Primary Research
Primary research is original data that no one has collected
before and that the researcher collects entirely themselves, usually collected once the researcher has
collected some secondary data. Primary research can be done in many different
ways for example questionnaires, direct observation, telephone interviews as
and focus groups as well as many others.
There are both advantages and disadvantaged to primary
research.
Advantages:
- It gives the researcher the opportunity to get both qualitative and quantitative data.
- Gives the researcher a lot of control, it allows the researcher to focus on specific subjects. It also enables the researcher to have control over how the information is collected.
- This way the researcher can decide the size of the project, the time frame and the goal.
Disadvantages:
- Conducting primary research can be very expensive compared to secondary research, because with primary research the researcher has to produce everything themselves. So creating a questionnaire the costs would include the paper or any other equipment will be needed for the research.
- For the primary research to be done correctly, it requires the development and use of a research plan.
- Low response rate has to be expected with primary research.
This is an example of a questionnaire, one of the many ways to collect Primary Research:
However a disadvantage to using surveys would be that responders may not answer truthfully or, customized surveys may contain errors which effect the answers.