Types of research - primary

Introduction

In this post, I am going to be researching and looking at the different types of research used within the media industry. while i am recording my findings and results, I am going to be explaining what each type of research is, three different example of the types of research, the advantages and the disadvantages of these types of research methods.

What is Primary research

The first type of research I am going to be researching and recording is Primary research. This mean when an organisation or individual carries out their own research from scratch and carry out their own experiments and surveys to help gather data which will be useful for their project/tasks/company.

An official definition of primary research is;

(1)"Experiments, investigations, or tests carried out to acquire data first-hand, rather than being gathered from published sources."

(2) "Primary research consists of the collection of original primary data. It is often undertaken after the researcher has gained some insight into the issue by reviewing secondary research or by analyzing previously collected primary data."

(3) "information that comes directly from the source--that is, potential customers. You can compile this information yourself or hire someone else to gather it for you via surveys, focus groups and other methods."

Within primary research, there are two sub categories which help to make the information collected more reliable and consistent. the two sub categories are;

• Exploratory - which means it is "open-ended". This means that the research is not focusing on one target group or sector, it is getting a wide view on the different demographics there are within locally, nationally, internationally, etc (geographic scale).
• Specific - which means it is "precise". This mean that the research is targeted at a certain demographic and it is more focus at the choices, interest, attractions of a target customer or consumer base.

Methods and sources

A few ways of carrying out primary research are, questionnaires or surveys, telephone surveys or interviews, experiments or direct observations and recording the information discovered.


The advantages of carrying out primary research are:

• the researcher can find out their own information, and they can research the issues and aspects which fit within their design needs and expectations
• Primary research allows the research have control over the amount, scale, time frame, goal and size of information they receive. they also have control and choice on the method of research they are going to be carrying out.

The disadvantages of carrying out primary research are:

• the course of carrying out primary research is much more expensive as you have to conduct and collect the information yourself, using various different sources, employees and materials to help you.
• also if you are paying a market research company to conduct the research methods, it can be expensive if the company is out-sourced or if it is in-house, it can take up a large percentage of the companies overall budget.
• it is much more longer and time-consuming if you carry out primary research rather than collecting secondary data because it will take time to collect the information, then analyse the data and change it to statistics.
• the time it takes for the information to be collected, the data could turn out of date or incorrect.
• the research must expect a low response rate, as people may not retaliate honestly or you may not get the right ratio of potential customers/audience, which will be willing to carry out the surveys.

Examples of primary research

One example of primary research can be a marketing company researching the demographics and interests of a new product. E.g. a new luxury chocolate brand, aimed at an adult or older generation, which will be launched during the Christmas season.

The types of primary research that they can conduct to help find the information that they wish, so they can launch their product effectively and efficiently are;

• handing out questionnaires on the packaging, pricing and location (which retailers for the product to be hosted) within.
• allowing samples and taster sessions at fairs and supermarkets to get a insight on the tastes and likeness of the target audience.

Another example of primary research can be an organisation which wishes to collect information and data on the existing customers of their company. e.g. O2 wish to find out information on their customers on a certain contract tariff so they can send out advertisements and promotions which will help with the retention rates of customers.

The types of primary research that they can conduct, so they can collect the information of their customers are;

• telephone surveys to the customers to help collect the information
• mailed/e-mailed questionnaires to help update information
• collect all of the relevant information face to face (interviews) when existing customers wish to join the company.

The final example primary research can be a group of medical/science researchers wish to find a cure for a type of cancer. To help gather the research for the cure/medicine for the cancer, they can carry out methods of primary research such as;

• laboratory experiments to help test different types of cures and medicines.
• they can carry out a group observation on somebody carrying out the experiment, and input their questions/ideas to help get the information they require.

Conclusion

So in conclusion, primary research is research carried out yourself from scratch to help find statistics on a product/element. This is carried out using various methods of research to suit the type of data you wish to collect. The two types of data that are categorized are exploratory and specific types of information.

Bibliography

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090909120706AA5hBLa  (14/06/2012)

http://grammar.about.com/od/pq/g/primaryterm.htm  (14/06/2012)

(3) http://www.entrepreneur.com/encyclopedia/term/82400.html  (14/06/2012)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marketing_research  (14/06/2012)

(2) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primary_research  (14/06/2012)

(1) http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/primary-research.html  (14/06/2012)