Desk research

Apart from all these methods, there is another, completely different form of market reseach. This method is called "desk research".

 

Most companies and organisations have been faced with marketing problems. The term "Market research" will definitely sound familiar to them. The research carried out by themselves is usually a type of desk research.

 

Desk research refers to the collection of data which has already been collected in order to solve a problem. This type of data is also known as secondary data. The information collected by desk research often does not cover the problem entirely, or it can be incomplete, because the information can be out of date or because it was collected for a somewhat different purpose.

 

In carrying out desk research it is therefore vital to check the relevance of any information collected. We do not mean to say that desk research has little added value, but an organisation needs to be aware of the possibility of collecting incorrect data. Decisions based upon such incorrect data can have substantial financial consequences. Collecting and analysing secondary data can provide insights into trends, as well as movements structure and developments withing the market. The following steps can be taken:

-Combining data from several sources, each with its own approach, results and opinions.

-Combining data from several periods of time.