Secondary Research
Secondary research is research which has already been found and published for others to find and use. Sometimes secondary research is needed in the early stages of research to find out what is already known about that subject and what new data is needed to be found. Although other times it may be the only research technique used. It is normally used for marketing research, it's useful because it allows the researcher to identify a new a new topic rather than one that has exhaustively been researched.
Secondary research uses materials like books, magazines, journals, newspapers and others. Because the data already exists for people to use, secondary research is the cheapest form of research. Secondary research can be split into internal and external research.
There are companies that collect data themselves then give the data collected for other people to use as secondary research, these companies usually sell the data they found to other media companies who then also use it as secondary research. These companies are; Radio Joint Audience Research Limited (RAJAR), National Research Survey (NRS) and Broadcasters Audience Research Board (BARB).
This is a graph of the 'average weekly viewings' from BARB.
Secondary research is research which has already been found and published for others to find and use. Sometimes secondary research is needed in the early stages of research to find out what is already known about that subject and what new data is needed to be found. Although other times it may be the only research technique used. It is normally used for marketing research, it's useful because it allows the researcher to identify a new a new topic rather than one that has exhaustively been researched.
Secondary research uses materials like books, magazines, journals, newspapers and others. Because the data already exists for people to use, secondary research is the cheapest form of research. Secondary research can be split into internal and external research.
There are companies that collect data themselves then give the data collected for other people to use as secondary research, these companies usually sell the data they found to other media companies who then also use it as secondary research. These companies are; Radio Joint Audience Research Limited (RAJAR), National Research Survey (NRS) and Broadcasters Audience Research Board (BARB).
This is a graph of the 'average weekly viewings' from BARB.
Advantages:
- Because somebody has published the data for people to use, it saves time.
- It is often cheaper than doing primary research and collecting all the data yourself.
- It may allow you access to data you couldn't get.
Disadvantages:
- The researcher has less control over how the data was collected
- The data found could actually be really old and so wont be giving you accurate answers.
- It can be quite expensive.