2.4
Research Methods, Sources and Data
Research is how you stop guessing. Pick the method that answers the question you actually have, then be honest about what it can and cannot tell you — the marks are in the judgement, not in listing four methods.
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What you need to know
- Explain how each of the four primary methods is carried out.
- Compare secondary sources and say what to check before trusting one.
- Keep “where did it come from” separate from “what form is it in”.
Start here
Research answers a question you already have
Research is not a box to tick before production. It exists to stop you spending three weeks building something the audience will not use. Start with the actual question — which part of this prototype confuses people? — and then pick the method that answers it.
Primary research can be shaped around your exact question, but you have to organise it and wait for it. Secondary research is usually faster and cheaper to get hold of, but somebody else collected it for their own reasons, about their own audience, possibly years ago.
Learn the list
The four primary methods
These overlap — an online survey usually delivers a questionnaire. Open questions invite an explanation; closed questions offer fixed choices. Recruit from the actual target audience, and do not write a question like “How excellent was our new advert?”, which tells people the answer you want.
| Method and how it works | Good for | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Focus group: a moderator runs a discussion with a small group. | Hearing reactions and getting people to build on each other’s ideas. | One confident person can steer everyone else. Getting them all in a room takes time. |
| Interview: ask one person questions directly. | Following up an answer and finding out why someone thinks that. | Slow per person, and how you word a question can shape the answer. |
| Online survey: send questions out through a form. | Reaching a lot of scattered people quickly and collecting the answers in one place. | You only hear from people who chose to respond and had internet access. |
| Questionnaire: a prepared set of questions people work through. | Everyone answers the same thing, so responses are easy to compare. | Ambiguous wording gets misread, and fixed options stop people telling you the real reason. |
Learn the list
Judging information somebody else collected
Recent does not mean reliable, and printed does not mean accurate. Compare a couple of sources, and think about how the original information was gathered before you apply it to a different audience.
| Source | What it offers | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| Books and journals | Depth, and specialist research. | How old it is, and whether you can get at it without paying. Check the author and date. |
| Internet sites and research | Enormous range, searchable in seconds. | Quality swings wildly. Who wrote it, what is it based on, when, and is it about your audience? |
| Magazines and newspapers | Events, trends and specialist interests. | Editorial priorities and commercial interests shape what gets covered and how. |
| Television | Reports, documentaries, examples of media technique. | It has been selected and edited. Detail gets left out and it is harder to go back and check. |
Try it
Where it came from, and what form it is in
Two separate questions, asked together. Get used to answering both, because the exam expects you to keep them apart.
How it works
Qualitative and quantitative
Both kinds come out of both primary and secondary research. One survey can collect a 1–5 rating and a written explanation. One published report can contain statistics and interview quotes. They are two axes, not one.
Numbers still need interpreting. An average rating of 2.8 tells you something is wrong and nothing about what — which is exactly when you go and ask someone.
| Type | Example | What it is good at explaining |
|---|---|---|
| Qualitative | “The menu labels are confusing.” | Experiences, opinions, reasons — the why. |
| Quantitative | 18 of 30 users found the correct page. | Counts, measurements, proportions — the how many. |
Common trap
Primary does not mean qualitative, and secondary does not mean quantitative. “Where did it come from?” and “What form does it take?” are separate questions with separate answers.
In the exam
Choosing a method and justifying it
Worked answer
4 marks
A team needs to understand why a small group of intended users dislike a prototype audio guide. Explain one suitable research method.
Tempting, but this does not score
Use a questionnaire because it is quick and you can ask lots of people what they think of the audio guide.
The question asks why people dislike it. A questionnaire with fixed options gives you a score, not a reason — and reaching lots of people is not what this small group needs.
Worth writing
Interview the users straight after they have listened, and ask follow-up questions about the sections they found unclear or frustrating. That gives the team specific reasons they can act on when re-recording, rather than a satisfaction score that says something is wrong without saying what. The limitation is time: individual interviews are slow, so with a deadline the team may only manage a handful before they have to start editing.
Where the marks come from
- Picks a method that matches the question — reasons, not amounts.
- Explains what the follow-up questions add: specific, actionable detail.
- Contrasts it with what a score alone would give them.
- Gives a limitation grounded in this scenario, not “interviews are slow” in general.
Key takeaways
- Primary research is new information you collect yourself.
- Secondary research is information that already existed.
- Qualitative is reasons and opinions. Quantitative is amounts and counts.
- Those are two independent questions — primary is not a synonym for qualitative.
- No method is automatically reliable, and no source is automatically accurate.
Glossary
- Primary research
- New information you collect yourself for this particular question.
- Secondary research
- Information that already existed, collected or published by someone else.
- Qualitative information
- Descriptions, opinions, experiences and reasons.
- Quantitative information
- Numbers — counts, measurements and amounts.
- Bias
- Something that consistently pushes results or interpretations one way.
- Leading question
- A question worded so it points people towards a particular answer.
Test yourself
6 questions
What separates primary from secondary research?
Primary is new information you collect. Secondary already existed.
Why ask follow-up questions in an interview?
To clarify an answer, or to get at the reason behind it.
Name one risk of running a focus group.
A dominant participant can influence what everyone else says.
Is “12 respondents preferred version B” qualitative or quantitative?
Quantitative — it is a count.
Can an online survey produce qualitative information?
Yes. Open questions invite written explanations, which are qualitative.
You read a published report full of statistics. Which two labels apply?
Secondary and quantitative.
Common questions
Do more responses make research better?
Not on their own. Who you asked, how you worded it and how you collected it still decide whether the findings mean anything.
Is anything found online automatically secondary research?
Reading an existing online report is secondary. Running your own online survey and collecting new responses is primary — the internet is just where it happened.
Should an answer about a method always include a drawback?
If the command word is compare, evaluate or justify, yes. Tie the drawback to the scenario rather than stating a general rule.