Research key concepts

Primary research is new research, carried out to answer specific issues or questions. It can involve questionnaires, surveys or interviews with individuals or small groups.
Secondary research makes use of information previously researched for other purposes and publicly available. This is also known as 'desk research'. Secondary research includes published research reports in a library, surveys or the Internet. It can also include scientific reports produced by medical councils, universities or government, for example, the Royal College of Physicians, the British Heart Foundation and the Department of Health.
Organisations often undertake secondary research first to find out what already is known about the subject. It is cheaper than setting up primary research.

* Collecting information

There are different ways of obtaining and analysing information:

• Questionnaires provide answers to standard questions. These can be carried out by mail, online or face-to-face and can cover a large number of people.
• Interviews are usually one-to-one and focus on a list of questions.
• Focus groups enable a number of people to discuss ideas or topics together and provide a range of views.