Primary Research

Primary Research

Primary research is a technique used in order to gain first hand information about a subject e.g. Interviews, Questionnaires, Observations, Surveys and Focus groups.

Observations are important because they allow a researcher to gather information first hand by witnessing or observing an event. An advantage of observation can be observing something first hand which allows a researcher to take immediate notes that are reliable, as they have been observed e.g. observing a driving lesson. Disadvantages of observations could be problems such as viewing problems (Blocked site/you could miss something important) and hearing problems (Could get a low volume of sound/loud volume interruption) also access to the event of situations to observe.

Interviews are another very important resource, because you can control the interview by giving questions and receiving answers that you would want. There are three types of interviews Structured/Semi-structured/Unstructured.

Structured interviews are a listed set of questions that are straightforward questions and could be simple. Structured interviews are also approached aggressively and straight to the point e.g. Jeremy Paxman uses structured questions and approaches aggressively making the interviewee feel uncomfortable and under pressure, this would make them feel unconfident with there answers.

Semi structured interviews are also good for collecting opinions and information e.g. Louis Theroux uses semi structured Questions, to get a more opinionated answers. A semi structured question is set as a structured question but because of the out come and response of the answer it can be expanded into a new set of questions depended on the interviewer which would need to think of a set of questions on the spot.

Unstructured interviews are basically random questions that could be of public interest e.g. “What is your favourite film” Vox pop a quick and short interview where the interviewee is approached on the street.

An interview can also make it easy to gather knowledge of the subject. Interviews can also have various disadvantages such as e.g. the interviewer could ask unimportant questions/could receive odd answers (not interesting answers)/could get interrupted during the interview.

Surveys are questionnaires that are structured closed questions.  The reason why is because surveys provide facts and figures. Surveys and questionnaires also give a straightforward question and can be open and closed questions but more likely closed. The advantages of surveys can be easy and quick and you can get the information that is needed. Disadvantages of surveys, you can’t get too much detailed information (limited).