Choosing the Right Primary Research Method
When secondary research doesn’t provide all the answers, marketers often turn to primary research, which involves data collection that’s tailored to the specific problem or challenge you’re trying to address. There are many ways to conduct primary research. Which approach to take depends on the type of information you need along with the timing, budget, and resources of your project.
Quantitative vs. Qualitative Research
Qualitative research explores ideas, perceptions, and behaviors in depth with a relatively small number of research participants. It aims to answer questions with more complex, open-ended responses such as, “What does this mean to you . . . ?” or “Why do you believe . . . ?” or “How do you like to . . . ?” Qualitative research doesn’t yield data that are easily tabulated and translated into tidy percentages. Instead, provides information that can help marketers understand the big picture of how customers perceive or experience something.
Qualitative research can also give an organization directional information. That is, it can help an organization tell whether it’s on the right track with its approach or solution to a problem. Qualitative research techniques tend to be loosely structured and less formal, since the topical exploration may head in very different directions depending on the person or group participating. These techniques can provide great insights to marketers, but because they involve relatively few participants, the results can be very subjective and idiosyncratic. The risk is in assuming what you learn from a handful of individuals pertains to your target audience as a whole.
In contrast, quantitative research collects information that can easily be counted, tabulated, and statistically analyzed. When organizations need to understand (or quantify) the exact percentage of people who believe or act in a certain way, quantitative research is necessary. Quantitative methods allow researchers to test and validate a hypothesis or what they believe is the best course of action. These methods collect enough data to provide statistically valid results, and managers use them to inform the choices they make.
Often marketing research projects start with qualitative research activities to get a more complete picture of an issue or problem and how customers/consumers are thinking about it. With a better understanding of the issue, they follow up with quantitative research that provides more specificity about what proportion of the population shares common preferences, beliefs, or behaviors. This information provides insights to help marketers refine their segmentation and targeting strategy, the marketing mix, or other considerations related to marketing effectiveness.