What is Secondary Research?
Secondary research, also known as desk research, is a common research method in UX and marketing. If we’re going to talk about secondary research, you’ll probably want to know what primary research is. Primary research is when you conduct first hand research to better understand your users. Secondary research is research someone else has done that can help you better understand the space you are working in. Oddly enough, secondary research typically happens prior to primary research.
The point of secondary research is to collect data that deepens your understanding of the problem space. Secondary research is beneficial because it is quick, cheap to conduct, and helps guide subsequent primary research. Resources can include academic papers, white papers, industry studies, government studies, news articles and videos.
Research is broken down into categories based on the context of the product: your users, their goals and the environment where the action occurs. The amount of information you’re able to find in each of these categories will likely differ and that’s okay. There may also be points where this data overlaps or diverges. Once you’ve completed Secondary Research, you’ll have a solid starting point for speaking to users and stakeholders.
