Research Methods

The Primary Method is research you have carried out to prove a specific theory/statement or question. The way in which this works is that you must first conduct secondary research so you can fill in the wholes of the research but to also see if the results of before are still relevant to this day. The advantages of primary research are that your competition doesn't have access to the information, there can be a blend of different data which can be in-depth and you know that it is to date. The disadvantages of primary research would be that it can be expensive to conduct, it is time consuming meaning the results won't come instantly. finally, the most effective ways of conducting primary research would be to conduct a survey, experiment or observation.


The Secondary Method is where you use and gather information from previous studies and academic research to further your knowledge and understanding. They can also be ideas and theories which could raise questions and are used as a basis to form your primary research. The most reliable sources of Secondary data are ones that have been published by professional researchers and universities because that is what they do for a living so it is less likely to be biased. The advantages of Secondary are that it is easy to access because it is all there meaning its quick, It is also free to do. Thins to consider would be is the data trustworthy? is it to date? does it suit your specific requirements? An example of a trustworthy website would be Google scholar because they only provide academic sources, which have already been peer assessed.


Quantitative Data is where you gain information through statistical values, amounts and general numbers from sample results and you would analyse this in the form of pie charts and graphs to measure the quantity of similar views which were picked by the population of people involved. They are usually a large number of cases representing the population of interest and are randomly selected respondents, meaning their identity is anonymous. The advantages of quantitative data are that results are easier to analyse because they are in numbers and values. The disadvantage of quantitative data is that there isn't any depth to the answers, so it will leave a gap for me research to be done. Examples of quantitative data would be Surveys and questionnaires.


Qualitative Data is where you gain personal information from individuals to get a better understanding of behavioural patterns/ trends in peoples opinions and the reason as to what motivates people. The advantages of this form of data collecting are that it is in-depth meaning you will get more information, an insight into peoples attitudes and beliefs and also ideas. The disadvantages of qualitative data would be that there can be biased because they are people opinions and also it is harder to analyse and come to a conclusion because results can't be expressed as a number or value. Examples of qualitative data would be Interviews, Quotes, and theories.


The Sample Research Method is where you choose a group of people, objects, or items that are taken from a larger population or identity group for measurement purposes. The sample is used to represent the population. so the findings can generalise that group as a whole. This disadvantage of this is that it is impossible from a group of people to represent every individual belonging to a certain group identity. Things to consider would be The age range of the people chosen to sample and Gender. Is there a variation of people?


Open Questions are questions which rely on the audience to think about the question and what they think or why they have chosen that specific choice and then to relay that information back. This type of question allows your audience to go in-depth with their answer. However, a disadvantage would be that they are unappealing to answer.


Closed Questions are questions which require a simple yes or no response from the audience. An advantage is that you receive fast and easy to analyse results. On the other hand, the negative is that the results are very simple and often won't prove the full picture that you were looking for, leading for there to be gaps in your research.