Secondary Research

Secondary research is research using existing information/data that has been found by other researchers or organisations. This information can be found in books, on the Internet, on television, in primary researchers notes or in companies achieves. This research is common when students research information for their studies. Organisation and companies use achieves to compare quantitative information. If a radio station was being set up, the research team would find out about the location and other competition through secondary research. The radio station would look into other stations ratings and the types of viewers so that they can improve their station. This could be found through primary and secondary research. BARB is a primary research website that helps secondary researchers find out about TV ratings.

Copyright is a big problem with secondary research and the researcher would have to give the primary researcher credit for the information. Some secondary research information may be outdated, but his can easily solved by finding and up to date source. Secondary research costs less and takes less time than primary research. Using yearly publications are not always reliable as they could be out of date. Newspapers are more reliable as they give you information not long after an event happens. Secondary research is very common within schools as it is how most students research for revision.

Secondary Research is a good way to find out about past events which can not be researched through interview or survey. With secondary research you are unable to ain information about more than on opinion on a subject.