Primary & Secondary Research

Primary Research 

Primary research is when people carry out their own research. People can get their own research by various ways. For example questionnaires are a very good way for people to do this this can be beneficial because you get specific questioning for the topic or thing that you researching. Another example of primary research that is usually used is by having interviews which are face to face with people this may make people want to be much more honest and reliable because the interviewer may get the sense that the interviewee is not being honest since when people lie they usually stutter and it takes them a little longer to come up with a response because they're tying to think of one. Another example is online forums were people are able to gain a variety of opinions from people all around the world they can also receive full in depth responses and it gives the researcher the chance to pinpoint things from that in depth response that are relevant to get the best outcome. 

However these could also be a problem for researchers because for instance with questionnaires people may be unreliable and just answer with any nonsense and don't actually tell the researcher their full and honest opinion, also if online it may be anonymous therefore the target audience the researcher was going for may be completely to the age that they thought or the gender etc. Interviews also have some drawbacks because they may not always be 100% honest so its really hard to say if that interviewee is a reliable enough, also they have a lack of variety in terms of audience because the interviewer would need to ask people with the same age, socio economic class and sometimes gender. Forums also have drawbacks because they're online the answers that you receive may come from unreliable and unknown or anonymous sources. 

Secondary Research

Secondary research is when people use existing research when collecting data or information. The internet is a very good example of secondary research because its one of the most common forms of research. The internet is beneficial because it can be quick to find things that you are searching for but thats not always the case it really depends on what exactly it is that your looking for, like when looking for something very simple may be quicker than looking for something that you need full and further detail in. The internet is free in some circumstances for example going to the library is free, so is the use of computers in school. It is also accurate in some circumstances for example when using biographical sites. Another example of secondary research is library and journals where they have a wide variety and broad selection of information on offer, it is also free for people to use libraries so your are not limited to what you can read. This also saves time in terms of finding out the information yourself which may take much longer then walking to the nearest library. 

However secondary research does have some drawbacks for instance when using the internet it can be time consuming when trying to find an extensive amount of information also not all sources on the internet are reliable for example sites like wikipedia is not always accurate because that can be changed by anyone on the internet. Fan sites are also a drawback because they may be biased on the topic, subject etc, and say that Drakes music video Hotline Bling is so good but when people watch it they may not have the same thoughts and opinions. It is also not always free for example using the internet at home has be paid for because of broadband so its not always certain that the internet is there for you when people are at home. Also libraries do have some drawbacks in terms of looking for information because people may need to search through many different books to look for specific information that they need.