Secondary market research is commonly used to better understand the current landscape or when the research area is unfamiliar to the researcher. This type of research can be conducted alongside primary research or serve as a foundation for further primary research.
There are various secondary research methods, each offering unique insights and advantages. While secondary research provides accessible and readily available data, faster research speeds, and low costs, it also has limitations, such as outdated data and the need for verification and interpretation.
In this article, we will share the methods of secondary market research and its advantages and disadvantages.
Secondary Market Research
Secondary market research is a method of conducting research using data from both internal and external sources. It can be obtained through various methods, such as surveys, telephone interviews, and observation. The data is often available at no cost or a nominal fee. Researchers use secondary data to verify, evaluate, and incorporate it into their primary research to support their aims. It can also be used to analyse prior studies on a specific topic, validate early hypothesis statements, and identify patterns across data spanning multiple years to identify trends.
Secondary market research can be divided into:
- Qualitative secondary market research
- Quantitative secondary market research
Types of Secondary Market Research
Secondary market research comes in a lot of different methods, but the most popular ones are:
#1. Statistical analysis
Statistical analysis is a secondary market research method. You can find data online from many different sources. A lot of it comes in the form of datasets. Often, these datasets are free to use or can be downloaded for a small fee. They are perfect for statistical tests like hypothesis testing and regression analysis. Some reliable sources for available data are:
- The federal government
- Government groups
- Organisations that are not government
- Institutions of learning
- Companies or consulting firms
- Archive or library
- Newsprint, scholarly journals, or magazines
#2. Literature Reviews
A literature review analyses research sources already written on your subject. It gives you an overview of what is known now, which helps you find themes, debates, and gaps in the study you are looking at. You can use these in your work later on, or you can use them as a starting place for your primary research. Like a regular academic paper, a literature review has a clear introduction, body, and conclusion. It’s a great way to look at the current state of research and show that you know the academic arguments about your subject.
It’s different from a summary. It looks at sources critically, combines them, and rates them to give you and your audience a clear picture of your topic’s current state of study.
#3. Case Studies
A case study is an in-depth look at a certain topic. It’s generally qualitative and can be about a person, a group, a place, an event, a business, or a phenomenon. You can use current research to learn more about your real-world subject in a concrete, contextual, and in-depth way through a case study.
You can focus on a single complex case and go into great depth about a single subject, or you can look at more than one case and compare different aspects of your topic. Case studies that use interviews, observational studies, or other first-hand forms of information are instrumental.
#4. Content Analysis
Content analysis is a way to look for patterns in recorded conversation by using texts that have already been written. It can be either quantitative or qualitative, based on whether you look at patterns that can be counted or measured or patterns that are more open to interpretation. Content analysis is commonly used in communication studies, but it is also used extensively in anthropology, psychology, and history studies to draw more meaningful qualitative conclusions.
Secondary Market Research Advantages
Secondary market research involves systematically gathering and analysing existing data from other researchers or organisations. This method of market research offers several advantages:
- Secondary research sources house vast and diverse data points covering various industries, markets, and consumer segments. These sources include company reports, research agency reports, government agency publications, news articles, and more. Such rich repositories enable researchers to access up-to-date statistics, historical trends, and market insights with relative ease and convenience.
- Data for secondary research is generally readily available online from news articles, reviews, and other readily available analyses. You can usually export data into a spreadsheet for ease of use.
- Since the data is already published and in the public arena, you don’t need to collect this information through primary research. This can make the research more accessible and faster, as you can get started with the data quickly.
- Most secondary data sources can be accessed for free or at a small cost to the researcher, so the overall research costs are kept low. In addition, by saving on preliminary research, the time costs for the researcher are kept down as well.
- Secondary sources can include large datasets (like Census data across several states), so research results can be scaled up quickly using sizeable secondary data sources.
- Secondary research can be used as the basis for the decision to conduct primary research and to guide the overall research goals.
- Knowledge gaps in secondary research can drive additional primary research into a specific area or follow-up studies into the topic at hand.
What Are Secondary Research Disadvantages?
While secondary market research can be a helpful tool, it also has several disadvantages:
- Quality of the Secondary Data: The quality of secondary data should be carefully evaluated, as the origin of the information may be suspect. Companies and researchers that rely on secondary data for decision-making must closely examine the authenticity and reliability of the information by investigating how the data was collected, analysed, and interpreted.
- Out-dated Data: Secondary data attained in the past may need to be updated. This can be problematic for researchers researching fast-changing markets and research areas.
- Missing Information: Secondary data often comes in “teasers”, where only a limited part of the research is made public for free. The researcher may need to view the full report to obtain the missing information, which could be behind a paywall.
- Availability of the Secondary Data: It’s important to ascertain whether or not the data is available on your chosen topic, population, or variables. If secondary data is irrelevant to your requirements, primary data must be used despite its disadvantages.
- Relevance of the Secondary Data: The relevance of the data before using a secondary dataset should be checked. For instance, if the dimensional units do not match those required by the researcher for their study, or the ideas presented are somehow different from those needed in the current study, secondary data may be rendered irrelevant for a new study.
- Adequacy of Data: Secondary data may be alluring, but there is a risk that the amount and relevance of data will not meet your research objectives. In other words, before you decide to do secondary research, you need to ensure enough data on the topic at hand to meet your research questions.
What Is the Importance of Secondary Market Research?
The importance of secondary market research can be summarised in several vital points:
#1. Supporting Primary Research
Secondary research complements primary research by providing context, background information, and supporting evidence. It helps you gain insights into previous studies, theories, and findings related to your research topic. This knowledge can inform the design of your primary research studies, guide the development of your research instruments, and validate or challenge existing theories.
#2. Wide Range of Data Sources
Secondary research draws on diverse data sources, including government reports, industry publications, market research studies, academic journals, and online databases. These sources provide a wealth of information on market trends, consumer behaviour, competitor analysis, and industry insights, enhancing the comprehensiveness and reliability of the research findings.
#3. Historical Perspective
Secondary research often includes historical data and trends, enabling businesses to analyse past patterns and make informed decisions based on historical insights. This longitudinal view provides a valuable perspective on market dynamics, industry shifts, and consumer behaviour.
#4. Broader Scope and Breadth of Data
Secondary research allows businesses to access a wide range of data that may not be feasible to collect through primary research alone. It provides a broader scope of information, covering various industries, markets, and geographic regions, enabling comprehensive insights into market trends, consumer preferences, and competitive landscapes.
#5. Validation and Triangulation
Conducting secondary market research alongside primary research allows data validation and triangulation. You can compare your preliminary research findings with existing secondary data to assess the consistency and reliability of your results. This validation process adds credibility to your research findings and strengthens the overall research outcomes.
Conclusion
Secondary market research is a valuable method that utilizes data someone else collects to understand the current landscape or explore new research areas. It can be used alongside primary research to support or verify findings. There are several secondary research methods, including statistical analysis, literature reviews, case studies, and content analysis. Secondary research offers advantages such as accessible data, faster research speeds, and low costs, but it also has disadvantages such as outdated data and the need for verification and interpretation.
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