market research - types

Question 1

what is field research?

Answer 1

finding out information first hand (primary information) directly from the public/consumer

Question 2

what are the advantages of field research?

Answer 2

• information is gathered specific to your purpose

- information is up to date

Question 3

what are the disadvantages of field research?

Answer 3

• it is much more expensive to gather compared to desk research
• it is more time consuming compared to desk research
• people may not always give truthful answers in response to questions

Question 4

what is desk research?

Answer 4

this uses secondary information which has already been gathered for another purpose, either from inside or outside the business

Question 5

what are the advantages of desk research?

Answer 5

• cheaper to access existing information rather than having to collect information from scratch
• it is easier to obtain by looking in a newspaper or website as the info has already been carried out
• decisions can be made quickly as the information already exists

Question 6

what are the disadvantages of desk research?

Answer 6

• information may be out of date as it may have been collected a long time ago and so may not be relevant
• information is available to competitors making it harder to find a competitive edge
• the information may not be as useful as the research has been carried out for a different purpose