Types of research - secondary

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 secondary research?

The second type of research I am going to be collecting and recording is Secondary research. Secondary research is when you can buy and gather information from a different source, depending on the type of information you wish.

a few definitions of secondary data are;

(4) "research that's already compiled and organized for you. Secondary research uses outside information assembled by government agencies, industry and trade associations, labor unions, media sources, chambers of commerce, and so on."

(5) "Secondary research (also known as desk research) involves the summary, collation and/or synthesis of existing research rather than primary research, where data is collected from, for example, research subjects or experiments."

(6) "Information that has been gathered by researchers and recorded in books, articles, and other publications."

Secondary research can help companies or individuals to find any information that has been collected by a different source. This can be anything from scientific research and statistics to marketing ratios and answers. Secondary research can also fall into the category on historical research of old textbooks and manuscripts.


Methods and sources

A few examples of secondary research examples can be previous research reports, newspaper, magazine and journal content, government statistics and textbook information.


The advantages of using secondary research to help gather the information a company or individual needs are;

• it is easy to access a wide range of sources to help with secondary research
• there are a various different choices you can use to help access different information
• it is less expensive to gather data and statistics using secondary data, rather than primary data
• secondary research can be used for clarification and comparibility for any information found using primary research
• secondary data can be used to help gather information on a large scale and to help gather data in areas and countries where not accessable.
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The disadvantages of carrying out secondary research as opposed to primary research are;

• you dont know the quality of the research as you never collected the information yourself
• the reliability and accuracy of the data could be faulty, as it might have been edited, errored or expired.
• you may not be able to find the information you need (according to the researcher's wants and needs), because the research may have not been carried out
• the information may be incomplete because you may need to pay or subscribe to the researcher to access the full information or pages/sections of some sources may be missing (e.g. books and manuscripts).

Examples of secondary research
 

An example of using secondary research can be for historical purposes. E.g. on an archelogical dig, researchers may use historical books and ancient manuscripts to help gather more information on a site or resource. The sources of secondary research that they can use are;

• historical books and manuscripts
• the internet 
• textbooks and newspaper journals

Another example of secondary research can be for marketing/business purposes. e.g. a company wishes to find statistics on the stock exchange market and use the figures to help them plan for the budgets in their company. The sources of secondary research that they can use to find out are;

• the internet 
• newspapers and journals 
• news channels 

Finally, another example of secondary research is a student wanting research for their assignments. e.g. a sociology stendent wishes to access some quotes and statistics on theories for a unit, so they can use secondary research to help gather information and data on predictions that have already been discovered. the sources of secondary data that they can use are;

• journal case studies 
• newspapers 
• textbooks 
• the internet 

Conclusion

So in conclusion, secondary research is data that has already been collected by other individuals/agencies that suits the information you wish to find out. Secondary research can be gathered from previous research reports, newspaper, magazine and journal content, government statistics, textbook information, etc.

Bibliography

(6) http://grammar.about.com/od/rs/g/secsourceterm.htm (14/06/2012)

http://www4.caes.hku.hk/acadgrammar/report/resproc/research.htm (14/06/2012)

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

(4) http://www.entrepreneur.com/encyclopedia/term/82616.html (14/06/2012)

http://prosandconsofsecondaryresearch.blogspot.co.uk/ (16/06/2012)