Consumer panels are small groups of customers who are part of an organization’s target market and are used for market research purposes.

Focus groups are the use of small discussion panels drawn from a firm's target market to gain insights into attitudes and behaviour of the group members.

Market analysis refers to the marketing activities that attempt to discover the preferences, values, and views of current and prospective customers.

Observations are a form of primary market research that involves watching how people behave in and respond to different situations.

Ad hoc market research is market research that focuses on specific marketing problems or issues and tends to be used on an ‘as and when necessary’ or ‘one-off’ basis.

Quantitative responses from primary research tend to be more difficult to collect and collate than qualitative responses.

An advantage of using interviews as a method of collecting primary market research is that it helps to discover the interviewee’s opinions and beliefs about certain issues.

Population is a statistical term used in market research to refer to all the people who fulfill a certain criterion.

Human errors in recording, processing, and/or analyzing market research data are not a source of sampling error.

Quota sampling is a sampling that chooses a specific number of respondents arbitrarily for market research purposes.

Key advantages of secondary market research are that it is relatively cheap and easy to collect data and information.

Market analyses are a form of secondary market research that use market research firms, annual company reports, or trade publications as valuable sources of information.

Surveys can be an expensive and time consuming method of primary market research and can often suffer from selection bias resulting from an unrepresentative sample.

Random sampling refers to the practice of using respondents who are within easy reach, in an unplanned way, to conduct market research.

Secondary research describes market research that involves collecting new data first-hand, directly related to a firm’s specific needs.

Sampling errors describe mistakes arising from sampling design.

Disadvantages of primary market research are that it can be extremely time consuming and expensive to collect relevant data and information.

A sample refers to a subgroup of the population selected for market research purposes.

Secondary research is used to describe data or information that has already been collected or published about a product, business, or market.

Secondary sources for a business conducting market research include information that has been gathered by the organization itself, such as raw data to compile company annual reports, sales records, and cash flow forecasts.

An advantage of market research as a strategic planning tool is that it reduces risks involved in strategic decision making.

Daily media news articles are an example of primary market research.

Quantitative research describes the market research that explores the attitudes and opinions of existing and potential customers.

Small groups of customers within a business’s target market used for regular market research are known as consumer panels.

Sampling describes the practice of selecting a small group of customers from the population of a particular market for purposes of conducting primary research.

Desk research can involve the use of surveys, interviews, and observations.

Test marketing refers to the launch of a new or improved product or a variant thereof, within a well-defined geographic area, in order to measure sales potential.

Online content refers to the gathering of data and information from the Internet for market research purposes, e.g., company websites on the world wide web.

Government publications are official documents and publications released by the authorities that can be used as a form of secondary market research.