Reflection on Primary and Secondary Research

Looking back on my research I have learnt how important is it to conduct primary and secondary research before starting a project. Primary is necessary because it is crucial to find out new, unused information to help determine how to execute the production process. The methods of my primary research included a questionnaire and a focus group.

Secondary research is important because this clarifies the research you have done so far and shows if you are on the right tracks with primary research. It also saves time, as the data is almost instantly accessed. Having both research methods mean that you can compare results and discover anomalies (if there is any).

Within these methods, there are two types of information, one of which is qualitative and the other is quantitive. Qualitative research is used to gain an understanding of the target audiences opinions, reasons and preferences. It can also provide an insight to solving problems and help develop ideas for potential quantitative research.

Quantitative research is a way of gathering numerical data, that can be transformed into useful statistics. It can generalise results from a larger sample population, into quick facts that can be quantified. This type of research generates measurable data, that can uncover patterns and anomalies within data. The collection method for this research tends to be much more structured than qualitative research.

For my project research was really important because I needed to find out the audience I want to target and to then gain an understanding of what their opinions and preferences would be on the fashion magazine topic. My survey was useful to gather quick information that I could use for the basic demographics and simple facts/statistics. 

My focus group, again used as primary research worked well for collecting detailed information, which included opinions and personal likes and dislikes. Nearly all of the questions asked were very open, otherwise they were answered with an explanation included, which was really helpful to know why and what could be a substitute. 

As far as secondary research, this was useful because I could use existing sources to help me with the researching process. I looked at similar high end magazines, to find out the main conventions and what works well visually on the magazine. For example; photography, typography, word play (actual text headers/cover lines) and overall visual design and layout. This has helped me to come up with some magazine layout wireframes and interesting content ideas.