Cambridge O Level Business Studies · Syllabus 7115 · Marketing
Primary Research
What is Primary Research?
The collection of new data directly from the market for a business's own specific purpose, using methods such as questionnaires, surveys, interviews, focus groups and observation. It is highly relevant to the decision being made and is not available to competitors, but it is slower and more expensive than using existing data, and its accuracy depends entirely on the quality of the sample and the questions.
This definition is part of the Marketing chapter in Cambridge O Level Business Studies.
Questions students ask about Primary Research
What is the difference between primary and secondary research?
Primary research collects new data specifically for this decision, through methods such as questionnaires, interviews or observation; secondary research uses data that already exists, such as government statistics or published reports. Primary data is more relevant because it was collected for the exact question being asked, but it is not automatically more accurate — a badly worded survey on a small biased sample is worse than a reliable national statistic.