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Difference Primary & Secondary Data

Primary data involves direct collection from original sources and takes a long time to collect and analyze. Secondary data has already been collected and analyzed by other researchers and is quicker to obtain in a refined form. While primary data is more accurate and reliable, secondary data is cheaper and less time-consuming to collect. Researchers may use both primary and secondary sources together to fully address their research needs within budget constraints.

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107 views4 pages

Difference Primary & Secondary Data

Primary data involves direct collection from original sources and takes a long time to collect and analyze. Secondary data has already been collected and analyzed by other researchers and is quicker to obtain in a refined form. While primary data is more accurate and reliable, secondary data is cheaper and less time-consuming to collect. Researchers may use both primary and secondary sources together to fully address their research needs within budget constraints.

Uploaded by

amir sohail
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Process

Researchers are usually very involved in the primary data collection


process, while secondary data is quick and easy to collect. This is due to
the fact that primary research is mostly longitudinal.

Therefore, researchers have to spend a long time performing research,


recording information, and analyzing the data. This data can be collected
and analyzed within a few hours when conducting secondary research.

For example, an organization may spend a long time analyzing the


market size for transport companies looking to talk into the ride-hailing
sector. A potential investor will take this data and use it to inform his
decision of investing in the sector or not. 

Availability

Primary data is available in crude form while secondary data is available


in a refined form. That is, secondary data is usually made available to the
public in a simple form for a layman to understand while primary data
are usually raw and will have to be simplified by the researcher.

Secondary data are this way because they have previously been broken
down by researchers who collected the primary data afresh. A good
example is the Thomson Reuters annual market reports that are made
available to the public.

When Thomson Reuters collect this data afresh, they are usually raw and
may be difficult to understand. They simplify the results of this data by
visualizing it with graphs, charts, and explanations in words.

Data Collection Tools

Primary data can be collected using surveys and questionnaires while


secondary data are collected using the library, bots, etc. The different
ones between these data collection tools are glaring and can it be
interchangeably used.

When collecting primary data, researchers lookout for a tool that can be
easily used and can collect reliable data. One of the best primary data
collection tools that satisfy this condition is Formplus.
Formplus is a web-based primary data collection tool that helps
researchers collect reliable data while simultaneously increasing the
response rate from respondents.

Sources

Primary data sources include; Surveys, observations, experiments,


questionnaires, focus groups, interviews, etc., while secondary data
sources include; books, journals, articles, web pages, blogs, etc. These
sources vary explicitly and there is no intersection between the primary
and secondary data sources.

Primary data sources are sources that require a deep commitment from
researchers and require interaction with the subject of study. Secondary
data, on the other hand, do not require interaction with the subject of
study before it can be collected.

In most cases, secondary researchers do not have any interaction with


the subject of research.

Specific

Primary data is always specific to the researcher's needs, while


secondary data may or may not be specific to the researcher's need. It
depends solely on the kind of data the researcher was able to lay hands
on.

Secondary researchers may be lucky to have access to data tailored


specifically to meet their needs, which mag is not the case in some cases.
For example, a market researcher researching the purchasing power of
people from a particular community may not have access to the data of
the subject community.

Alternatively, there may be another community with a similar standard


of living to the subject community whose data is available. The
researcher mag uses to settle for this data and use it to inform his
conclusion on the subject community.
Advantage

Some common advantages of primary data are its authenticity, specific


nature, and up to date information while secondary data is very cheap
and not time-consuming. 

Primary data is very reliable because it is usually objective and collected


directly from the original source. It also gives up to date information
about a research topic compared to secondary data.

Secondary day, on the other hand, is not expensive making it easy for
people to conduct secondary research. It doesn't take so much time and
most of the secondary data sources can be accessed for free.

Disadvantage

The disadvantage of primary data is the cost and time spent on data
collection while secondary data may be outdated or irrelevant. Primary
data incur so much cost and takes time because of the processes
involved in carrying out primary research.

For example, when physically interviewing research subjects, one may


need one or  more professionals, including the interviewees,
videographers who will make a record of the interview in some cases
and the people involved in preparing for the interview. Apart from the
time required, the cost of doing this may be relatively high.

Secondary data may be outdated and irrelevant. In fact, researchers have


to surf through irrelevant data before finally having access to the data
relevant to the research purpose.

Accuracy and Reliability

 Primary data is more accurate and reliable while secondary data is


relatively less reliable and accurate. This is mainly because the
secondary data sources are not regulated and are subject to personal
bias.

A good example of this is business owners who lay bloggers to write


good reviews about their product just to gain more customers. This is
not the case with primary data which is collected by being a researcher
himself. 
One of the researcher's aim when gathering primary data for research
will be gathering accurate data so as to arrive at correct conclusions.
Therefore, biases will be avoided at all costs (e.g. same businesses when
collecting feedback from customers).  

Cost-effectiveness

Primary data is very expensive while secondary data is economical.


When working on a low budget, it is better for researchers to work with
secondary data, then analyze it to uncover new trends.

In fact, a researcher might work with both primary data and secondary
data for one research. This is usually very advisable in cases whereby the
available secondary data does not fully meet the research needs.

Therefore, a little extension on the available data will be done and cost
will also be saved. For example, a researcher may require a market
report from 2010 to 2019 while the available reports stop at 2018.

Collection Time

The time required to collect primary data is usually long while that
required to collect secondary data is usually short. The primary data
collection process is sometimes longitudinal in nature.

Therefore, researchers may need to observe the research subject for


some time while taking down important data. For example, when
observing the behavior of a group of people or particular species,
researchers have to observe them for a while.

Secondary data can, however, be collected in a matter of minutes and


analyzed to dead conclusions—taking a shorter time when compared to
primary data. In some rare cases, especially when collecting little data,
secondary data may take a longer time because of difficulty consulting
different data sources to find the right data. 

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