EOC: Week 4: Secondary Data & Surveys

Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using secondary data
Secondary data is a major component in market research, which develops a broader understanding of a business and consumer behaviors. "Consumers view the company as providing valuable bundles of benefits. There are many factors that can affect perceived value, and successful companies are those that understand the value equation" Secondary data is one of the selections of the basic research method along with experiments, surveys, and observation. Before trying to complete a project or launch a product, secondary data must be collected. "Secondary data usually are historical and already assembled. They require no additional access to research respondents or subjects. Secondary data is often thought of as quantitative, but many sources of qualitative secondary data also exist." Defined as "data previously collected for some other purpose other than the one at hand." Obtaining secondary data has the advantage of lower costs, timeliness, and availability. It also eliminates extra work when trying to gather primary data. Disadvantages of secondary data is that it is not meant to meet with researcher's needs, therefore, more detailed questions have to be asked in order for secondary data to be accurate and useful.

• Do the data apply to the population of interest?
• Do the data apply to the time period of interest?
• Do the secondary data appear in the correct units of measurement?
• Do the data appear relevant to the research question?
• Do the data cover the subject of interest in adequate detail?
• Do the data show evidence of reliability and validity?

Secondary data is not always relevant. "Relevance is the characteristics of data reflecting how pertinent these particular facts are to the situation at hand."


Define surveys and describe the type of information that may be gathered in a survey
Surveys is a   "method of collecting primary data based on communication (questions and answers) with a representative sample of respondents."
Information that surveys gather depend on the researcher's objective. Surveying is how researcher's describe what is currently happening. "More specifically, surveys gather information to assess consumer knowledge and awareness of products, brands, or issues and to measure consumer attitudes and feelings. Additionally, surveys describe consumer characteristics including purchasing patterns, brand usage, and descriptive characteristics including demographics and lifestyle"