Data Collection Techniques Lecture 02 - Additional K Pradhan

Lesson Outcomes At the end of this session learners should be able to understand the: Use of Research in Business Various Research Methods Sources for business research Limitations of Research

Research Methods http://www.bized.co.uk

Primary Research First hand information Expensive to collect, analyse and evaluate Can be highly focussed and relevant Care needs to be taken with the approach and methodology to ensure accuracy Types of question – closed – limited information gained; open – useful information but difficult to analyse Information which not exist before Can be either carried out by a business itself or by a market research agency Most primary information is gathered by asking customers questions or monitoring their behaviour.

Primary Research methods Several ways of collecting primary research data: Personal Interviews (street, door-to-door) Surveys (Postal, email and online) Focus Groups – talking to small group and asking their views about product/service Questionnaires Observation Experiment (testing) Most if not all, will use designed Questionnaires to capture the required information

Limitations of Primary Research Method It is very expensive to conduct effective primary research For results to be accurate very large samples (no. of people) are required If the sample is too small, you have questioned the wrong people, conducted the research in wrong place/wrong time, if research people are not skilled, your results will be biased and worthless

Secondary Research http://www.bized.co.uk

It is obviously cheaper and less time consuming than primary research Secondary Research Secondary research data are data that already exist or have been collected by someone often for a different purpose but which may be useful in our own research. Secondary data can be collected from both internal & external sources It is obviously cheaper and less time consuming than primary research

Internal Sources Internal data are information already held within the company’s databases such as: Customer records taken from invoices with details such as-name, gender, address, item & quantity ordered Sales reports gathered from field sales representatives Inventory records Prior research reports Company balance sheets or trading results Examples include: Company accounts Internal reports and analysis Stock records Retail data-till data, loyalty cards Customer complaints Customer records

External Sources External data are information available from outside sources, the marketer turns to external data when the internal data are not sufficient to solve the marketing problem at hand or answer some of the questions, they include: Government publications & statistics on trends, population, retail prices etc. The media i.e. newspapers, magazines, T.V & Radio reports, Directories i.e. yellow pages The internet Trade associations Market research companies e.g. Mintel

The Internet Data from many of the above sources can be accessed through the internet Data from competitors’ web sites Articles, reviews and analysis covering a wide range of business topics, references and situations are now available online although much on a subscription basis.

Secondary Research cont. Advantages Disadvantages Inexpensive Easy to access Saves time and effort Identifies issues for further investigation Provides direction for primary research Suggests methodologies for data collection Provides historic or comparative data for longitudinal studies Non re-active: does not alert rivals Data may be incomplete Often not detailed enough to aid decision making Data may not be available Data may not be directly comparable The data was collected for another purpose Problems over reliability, different definitions and interpretation of data.

Evaluating Secondary Data Does it come from a reliable source? For what purpose was the data collected? When was data collected? How was it collected? Is the methodology included? How reliable is the data? Is the data comparable? Can I test the data for accuracy?

Quantitative and Qualitative Data Quantitative – based on numbers – 56% of 18 year olds drink alcohol at least four times a week - doesn’t tell you why, when, how.Factual data is called quantitative data. Qualitative – more detail – tells you why, when and how! data collected about opinions and views are called qualitative data.

Quantitative Vs Qualitative Research Statistical basis Gathers statistically valid, numerically measurable data Usually related to data on the market-size, growth and market shares Sampling plays a key role Data obtained through surveys Concerned with obtaining hard data Subjective and personal Concerned with finding out soft information Main purpose is to understand consumer behaviour, attitudes and perceptions Obtained by methods designed to get detailed responses e.g. interviews Research topics are usually explored in some depth