The document describes and compares different research methods, including interviews, questionnaires, focus groups, surveys, internet research, and library research. It outlines the type of data each collects (qualitative vs. quantitative, primary vs. secondary) and notes advantages and disadvantages. Interviews gather clear, reliable qualitative and primary data directly from participants but may lack time and cause discomfort. Questionnaires efficiently gather primary data but questions must be detailed. Focus groups obtain qualitative and quantitative primary data from discussion but are expensive and time-consuming.

1. RESEARCH
METHOD
DESCRIPTION TYPE OF DATA
(qualitative/quantitative
/primary/secondary)
ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES
INTERVIEW A formal meeting between
1 or more people which
then question, consult or
evaluate
Qualitative and primary
research this because you are
gathering the information by
yourself and it’s qualitative
because it’s usually about the
person you are interviewing
and they will provide a lot of
information needed
The information you will gather is
likely to be clear and reliable
because you have collected the
information from the person.
You can gather a lot of information
needed
You may not have enough time
to collect all the information
you need
People may become very
uncomfortable during an
interview
QUESTIONNAIRE Consists of a series of
questions to gather
information from
respondents
Qualitative and Quantitative
because you may get a lot of
respondents who go in to depth
with their answers. This is
primary research because your
gathering the information by
yourself
Quick and easy to complete
Reliable data collected using a
questionnaire
Information collected wouldn’t
be a lot because the questions
that are asked are not detailed
and clear
FOCUS GROUP A group of people who
participate in a discussion
in order to gather feedback
Depending on how much
information and how many
people are part of this focus
group you can gather
qualitative and quantitative
data. This would be primary
research because your
collecting the information
yourself
Able to collect a lot of information
because there’s more than 1
person involved in a focus group
Opinions from participants
Expensive and very time
consuming
Possibility not everyone will
get to say everything they
want to say
SURVEY a way in which you gather
information from
individuals
Quantitative and qualitative
data. This would be primary
data because you gather the
information by yourself
Easy to create
Can be sent online via email, social
media sites and texts
Answers may be unreliable
Survey can be lost if used
online

2. INTERNET
RESEARCH
Research done within the
internet
The internet will provide a lot of
information for everything you
want this meaning internet
research is quantitative and
qualitative data. Internet
research is secondary data
because you are collecting
information that has already
been gathered by somebody
else
Easy to find
Not time consuming
Information gathered is
quantitative and qualitative
Information gathered may be
unreliable
Internet connections may be
hard to get
Copying someone else is
classed as plagiarism which
may impact on your research
LIBRARY
RESEARCH
Research done within a
library
Library research goes in depth
because of the amount of
resources they have e.g. books,
this meaning library research
will provide you with qualitative
data. Library research is
secondary research because the
information is already gathered
from a different source
Both qualitative and quantitative a
lot of information can be gathered
Help is offered in a library which
may be useful
Time consuming
The library may not offer the
resources you need