Choosing Between Primary and Secondary Data: A Guide for Researchers

Proper steps have to be followed and the quality of the data collected depends so much on the source of data collection (Romney. and Steinbart, 2012). The researcher should make the right choice between making the choice of selections of primary and secondary data.

RESEARCH PROJECT

Table of Contents
.......................................................................................................................................................1
RESEARCH PROJECT...................................................................................................................1
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
1.1 Formulate and record possible research project outline specifications.................................3
1.2 Identify the factors that contribute to the process of research project selection:................4
1.3 Undertake a critical review of key references.......................................................................4
1.4 Produce a research project specification...............................................................................5
1.5Provide an appropriate plan and procedures for the agreed research specification...............5
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................6
2.1 Match resources efficiently to the research question or hypothesis......................................6
2.2 Undertake the proposed research investigation in accordance with the agreed specification
and procedures............................................................................................................................8
2.3 Record and collate relevant data where appropriate.............................................................8
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................9
3.1 Use appropriate research evaluation techniques:..................................................................9
3.2 Interpret and analyse the results in terms of the original research specification.................10
3.3 Make recommendations and justify areas for further consideration:..................................10
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................10
4.1 Use an agreed format and appropriate media to present the outcomes of the research to an
audience.....................................................................................................................................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFRENCES.................................................................................................................................12

Part 1
1.1 Research project outline
Introduction
Research project are used to understand more on the projects that has already taken place
in the past. With the help of the research project future decision making becomes easy and more
effective,.The following report is made to understand the importance of research in the TESCO
company(Fenton 2010). The report will help in understanding ho a particular report should be
formulated by identifying the proper process of the research project selection. It will be
understood through this report that how the resources for the research project should be selected
carefully so that correct investigation can be done.
TASK 1
Formulate and record possible research project outline specifications
The aim of the project is to carry out the research for TESCO so that it can increase its
performance in sales and the operations. In order to understand and do the proper research the
project report should follow the following aim:
1. Be concise and brief- The report should be short and to the point. It should
include only the value points and data that has the relevance with the topic. The
report should not be burdened with excessive data which can confuse the user or
through which the quality material is missed out.
2. Intentions: The report should be made in a way that it full fills the individual
intentions with the report.
3. Focused- The report should focus only on the topic of the research. It should
contain all the facts and figure of the topic with no extra information.
4. Realistic- The project report should be realistic and based on the facts. It should
be free from any personal assumptions and personal views as they can not be
judged or compared in future if needed to be cross check(Mouton2011).
5. Interrelated- The data contained in the report should be interrelated with one
another. The topics of the data should be co related with one another so that the
user can maintain the continuity in the report.

6. Supported with references- in the report the references from where the data is
collected should be done which should be correct and if needed could be assessed
by the user.
1.2 Identify the factors that contribute to the process of research project selection:
There are different factors that contribute to the process of research project selection.
These factors have their different impacts and they can be understood in detail when studied
under different headings like :
1. Technology- The process of selecting the research project depends upon the
technology that is available with the researcher.
2. Training required- The process of research process selection also depends upon
the training that how trained the researcher is. Accordingly the research process is
used as it is important that the researcher should have the knowledge that how the
research should be conducted.
3. Cost- It is an important factor that should be considered while selecting the
process of research project(Lok, 2010). The process that gives the maximum cost
control should be selected so that the extra cost can be saved and than it could be
used in other sectors.
4. Aim- The motive of the research also influence the process selection. There are
certain type of research which has to be carried out in a set process and there are
no other option to conduct that particular type of the project.
5. Time- If the project report is required on an urgent basis than the researcher has
limited time to prepare it therefore in that case process that can give the results in
short duration has to be selected in order to present the report in time.
1.3 Undertake a critical review of key references
Bell,J provided different approaches to the research project that how reports can be made
and also provided different methods for the selection the data from the environment which help
in conducting the research. Jean McNiff also gave his views on the research project that a report
can be improved or made more effective by providing different programmes for those who were
learning on the work based. Piet verschuren also gave his views on the research report although
he gave a relatively less material on the topic(Frith 2010) . He shows the various problems faced

by the researcher at the initial stages and also suggested how those problems can be overcome by
adopting the different methods. He published the different books for the students which was
welcomed by them as the demand for it increase with time. Research project related concepts
were well explained by him and also the approaches which he gave were very much effective.
1.4 Produce a research project specification
As the project report has to be developed in order to assist TESCO to improve its total
sales the report must have the following specifications in it:
 The challenges- The report must include the details of all the challenges that the
company may face while selling its product in the market. This information will
help the company to take corrective measures in advance in order to reduce the
impact of challenges(Matthewsand Ross2014).
 The objective- The objective of the report should be maintained till the end of the
project report. It should not be diverted to different topics and maintain the
continuity throughout the report matter.
 Suggestions- The researcher should give his own suggestion also to the user that
what he conclude from the research after completing it. This help in getting a
more clear view to the user and he can reach to more effective conclusions.
 Strategies- As the report is produced for assisting the company in increasing the
sales it should include the different strategies which are used by the different
companies. This will help TISCO in modifying their strategies after analysing the
strategies of other companies. It is important that the strategies should be realistic
and effective so that it be implemented successfully.
1.5Provide an appropriate plan and procedures for the agreed research specification
Successful project specifications is the most difficult thing to achieve while preparing the
project. Since the project report is prepared to help the company in improving the performance
and sales it has to be prepared with maintaining all the specifications of the report for which the
following process has to be followed:
1. Select the material- The first step is to select the area for the research. It is
advisable to select a single area as it is easy to study single area in comparison to
studding multiple areas. The quality of the research is also assured when single
area is selected for the development of the research.

2. Procure outside expertise if require- there are expertise which cha help in
developing the effective research. The report should be constructed under there
guidance so that the specifications of a good research are not missed and also they
help in developing more factual report to the researcher.
3. Recognize the need to identify Current practice- new sources should be used to
provide the user the current scenario of the market. The old data will not assist the
company in taking an effective move in the organisation(Flick 2015).
4. Thorough literature search- Primary sources should be used for the research
material. For this the literature should be studied in detail. Sources of collecting
primary data should be such which give the best response to the researcher.
5. Contact other related associations- it is not necessary that the data should be
collected from general public only. It can also be collected from other
associations through personally contacting them and asking there views on the
subject matter of the research.
6. Make Q.A. Specifications- an outline for the specifications should be developed.
In this information regarding definitions,conflict resolution,quality control
requirements, verification can be included.
Given below is the ghat chart which will show the time taken by various activities:
Activities 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1
0
11 12 13 14 15 16
Select the
material-
Procure
outside
expertise
Recognize
the need to
identify
Current
practice

Thorough
literature
search
Contact
other related
associations
Make Q.A.
Specificatio
ns
Final
presentation
of report
TASK 2
2.1 Match resources efficiently to the research question or hypothesis
Resources are the different options from where data can be collected. Different resources
have there different positives and negatives. The researcher should choose the best resource for
conducting the research from which he can collect the best and relevant data. Different resources
are
1.Primary Data: It is the data which is collected for first time. In this the data is collected directly
by the researcher by using different methods like:
1.Direct personal observation: it is a very basic method of data collection. The researcher makes
direct contact with the respondents and collect the information from him. This method has an
advantage of avoiding non response and also with the data the researcher also observes the
reaction of the respondent . It is a simple method of collecting data and is free from any kind of
wrong recording. This method has some disadvantage also as only a limited data can be collected
at a time and also it consumes more time to collect the data individually from everyone(Grunig,,
2013)

2.Indirect oral interviews- it is a method in which the information is collected indirectly from the
researcher. It takes comparatively less time in collecting data through this method and also good
cost can be saved through this method.
3.Mailed questionnaire method- It is a method through which the response is taken in black and
white. A set questionnaire is prepared and mailed to the respondents and than they answer those
questions according to their own understanding. This method is favoured in cases where huge
data has to be collected and the researcher can not go to individual respondents to take data from
them.
Secondary data- It is a method of collecting data from the available resources. It is a also known
as the second hand data. The information is collected from the already available resources like
newspaper,journals, books internet etc. The researcher do the analysis of the already available
data and extract the relevant data from it on which he does the further work for preparing the
data. Sources for secondary data are:
1. Books- Data can be collected from different books that are there in the market. The researcher
can extract the relevant data from these books and than use it in his research(Thomas 2013).
2.Internet- It is one of the main source of data for the researcher. There is a vast information
available on the net regarding all the topics and sectors. The researcher may use it in conducting
his research.
3.Newspaper- It is a secondary source of information for the researcher. All the current and past
quality news are given in the newspapers and the researcher can take the help of it to collect
relevant data as the data available in the newspaper are authenticated and therefore can be
trusted.
2.2 Undertake the proposed research investigation in accordance with the agreed specification
and procedures
Name
Age
Gender (M) (F)
Following questionnaire is prepared to collect the data from the market to know how the sales
can be improved so that the performance of the company increases:
Q.1 Does the customer feel satisfied with product quality of TESSCO?

(a) YES
(b) NO
Q.2 From where the customer get to know about the TESCO products?
(a)Social media
(b)Mouth publicity
Q.3 Is the price of the products offered by TESCO is justified?
(a) Justified
(b)Not justified
(c)Justified to a good extent
Q.4 Is the consumer satisfied with the customer support services of TESCO?
(a) YES
(b) No
Q.5 Should company work on product innovation?
(a) Yes
(b) No
(c) To an extent
2.3 Record and collate relevant data where appropriate
It is observed that the method used in the research is providing the relevant data which
can be used by the management of TESCO. They can formulate their strategies accordingly.
Strategies formed on the basis of the data provided by the method of questionnaire will be giving
more details of how these strategies can be implemented on different segments of the market so
that the output of is more profitable. In order to increase the sales and profitability of the
company it is necessary for them to understand the need for change in there marketing policies as
if the customer is not satisfied by their services they can not develop much and also expansion
will become a tough task for the cited company(Bell2014).
1 Does the customer feel satisfied with
product quality of TESSCO?
Frequency Percentage

 YES
 NO
16 80%
4 20%
From where the customer get to know about
the TESCO products?
Frequency Percentage
(a)Social media
(b)Mouth publicity
14 70%
6 30%
Is the price of the products offered by
TESCO is justified?
Frequency Percentage
(a) Justified
(b)Not justified
(c)Justified to a good extent
12 60%
2 10%
6 30%
4 Is the consumer satisfied with the
customer support services of TESCO
Frequency Percentage
 Yes
 NO
14 70%
6 30%
5. Should company work on product
innovation?
Frequency Percentage
1. Yes 16 80%

2. No 4 20%
TASK 3
3.1 Use appropriate research evaluation techniques:
Anything which is provide in a text form supported with different references need not to
be true always. There are cases when even the research is done in a proper manner it is not
correct or need to be corrected again. Therefore while going through the report one should
critically evaluate it so that it can be made free from errors. Also there are chances of wrong
interpretations of the data as even if the data provided in the report may be correct but it can be
miss interrupted by the researcher(McNiff,2016.). In this case he will give the wrong conclusion
to the research topic. Therefore in order to evaluate the research report answers to two questions
should be given
1. How suitable the research process is conducted?
2. How suitable it has been reported to the user?
The different techniques to evaluate a research report are:
1. Evaluating the research itself- As a single research deals with a number of topics
at the same time it becomes difficult to evaluate the whole research. But it is an
important step for evaluation. Under this technique the the evaluation is done of
that weather the purpose of the report can be understood or not. Another question
asked under this method of evaluation is that weather the source of data collected
was authenticated. As the above report is conducted for improving the sales it will
also include statistical data. Therefore evaluation of the method use in the
statistical data is also needed to be recheck.
2. Evaluating the reporting of research: there are many cases when the report is
formed correctly but the reporting of the report is not done correctly. For
evaluating it a checklist of the report can be prepared before starting working on
it. It should include all the points which the user wants to be in the
report(Verschuren Doorewaard and Mellion2010). It can also be said as the

outline of the report which includes the – introduction part, previous related
work,purpose,background,definitions, how the data is collected etc.
3.2 Interpret and analyse the results in terms of the original research specification
From the above survey which was conducted for the company in order to collect
information to help it in improving its sales and performance various results came in front. It was
observed that most of the general public come to know about the products of the company by
social media. Which shows that web marketing is helping the cited company in reaching to more
customers. Also from the survey conducted it could be concluded that the consumer need the
company to do product innovations to attract more customers and to provide the customers with
more choice. Also the customers thinks that the price of the products of the cited company are
comparatively high and it reduces the total number of potential customers for the
company(Munn-and Winter2013).
3.3 Make recommendations and justify areas for further consideration:
Theme 1 Customer feel satisfied with the product quality
Analysis – When the questionnaire was conducted it was observed that most of the clients were
satisfied with the standards of the product which shows that company is not doing any
compromise with product quality.
Theme 2 Clients get to know about product through social media
Analysis - With the help of the results of the above questionnaire the company is recommended
to increase its efforts so that mouth publicity of it can be increased as it is more effective than
16
4
Yes
No

any other source of advertisement. People believe more on what they hear from others and
respond accordingly.
Theme 3 Most of the customers find price of products justified
Analysis – Company should try to bring control on the production process so that the total cost
remain controlled as it is added to the price of the product in last. If the price will keep on
fluctuating than it will bring loss of customer to the products. As most of the respondents are
satisfied with the price this quality shroud be maintained.
Theme 4 Customers are satisfied with the customer support services
Agree
Disagree
Strongly Agree
Strongly Disagree
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
12
2
6
0
Column B
16
4
Yes
No

Analysis - With this the company should also work on improving its customer support services
as this develops a good relation between the management and the customer. Although most of
the clients are already satisfied company should continue to maintain this facility.
Theme 5 Clients wants company to work on product innovation
Analysis - If the company work on bringing innovations in the existing product than it will
attract more consumers as people like trying what is new and different from the other existing
products. Hence in order to increase sales company needs to work on its research so that best
quality products can be offered.
TASK 4
4.1 Use an agreed format and appropriate media to present the outcomes of the research to an
audience
Covered in PPT
CONCLUSION
From the above report it can be concluded that it is important to maintain the quality of a
research report and for this the company need to select the right person to make the report.
Proper steps has to be followed and also the quality of the data collected depends so much on the
14
6
Yes
No
16
4
Yes
No

source of data collection(Romney. and Steinbart, 2012). The researcher should make the right
choice between making the choice of selections of primary and secondary data.

REFRENCES
Fenton, N., 2010. New media, old news: Journalism and democracy in the digital age. Sage
Publications.
Mouton, J., 2011. How to succeed in your master’s and doctoral studies: A South African (p.
280). Van Schaik Publishers.
Lok, C., 2010. Science for the masses: the US national science foundation's insistence that every
research project addresses' broader impacts' leaves many researchers baffled. Corie Lok takes a
looks at the system. Nature, 465(7297), pp.416-419.
Frith, S.,et.al, E., 2010. " Analysing Live Music in the UK" Findings One Year into a Three-Year
Research Project doi: 10.5429/2079-3871 (2010) v1i1. 3en. IASPM@ Journal, 1(1), pp.1-30.
Matthews, B. and Ross, L., 2014. Research methods. Pearson Higher Ed.
Peters, M.J., Howard, K. and Sharp, M.J.A., 2012. The management of a student research
project. Gower Publishing, Ltd..
Flick, U., 2015. Introducing research methodology: A beginner's guide to doing a research
project. Sage.
Grunig, J.E., 2013. Excellence in public relations and communication management. Routledge.
Thomas, G., 2013. How to do your research project: A guide for students in education and
applied social sciences. Sage.
Bell, J., 2014. Doing Your Research Project: A guide for first-time researchers. McGraw-Hill
Education (UK).
McNiff, J., 2016. You and your action research project. Routledge.
Verschuren, P., Doorewaard, H. and Mellion, M., 2010. Designing a research project (Vol. 2).
The Hague: Eleven International Publishing.
Munn-Giddings, C. and Winter, R., 2013. A handbook for action research in health and social
care. Routledge.Tomlinson, C.L., Stowe, R., Patel, S., Rick, C., Gray, R. and Clarke, C.E., 2010.
Systematic review of levodopa dose equivalency reporting in Parkinson's disease. Movement
disorders, 25(15), pp.2649-2653.
Napoli, A.,et.al. 2015. Next generation elastic optical networks: The vision of the European
research project IDEALIST. IEEE Communications Magazine, 53(2), pp.152-162.
Wampler, B., 2010. Participatory budgeting in Brazil: Contestation, cooperation, and
accountability. Penn State Press.
Romney, M.B. and Steinbart, P.J., 2012. Accounting information systems. Boston: Pearson.
Online
Everything you need to know about your RESEARCH PROJECT 2012.[ONLINE] available
through<https://www.postgrad.com/advice/exams/dissertations_and_theses/research_project/>
assessed on [6th May 2017].