Saylor URL: http://www.saylor.org/books Saylor.org
Your local library is a good place to gather free secondary data. It has searchable databases as well as
handbooks, dictionaries, and books, some of which you can access online. Government agencies also
collect and report information on demographics, economic and employment data, health information, and
balance-of-trade statistics, among a lot of other information. The U.S. Census Bureau collects census data
every ten years to gather information about who lives where. Basic demographic information about sex,
age, race, and types of housing in which people live in each U.S. state, metropolitan area, and rural area is
gathered so that population shifts can be tracked for various purposes, including determining the number
of legislators each state should have in the U.S. House of Representatives. For the U.S. government, this is
primary data. For marketing managers it is an important source of secondary data.
The Survey Research Center at the University of Michigan also conducts periodic surveys and publishes
information about trends in the United States. One research study the center continually conducts is
called the “Changing Lives of American Families” (http://www.isr.umich.edu/home/news/research-
update/2007-01.pdf). This is important research data for marketing managers monitoring consumer
trends in the marketplace. The World Bank and the United Nations are two international organizations
that collect a great deal of information. Their Web sites contain many free research studies and data
related to global markets. Table 10.1 "Examples of Primary Data Sources versus Secondary Data
Sources" shows some examples of primary versus secondary data sources.
Table 10.1 Examples of Primary Data Sources versus Secondary Data Sources
Primary Data Sources Secondary Data Sources
Interviews Census data
Surveys Web sites
Publications
Trade associations
Syndicated research and market aggregators
Gauging the Quality of Secondary Data