Primary and Secondary Market Research in Design & Technology

Design and Technology students are often required to gather, record, analyse, and assess a wide range of relevant information when completing their coursework project. This article introduces the concept of primary and secondary market research, identifies common constraints and limitations of different types of research methods, and provides advice to help students prepare an outstanding body of research.

What is market research?

Market research is the systematic gathering of data / feedback from users or potential users of a product. This can help to launch a new product, establish the potential success of a product, fine tune existing products, or identify which segment of the market finds a product most desirable.

Why do designers of products carry out research?

• To identify the target market: This focuses on understanding specific customer segments that are most likely to purchase the product or service. It examines demographic characteristics (age, income, location), psychographic factors (lifestyle, values, interests), and behavioral patterns (buying habits, brand loyalty, usage rates). This research helps businesses tailor their products, marketing messages, and distribution strategies to effectively reach and serve their chosen segments. Learn more about identifying the target market here.
• To identify demand: Market research helps us understand the total potential demand for products or services by examining current and future customer needs, purchasing patterns, and market size. This research reveals not just how many potential customers exist, but their willingness to pay, preferred features, and buying frequency. Understanding demand helps businesses plan production capacity, pricing strategies, and revenue forecasts.
• To establish what works: Research into existing designs helps designers understand successful elements and approaches that have proven effective in the market. It also helps identify common errors and allows designers to improve upon existing solutions. It is costly to produce a product that doesn’t work, so this information is highly valuable and cuts a lot of the guesswork out of the designing process.
• To understand user needs: Research into consumer behavior and preferences ensures designs meet practical requirements and address real user pain points. Research helps to ensure that a product meets the need, by identifying precisely what is required – such as by analysing data related to the circumstance. For instance, research might reveal that elderly consumers struggle with small tear-strips on medication packaging, leading designers to implement larger, easier-to-grip opening mechanisms.
• To learn about materials: Research into different materials and their properties allows designers to select the most appropriate options for both protection and sustainability.
• To understand environmental impact: Research into sustainability helps designers create more eco-friendly solutions that meet growing environmental concerns.
• To anticipate trends: Research into consumer trends and market developments helps designers create forward-thinking packaging solutions. For example, research into mobile shopping behaviours might lead a designer to incorporate QR codes on packaging that link to product information and usage tutorials – or fit in with existing popular colour schemes in a particular market.
• To identify competition and market gaps: Examining existing and potential competitors helps us understand the competitive landscape. This includes analysing competitors’ products, pricing strategies, market share, strengths, and weaknesses. This helps businesses identify market gaps, differentiate their offerings, and develop effective competitive strategies, spotting opportunities for innovative solutions that competitors haven’t yet explored.

Primary Research vs Secondary Research: examples for students

• Primary research – data gathered directly from potential customers. This is expensive and time consuming, but more relevant.
• Secondary research (also known as ‘desk research’) – data gathered from other sources. This is less expensive and easier to carry out, but can be biased, not directly related to your product, and difficult to validate.

Primary market research examples include:

Surveys

A survey is a method of gathering information or data from a group of people (respondents) by asking them questions about specific topics, behaviors, preferences, opinions, or characteristics. It’s a research tool used to collect standardized information that can be analyzed to draw conclusions about a larger population. The questions can be delivered through various methods, such as in-person interviews, phone calls, paper forms, or online questionnaires. The format may include multiple choice, rating scales, open-ended questions, or a combination of these.

Questionnaires (online or by hardcopy)

• Series of questions intended to gather information from people;
• Doesn’t require much effort from the questioner;
• Inexpensive;
• Standardised answers can frustrate people;
• Wording of questions can have a big and sometimes negative effect;
• Can’t be completed by those who can’t read (i.e. young children);
• Respondents can’t ask for clarification.

Structured interviews (spoken)

• Conducted in person or over the phone;
• Each interviewee is presented with the same questions in the same order;
• Results can be combined and compared more easily;
• Questions are often close-ended, although open-ended questions can be included;
• Respondent can ask for clarification.

Focus group

• Interactive group setting, usually with 6-10 members;
• Members screened, to ensure they are part of the target market;
• Moderator guides group through a 1-2 hour open-ended discussion, probing attitudes to a particular product etc.;
• Structure is loose, with free flow of ideas encouraged – participants are free to talk to other group members;
• Group usually videoed and/or watched from behind one-way glass;
• Words, expressions, body language, group dynamics are studied;
• Allows a company to test a product before it is made available to the public;
• Provides valuable information about potential market acceptance;
• More natural setting than one-to-one interview;
• Good for raising unexpected issues (as conversation can go in many directions) and covering a topic thoroughly;
• Low in cost, and opinions from many people can be gathered relatively quickly;
• Disadvantage: A dominant group member can sway the opinions of the rest, skewing results.

Customer observation

Customer observation is a research method where researchers directly watch and document how customers behave in natural settings, typically while interacting with products, services, or environments. This might involve watching customers navigate a store, use a website, interact with a product, or complete a service transaction.

• Unlike surveys and interviews which rely on self-reported information, observation captures actual behavior as it occurs.
• Researcher acts as a passive observer, avoiding intervention in the customer’s natural behavior whenever possible.
• Common observation methods include:
  • Shadowing (following customers through their journey)
  • Stationed observation (watching from a fixed location)
  • Video recording for later analysis.
  • Modern techniques might also include eye tracking, heat mapping, or digital behavior tracking.

The data collected often includes:

• Physical actions and movement patterns
• Time spent on different activities
• Decision-making sequences
• Points of confusion or frustration
• Social interactions
• Environmental influences on behavior

Observation provides authentic behavioral insights that customers might not be able to articulate in surveys or interviews, however, it requires careful consideration of privacy and ethics, and the presence of observers may inadvertently influence customer behavior. Observation is often most effective when combined with other research methods to provide a complete understanding of both what customers do and why they do it.

Secondary market research examples

Secondary research involves extracting relevant information from external sources (such as online resources, books, and other documents), interpreting, recording, and analysing this data.

Different types of secondary research include:

Internet research

This might involve looking at reviews of a product on Amazon or Reddit, for example, or sourcing information provided by manufacturer websites.

Keyword research

This is a type of research where you establish what people are searching for in Search Engines. This helps you understand what people want and thus can help you design better products. For example, when writing this article, I checked which phrases were most popular when people were wanting to learn about primary and secondary market research. This helps me make sure I cover all the appropriate aspects when writing about this topic. This type of research is very helpful when designing all kinds of products because it provides insight into the consumer’s mind and tells us exactly what people want.

Books, scientific studies, and other published resources

In addition to getting out books from libraries, students can access online databases of scientific studies by searching in Google Scholar.