CIMA E1 Syllabus E2. Marketing - Market research - Notes ^{7 / 11}

Market research

is the process of gathering, recording, analysing and reporting data and information relating to the company's market, customers and competitors.

1. Primary (Field) - Collecting data from respondents using questionnaires, interviews etc. 

   It is time consuming and expensive

2. Secondary (Desk) - Using data that is already available.

   This is not time consuming and is cheaper

Types Of Data

The data collected can either be quantitative (numbers) or qualitative (individual responses).

Or it can be divided into primary data and secondary data.

Primary data is collected for a specific research purpose and may come from sources internal or external to the organisation. e.g. surveys, interviews, etc.

Secondary data may be generated by sources internal or external to the organisation. It is termed secondary because its intended use is not the specific research the organisation is using it for. 

The data is then summarized and analyzed to determine the characteristics of the market and to suggest opportunities for products and selling approaches.