Advantages and Disadvantages of Research Techniques

Techniques:	Advantages:	Disadvantages:
Questionnaire-This is a form of primary research.	You can get the specific information you need. Cost is low. Creating a questionnaire is not too time consuming.	People may not participate/might not participate properly. Collating data is very time consuming.
Interview-A spoken form of research you conduct it face to face or over the phone and you ask the respondent a series of questions.	Can get your results immediately because an interview is one on one. You can take time to explain your questions if there is a misunderstanding.	Can be very time consuming. Can be very costly if you have a team conducting them.
Focus Groups- A group of people that take part in reviewing a product before it’s released and test it and give feedback on advantages and disadvantages.	An easy way to get feedback from people of your target audience. An easy way to find out the opinions of the public and target audience. You can also select the questions you want to ask.	You may not be able to get a valid response from your target audience because you may not have a large group or carry it out enough times for valid feedback.
Library-This is a place where you can find many types or research.	There are many different forms of research here such as computers, books, posters, leaflets, magazines and encyclopaedias. You can also get a lot of research from different people, websites etc.	Some resources such as books or magazines may be out of date due to changes on the topic. You may be unable to take that form of research from the library.
Primary Research- Research that you conduct yourself to find out the specific results you need.	You can find out the specific research that you need and can tailor it to your needs by asking the specific questions you want answers to. You can choose how you do it.	It may be time consuming throughout the process of conducting the research and getting feedback or results could cost money or take a long time.
Secondary Research- Research that has been conducted by someone else for the same thing you need.	It is quicker to get the results because they have already been done. You can get a vast amount of results in a very short time. It is cost effective as you don’t need to pay to conduct the research.	It might not be as specific to your needs as it would be when you did it yourself. It might be fake or inaccurate.
Qualitative Research- Research that consists of opinions and ideas	You can get a very large amount of detailed information.	Has to be explained in detail to be done well. Can take a long time.
Quantitative Research- Research that consists of numbers and statistics	You can get amounts of people. They are easy to put into graphs. Easier to show what you mean.	They are not very detailed or specific for you to be able to explain and present.