Primary and Secondary Marketing Research Methods – Qualitative vs. Quantitative
Primary Marketing Research Methods
Primary marketing research is the collection of information to be used to make conclusions or suggestions through interviews, questionnaires, surveys, case studies or focus groups. The definition of the word primary is “of chief importance, earliest in time or order of development”, which to me suggests that it is the first method of research that should be utilized in the gathering of data. Primary research is done from scratch, and is considered the most valuable type of research you can use to gather information that can be used for all sorts of things such as improving products, services or functions.
Secondary Marketing Research Methods
The method of secondary research takes information that has already been collected through such outlets as government agencies, trade associations, national organizations, newspapers, magazines, the internet and other sources and compiles in a useful way.
Qualitative Marketing Methods
Qualitative methods of research are used to understand the meaning behind trends, patterns or themes shown by the available data. Qualitative research mainly considers the opinions and feelings of a customer as far as a business’s products and services are concerned. This type of research tries to get inside customer’s mind to figure out what they see lacking or what they truly like about the product or what they do not. Some common examples of qualitative research work include doing face to face interviews, being part of focus groups, etc.
Quantitative Marketing Methods
Quantitative methods of research take any information collected and turns it into useful numerical data such as statistics, percentages etc. to be used to make conclusions. Quantitative research is based on hard facts and statistical data and is useful both in terms of primary market research and secondary market research. Some of examples of quantitative research are exit surveys, questionnaires, on-site fieldwork, previously existing financial reports or research papers.
Mixed methods of research are taking any of the above-mentioned methods and combining them with another to create a better result.
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