Week 4 EOC | Chapter 6 + 7 Questions

There are many advantages and disadvantages when it comes to using secondary research. Most research products begin using secondary data because it is usually “historical and already assembled” (122); secondary data is information that has already been gathered and recorded by someone else, usually for other purposes. One of the major advantages includes the amount of time and money that is saved, compared to conducting primary research. Because the secondary data is readily available, there usually is no need to execute research again: “Obtaining secondary data is almost always faster and less expensive than acquiring primary data” (122).

Although secondary data may seem like the obvious choice, using secondary data does have its drawbacks. An example of one of the disadvantages of using secondary data includes the fact that the information is not designated to meet the researchers’ needs. The researcher must further evaluate the secondary data to make sure the information is valid for the particular project: “The most common reasons why secondary data do not adequately satisfy research needs are (1) outdated information, (2) variation in definition of terms, (3) different units of measurements, and (4) lack of information to verify the data’s accuracy” (124).

In the book, the definition of a survey is “a method of collecting primary data based on communication (questions and answers) with a representative same of respondents” (146). Now, the information gathered from using survey varies because there are many different factors to be considered. Generally speaking, surveys provide insights on consumer characteristics. It is said that surveys can be considered as snapshots: “Because most survey research is descriptive research, the term survey is most often associated with quantitative findings. Although most surveys are conducted to quantify certain factual information, some aspects of surveys may also be qualitative” (147). All in all, no data source is perfect; this is definitely true for surveys.