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Research Skills

Primary and secondary research

  • 3 things to know
  • A2 2

Overview

Primary and secondary research and their strengths and weaknesses, the National Diet and Nutrition Survey, aims, objectives and hypotheses, reliability, validity, pilot studies and triangulation.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Evaluation

What are the strengths and weaknesses of primary and of secondary research?

Key term

What is primary research?

Key term

What is secondary research?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    What is primary research?

    Model answer

    Primary research is new information collected first-hand by the researcher for a specific purpose. A questionnaire on students' breakfast habits produces primary data.

  2. 2

    What is secondary research?

    Model answer

    Secondary research uses information that others have already collected and published. Government dietary surveys, journal articles and textbooks are secondary sources.

  3. 3

    Give one strength and one weakness of primary research.

    Model answer

    Primary research answers the researcher's exact question and gives up-to-date data. Primary research can take a long time and usually reaches only a small sample.

  4. 4

    Give one strength and one weakness of secondary research.

    Model answer

    Secondary research is quick and cheap, and can draw on very large national samples. The data may be out of date or collected for a different purpose.

  5. 5

    What is the National Diet and Nutrition Survey?

    Model answer

    The National Diet and Nutrition Survey is a continuing UK survey of the diet of people aged 18 months and over. The survey has run as a rolling programme since 2008.

  6. 6

    Why is the National Diet and Nutrition Survey a useful secondary source?

    Model answer

    The survey uses a large, representative UK sample and a consistent method over many years. Researchers can compare their own small findings against national trends.

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AThe man's intake is 75% of the RNI.
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Overweight means an adult BMI from 25 up to 29.9.
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