SECONDARY DATA

DATA SOURCES  Primary Data: The data which is collected first hand specially for the purpose of study. It is collected for addressing the problem at hand. Thus, primary data is original data collected by researcher first hand.

DATA SOURCES  Secondary Data: The data that have been already collected by and readily available from other sources. Such data are cheaper and more quickly obtainable than the primary data and also may be available when primary data can not be obtained at all.

Secondary Data Research projects often begin with secondary data, which are gathered and recorded by someone else prior to (and for purposes other than) the current project. 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.

Evaluation of Secondary Data “Evaluation means the following four requirements must be satisfied”:  Availability: It has to be seen that the kind of data you want is available or not. If it is not available then you have to go for primary data.  Relevance: It should be meeting the requirements of the problem. For this we have two criteria: - Units of measurement should be the same. - Concepts used must be same and currency of data should not be outdated.

Evaluation of Secondary Data  Accuracy- In order to find how accurate the data is, the following points must be considered: - Specification and methodology used; - Margin of error should be examined; - The dependability of the source must be seen.  Sufficiency- Adequate data should be available.

Common Research Objectives for Secondary-Data Studies  Fact Finding: Identifying consumption patterns. Tracking Trends. (The observation and analysis of trends in industry volume and brand share over time)

Common Research Objectives for Secondary-Data Studies  Model Building: Estimating market potential. Forecasting Sales. Selecting trade areas and sites.(The use of secondary data to help specify relationships between two or more variables; )  Database Marketing: Enhancing customer databases. Developing Prospect Lists.

Sources of Secondary Data SourcesExternalInternal

Sources of Secondary Data  Internal Sources: Secondary data that originate inside the organization. Most organizations routinely gather, record and store internal data to help them solve future problems.  External Sources: Data created, recorded, or generated by an entity other than the researcher’s organization.

Advantages of Secondary Data  The biggest advantage of using secondary data is economics. Someone else has already collected the data, so the researcher does not have to devote money, time, energy, and other resources to this phase of research.

Advantages of Secondary Data  A second major advantage of using secondary data is the breadth of data available. The federal government conducts numerous studies on a large, national scale that individual researchers would have a difficult time collecting.

Advantages of Secondary Data  A third major advantage of using secondary data is that the data collection process is often guided by expertise and professionalism that may not be available to individual researchers or small research projects.

Advantages of Secondary Data  It helps to improve the understanding of the problem.  It is time saving.  It helps to make primary data collection more specific since with the help of secondary data, we are able to make out what are the gaps and deficiencies and what additional information needs to be collected.

Advantages of Secondary Data  It helps to improve the understanding of the problem.  It provides a basis for comparison for the data that is collected by the researcher.

Disadvantages of Secondary Data  A major disadvantage of using secondary data is that it may not answer the researcher’s specific research questions or contain specific information that the researcher would like to have.  Another major disadvantage to using secondary data is that the researcher/analyst does not know exactly how the data collection process was done and how well it was done.

Disadvantages of Secondary Data  Secondary data is something that seldom fits in the framework of the marketing research factors. Reasons for its non-fitting are: 1. Unit of secondary data collection-Suppose you want information on disposable income, but the data is available on gross income. The information may not be same as we require.

2. Class Boundaries may be different when units are same.  Accuracy of secondary data is not known.  Data may be outdated.