Report

3/26/2020 Primary and Secondary Research

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Primary and Secondary Research

The American Marketing Association (AMA) defines marketing research as

follows: “the function that links the consumer, customer, and public to the

marketer through information—information used to identify and define

marketing opportunities and problems; generate, refine, and evaluate marketing

actions; monitor marketing performance; and improve understanding of

marketing as a process. Marketing research specifies the information required to

address these issues, designs the method for collecting information, manages

and implements the data collection process, analyzes the results, and

communicates the findings and their implications.” (AMA, 2013, para. 2)

There are two types of research (Marshall & Johnston, 2011):

primary research—Data is collected specifically for a certain research

question, (i.e., primary data). Data may be quantitative (statistical analysis),

or qualitative (e.g., surveys, focus groups, and interviews). Primary research

is important when making strategic decisions. While primary research is

costly and more time consuming, it is more accurate and reliable.

secondary research—Data was collected for some other purpose than the

research question at hand. Secondary research may involve an internet

search, periodicals, CRM data, government sources (e.g., economic census),

and market research organizations. Secondary data is cheaper to obtain and

is less time consuming to use because it is readily available; however, it may

be outdated or unreliable. In addition, secondary research may not be a

perfect fit for the research question. In general, primary research usually

starts with a scan of the available secondary information to help further

refine the search.

References

AMA (2013). Marketing research definition. Retrieved from www.ama.org

Marshall, G. W., & Johnston, M. W. (2011). Essentials of marketing management.

New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

Learning Topic

3/26/2020 Primary and Secondary Research

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Resources

Conducting Online Market Research

(/content/umuc/tgs/mba/mba640/2202/learning-

resourcelist/conducting-onlinemarketresearch.html?ou=447146)

Gathering and Using Information: Marketing Research and Market

Intelligence (/content/umuc/tgs/mba/mba640/2202/learning-

resourcelist/gathering-and-

usinginformationmarketingresearchandmarketintellig.html?

ou=447146)

Big Data in Market Research: Why More Data Does Not Automatically

Mean Better Information (http://ezproxy.umuc.edu/login?

url=http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.umuc.edu/login.aspx?

direct=true&db=bth&AN=119433006&login.asp&site=ehost-

live&scope=site)

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