Comparing Primary and Secondary Data

Data collection plays a very crucial role in the statistical analysis. In research, there are different methods used to gather information, all of which fall into two categories, i.e. primary data, and secondary data.

What is Primary Data?

Primary research is where you collect data on your own. There are three methods of collection primary data, this is through observation, experiments and surveys.

Primary data collection is quite expensive, as the research is conducted by the organisation or agency itself, which requires resources like investment and manpower.

What is Secondary Data?

Secondary data is data which already exists, for you to then collect. This can be found on a variety of websites, books and reports. Unlike primary data, secondary data is not tightly controlled by the researcher as secondary data is from researching other people's collected data.

Secondary data offer several advantages as it is easily available, saves time and cost of the researcher. But there are some disadvantages associated with this, as the data is gathered for the purposes other than the problem in mind, so the usefulness of the data may be limited in a number of ways like relevance and accuracy. And so due to this, it should be kept in mind that before using secondary data, you must think if the data is still current for the current investigation you are doing.

Comparing Primary and Secondary Data:

Which data that is decided to be used, all depends entirely on the reasources yoou have and the purpose of the research. Both forms of collecting data has their benefits, and equally their drawbacks. Although there are many differences between primary and secondary data, the most important difference is that primary data is factual and original whereas secondary data is just the analysis and interpretation of the primary data. While primary data is collected with an aim for getting solution to the problem at hand, secondary data is collected for other purposes.

Primary data collection requires a large amount of resources like time, cost and more involvement from others. Alternitively, secondary data is relatively inexpensive and quickly available.

Primary data is always specific to the researcher’s needs, and he controls the quality of research. In contrast, secondary data is neither specific to the researcher’s need, nor he has control over the data quality. The data which is collected through primary sources are most likely to be more reliable and accurate as compared to the secondary sources because the data being collected will be current and so specific questions can be asked to then get a direct answer.

Why are Both Forms of Data Collections Important?

They are both important as they can get different opinions and views of a particular topic. For example, when a magazine publisher must research ways to make their magazine or particular article stand out from the rest, and so to do that thy must research what appeals to people and what has worked and not worked in the past, viewing different examples of how each are made to look more or less appealing. By having a variety of ways to research, you are able to get a more diverse outcome with accurate answers.