This document discusses and compares various primary and secondary research methods. It provides details on surveys, focus groups, questionnaires, interviews, observation, internet research, archives, newspapers, and magazines. For each method, it outlines their advantages and disadvantages. The document concludes that secondary research methods will be used by the class to create game artwork.

1. Unit 1 Assessment 1In this report I will be looking at primary and secondary research methods. I
will be exploring each method’s advantages and disadvantages and I will finish
with a conclusion.
Research methods
There are two kinds of research methods; primary and secondary. Research
methods are tools and techniques used to obtain data.
Primary research methods
Primary research methods are pieces of data which are first hand and not
copied.
Name of Research Method
Survey
Focus group
Explanation
A survey is a primary research method to
accumulate data. There are many advantages
and disadvantages to using a survey. Some
advantages for surveys are, It’s useful for
collective quantitative data. Another advantage is
that surveys let you produce charts and graphs.
Some disadvantages of using a survey are that it
can be time consuming. Also people may not
answer honestly.
A focus group is a primary research method to
accumulate data. There are many advantages
and disadvantages to using focus groups. Some
advantages for focus groups are, it allows people
to become engaged with the discussion whereas
in surveys the question and answers may be very
short consequently people taking part may
become disengaged. Another advantage is that it
allows you to get an overall opinion; focus groups
are useful for qualitative data. Some
disadvantages of focus groups are that
sometimes people may not feel to answer
truthfully, because the answers may require
personal things which people may not want to
reveal. Another disadvantage is that not
everyone will be pleased by the outcome
because not everyone gets their way and
everyone has their own opinions. Another
disadvantage is you have contact a lot of people
and people may have to sign confidentiality
forms.

2. Questionnaire
Interview
Observation
Questionnaire is a primary research method to
accumulate data. There are many advantages
and disadvantages to using a questionnaire.
Some advantages are, it will gather massive
amounts of data. Another advantage is that
questions aren’t time consuming they happened
to be very quick. Some disadvantages are that in
questionnaires the answers gathered will not be
detailed. Another disadvantage is that if there
are lots of questions people may decide not to do
the questionnaire. This is used for quantitative
data.
An interview is a primary research method to
accumulate data. There are many advantages
and disadvantages to interviews. Some
advantages of an interview are that people are
able to answer in detail; this is not possible in
papered questionnaires as the amount of
answers for each question may be limited with
tick boxes. Another advantage is that in an
interview one to one situation people may feel
more free to answer more personal questions.
Some disadvantages are interviews take up lot of
time; some may take very long to set up. Another
disadvantage is that it is hard to take down notes
so the interviewer may have to record it which
takes even longer. This is used for qualitative
data.
An observation is a primary research method to
accumulate data. There are many advantages
and disadvantages to using observation. Some
advantages are, you get to see people interacting
with the product and also you get to see them in
the situation which you’re observing. Some
disadvantages are, it’s really time consuming
more so than any other primary research
method. Another disadvantage is that people
may behave differently because they’re being
observed. Observations are used for collecting
qualitative data.
Secondary research methods
Secondary research methods are pieces of data that are second hand.

3. Name of Research Method
Internet Research
Archives
Newspaper
Explanation
Internet research is a secondary method to
accumulate data. There are many advantages
and disadvantages of internet research. Some
advantages are, it enables you to access a broad
range of information very quickly. Another
advantage is that some information may be up to
date so, you will retrieve the information you’re
looking for. Some disadvantages are, it may not
always be accurate. Another disadvantage is that
it can be hard to find the exact information
you’re looking for due to the fact that there is so
much information on the internet. This can be
used for both qualitative and quantitative data
because the internet contains many different
information some may be short and some may
be detailed.
Archives research is a secondary method to
accumulate data. There are many advantages
and disadvantages of archives. Some advantages
are it has lots of past data for example the deaths
and births in the local city. Another advantage of
archives it’s all collected in one area and not
spread out. A disadvantage of archives is they
have no information on the current day, all
information in archives are of the past. This is
used for qualitative and quantitative data.
Newspapers research is a secondary method to
accumulate data. There are many advantages
and disadvantages of newspapers. Some
advantages of newspapers are, they’re up to date
with their information, and this could be
beneficial for when looking for information that
is happening in this day and age. Another
advantage is that you can also look up past
articles in older newspapers as it’ll have
information on the past which may be relevant to
what information you’re searching for, also
newspapers come at a very low cost. Some
disadvantages are, it may be hard to find the
exact information. Another disadvantage is some
newspaper articles might be twisted and bias.
Newspapers contain qualitative data depending
on what you’re searching for, for example there
may be a full article on what you’re searching for
thus making it qualitative.

4. Magazines
Magazine research is a secondary method to
accumulate data. There are many advantages
and disadvantages of magazine research. Some
advantages are magazines are very easy to
access; they’re in every corner shop and big
super stores. Another advantage is magazines
come at a relatively low price. Some
disadvantages are magazines cost too much for
the amount of information that is actually in the
magazine, the information for what you may be
looking for might be very limited. Another
disadvantage is finding the information you’re
looking for, it’s time consuming looking for the
information. This is useful for quantitative data.
Conclusion
This report has summarised the advantages and disadvantages of many
research methods. We as a class will be using secondary research methods to
enable us to create our own game art work.