Business Research Methods 9e

Zikmund
Babin
8
Carr Secondary Data
Griffin
Research in a Digital
Age
Chapter 8
Secondary Data Research
in a Digital Age

2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May

not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a
publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
LEARNING
OUTCOMES

1. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of

secondary data
2. Define types of secondary data analysis
conducted by business research managers
3. Identify various internal and proprietary
sources of secondary data
4. Give examples of various external sources of
secondary data
5. Describe the impact of single-source data
and globalization on secondary data research

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 Business Facts on a Grand Scale

The use of secondary

data has exploded with
the advent of large-
scale electronic
information sources and
the web.
Nielsen Claritas collects
and integrates business-
related data from
difference sources.

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 Secondary Data Research
Secondary Data
Data gathered and recorded by someone else
prior to and for a purpose other than the
current project.
Advantages Disadvantages
Available Uncertain validity
Faster and less expensive Data not consistent with
than acquiring primary data needs
Requires no access to Inappropriate units of
subjects measurement
Inexpensivegovernment Too old
data is often free
May provide information
otherwise not accessible
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 Secondary Data Research (contd)
Data conversion
The process of changing the original form of
the data to a format suitable to achieve the
research objective
Also called data transformation
Cross-checks
The comparison of data from one source with
data from another source to determine the
similarity of independent projects.

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 EXHIBIT 8.1 Evaluating Secondary Data

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 Typical Objectives for Secondary-Data
Research Designs
Fact Finding
Identification of consumer behavior for a
product category
Trend Analysis
Market trackingthe observation and analysis of
trends in industry volume and brand share over
time.
Environmental Scanning
Information gathering and fact-finding that is
designed to detect indications of environmental
changes in their initial stages of development.

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 Does It Matter?

Secondary research
shows that services
and value are most
important to
consumers.

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 Typical Objectives for Secondary-Data
Research Designs
Model Building
Estimating market potential for geographic
area
Forecasting sales
Analysis of trade areas and sites

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 EXHIBIT 8.6 Secondary Data for Calculating an Index
of Retail Saturation

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 Data Mining
Data Mining
The use of powerful computers to dig through
volumes of data to discover patterns about an
organizations customers and products; applies
to many different forms of analysis.
Neural Network
A form of artificial intelligence in which a
computer is programmed to mimic the way
that human brains process information.

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 Mining Data from Blogs

Data-mining
software, like Buzz
Report, search
millions of blogs
looking for
messages related to
particular products
and trends.

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 Data Mining (contd)
Market-Basket Analysis
A form of data mining that analyzes
anonymous point-of-sale transaction
databases to identify coinciding purchases or
relationships between products purchased and
other retail shopping information.
Customer Discovery
Involves mining data to look for patterns
identifying who is likely to be a valuable
customer.

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 Database Marketing and Customer
Relationship Management
Database Marketing
The use of customer relationship management
(CRM) databases to promote one-to-one
relationships with customers and create precisely
targeted promotions.
The practice of maintaining a customer database
of:
Names and addresses
Past purchases
Responses to past efforts
Data from numerous other outside sources

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 Sources of Internal Secondary Data
Internal and Proprietary Data
Accounting information
Sales information and backorders
Customer complaints, service records, warranty
card returns, and other records.
Intranets

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 External Secondary Data Sources
External Data
Generated or recorded by an entity other than the researchers
organization.
Information as a product and its distribution
Libraries
Internet
Vendors
Producers
Books and periodicals
Government
Media
Trade associations
Commercial sources

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 EXHIBIT 8.7

Information
as a Product
and its
Distribution
Channels

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 Commercial Sources
Market-share data
Demographic and census updates
Consumer attitude and public opinion
research
Consumption and purchase behavior data
Advertising research

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 Whats That Buzzing Sound?

The Internet is filled

with billions of
consumer conversations.
Buzzmetrics monitors
Internet conversations
for firms.

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 Single-Source and Global Research Data
Single-Source Data
Diverse types of data offered by a single company.
Usually integrated on the basis of a common
variable (i.e., geographic area or store).
Government Agencies
Global secondary data
Typical limitations of secondary data
Additional pitfalls
Unavailable in some countries
Questionable accuracy (political influences)
Lack of standardized research terminology
CIAs World Factbook; National Trade Data Bank

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 Around the World of Data

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