Chapters 5-8: Secondary Research

When to use secondary research:

- before every community effort - before any primary research - when searching for quick answer to questions

Primary Research

- collection of data that doesn't exist - new research - secondary research comes first

Cons of secondary research

- lack of depth: may not answer the question that you need it to - conflicting information: depending on which source you look at, there can be different findings - limited knowledge

Secondary Research

- the summary collation, and/or synthesis of existing data - use secondary research first to determine if someone else has answered your question, if nobody has answered your question, go to primary research

Reading MRI reports:

1. look at all of the table descriptives 2. begin at the top and work downward 3. find the population sizes/abbreviations 4. Recall that an index score of 100 is average 5. % of brand means % of the brand consumers call in this category 6. % of pop means what % of pop....

What are the 5 main uses of syndicated data?

1. media exposure 2. media profile (eg. readership of mags) 3. target audience media profile: a specific public's media consumption 4. target audience profile: use of brands based on psychographics 5. consumer trends

Demographics:

Age, gender, race, incomee, education, occupation, marital status

Index: 100

Exact average

External sources:

Government source (e.g.) US Census Bureau; cons: very hard to download, all competitors have the same information - corporate filing - Trade and professional associations (eg. The oil and natural gas association)

Examples of Sources of Secondary Research

Internal and External

Internal sources

Profit and loss statements - balance sheets - Sales figures - inventory records - previous marketing research studies ** will be cheaper than external sources**

Pros of secondary research

Rigor of research method: the source conducting the research has often put the data through extensive testing,--- the level of evaluation and data collection expertise may exceed what you have available - breadth of data: secondary data can be a good complement to primary data - Broaden reach: can make the primary research more generalizable

Syndicated data

Syndicated research in advertising and public relations is typically comprehensive studies that provide information on media audiences, consumer buying, and cultural trends. Syndication is where a research company licenses the use of the information to multiple parties. In essence, it is syndicating the information. For example, Nielsen's ratings

Infographics:

The study of how people get information

Psychographics

The study of personality, values, opinions, attitudes, interests and lifestyles

Audience research:

What kinds of things do you need to know about your target audience? eg. demographics - age, gender, type of media outlet target audiences use, socio-economic status

When is acceptable to use ONLY secondary data?

When no new data is necessary.

Index: 105

slightly higher likelihood that the principle shopper for a household will be male

Trade and professional associations

when different organizations of the same industry pool their resources to conduct research/ and find consumer trends that will support the industry as a whole