Primary Versus Secondary Data, Part 3
September 15, 2010
There are vast differences separating primary and secondary data.
OpenView Venture Partners held a Market Segmentation Forum where Luke Hohmann, a senior advisor at OpenView Venture Partners, talked about these differences. In this video, he elaborates on the topic. Simply put, primary data has been harvested to answer specific questions. Secondary data is intended to be more supplemental, and usually helps arrive at an indirect answer.
As advice, Luke suggests utilizing an oft-ignored source: the public library. This gem contains a wealth of normally pricey data services, free of charge. Lexus Nexus for example, is a library staple. And it’s usually a perfect fit for a research project that aims to collect primary and secondary data.
No matter what path you’re hoping to take during your research, you will undoubtedly encounter primary and secondary data in some form. For this reason, you should familiarize yourself with both terms.