Page 137 - DMGT404 RESEARCH_METHODOLOGY

Unit 7: Secondary Data

Notes

Task List some major secondary sources of information for the following:

(a) Market research manager of a tea manufacturing company has to prepare a
comprehensive report on the tea industry as a whole.
(b) M.T.R. has several product ideas on ready-to-eat products. It wishes to convert ideas
into products and enter the market. Before entering, the company needs to find
necessary information to assess the market potential.
(c) An MNC wishes to open a showroom in a Metro. The first step that the company
would like to take is to collect the information about suitability.

Self Assessment

Fill in the blanks:
6. Syndicated sources consist of ……………….firms offering syndicated services

7. Retail and Wholesale data provides information between ………….on consumer purchase
over the counter in specific units.
8. The consumer panel data provides profile of the ……………audience.

9. Data from syndicated sources are available on a …………..or ……………..basis.
10. The cost of syndicated data is ………since it is spread over a number of client organisations

7.3 Advantages and Disadvantages of Secondary Data

Advantages

 It is economical, without the need to hire field staff.

 It saves time (normally 2 to 3 months). If data is available on hand it can be tabulated in
minutes.
 They provide information, which retailers may not be willing to reveal to researcher.

 No training is required to collect this data, unlike primary data.
Disadvantages

Because secondary data has been collected for some other projects, it may not fit in with the
problem that is being defined. In some cases, the feed is so poor that the data becomes completely
inappropriate. It may be ill-suited because of the following three reasons:

 Unit of measurement
 Definition of a class
 Recency

Unit of Measurement

It is common for secondary data to be expressed in units.

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