: In analysis, gathered data is examined and organized so those who are less familiar with technical details can be guided through the data. Analysis can also help uncover patterns and trends in data.
secondary research
Secondary research involves analyzing existing information that has already been collected by others.
Secondary research is gathering information from other people’s primary research. Common forms are books, journals, newspaper articles, media reports, and other polished accounts of data. Most report writers will use secondary sources for their business reports in order to gather, curate, and present the material in a new, updated, and helpful manner.
In business, where everything has a cost, we may argue for maximizing secondary sources alone because primary research is expensive and time-consuming. That said, primary and secondary data should interact, and as discussed, we gather primary data when we find gaps in the already available secondary sources.
Secondary sources analyze, review, or summarize information in primary resources or other secondary resources. Even sources presenting facts or descriptions about events are secondary unless they are based on direct participation or observation.