Research Methods

There are four main research methods that I could use to help me gather information about music magazines. These are:

·         Primary

·         Secondary

·         Qualitative

·         Quantitative

Primary: refers to data you have collected yourself for a precise purpose. There are numerous methods that can be used for this specific type of research e.g. Interviews, Questionnaires, Observations, Surveys, Sampling and Focus Groups. The main advantage with primary data is that the individual, who is gathering the information, can choose which method would suit their requirements the best. With primary research however, it is most suitable for an area of small collection of data. Furthermore, compared to the other research methods, it can be more expensive and more time consuming process.

Secondary: is data that already exists, meaning that somebody else has gathered the information for a different purpose. Some secondary methods include: the internet, the library, newspapers, magazines, data collection organisations etc. Secondary research is the most common way of collecting data as somebody else has already obtained the information for you. The good thing about this method is that it is relatively low costing compared to primary research and there is no need to create new information as it is easy to find and get hold of. On the other hand, a disadvantage is that the information may be out of date and not always relevant to what you are looking for.

Qualitative: this is a small scale type of research that allows gaining valuable insights into specific forms of data, which might have been missed by any other method. With this technique, it cannot measure the data, only categorised. In-depth interviews, direct observations and focus groups are examples of this type of research.

Quantitative: unlike Qualitative data, this type of research can be measured as it is numerical information. Usually, quantitative research methods are questionnaires as you can obtain a large scale of information from it.

Which research method is best suited for your main task?
Out of the 4 research methods, I think I will mostly gather the majority of my information by the secondary methods. This is due to the fact I have a deadline to meet and the other methods, like the primary one, will be more time consuming. However, I may decide to use a primary research method, such as an interview or a questionnaire, when discovering what my target market would like in my music magazine.