Primary and Secondary Information:
Definition, Explanation and Deference:
Primary Information:
Primary information must be collected specifically for the purpose for which it is wanted. Market research is an example of primary information source.
Secondary Information:
Secondary information is information that has already been collected for some other purposes. It may be available from internal sources, or may have been collected and published by another organization. Secondary data is cheaper and more quickly available than primary data, but is likely to need processing before it is useful.
For example, an organization, needs to find out which of its sales people are more successful at selling products and keeping its regular customer happy. Sale success can be measured by calculating market penetration the percentage of total industry sales. Customer's satisfaction can be measured by asking a sample of customers how they feel, a primary source of data.
Market penetration is calculated using to different secondary sources. The company's sales per territory can be calculated using data already collected for accountancy and operational purposes. Total industry sales may already have been collected and published by some external body such as the government or a trade association.
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