Methods of Collecting Primary Data

There are a variety of ways in which one can go about collecting primary data whether it may be through sampling using different types of surveying. Sampling is the process of selecting representative units from a total population. There are many different types of sampling; random sampling, stratified sampling and quota sampling. The two basic types; probability sampling and non-probability sampling. Under a probability sampling method the population has a known chance of being selected for the study. On the other hand, a non-probability sampling, there is no way to calculate the likelihood that a specific element of the population being studied will be chosen.

Surveys usually describe and analyze customer's buying behavior. There are four different ways in which people could be surveyed; through mail, telephone, online or personal-interviews. Which method is chosen, depends solely on what information the researcher is looking to receive, and by what crowd they wish to reach out to. Depending on how much information a marketer may hope to receive, they may employ more than one survey method.

Personal-interviews allow marketers to get in-depth replies out of customers, compared to mail, online or telephone surveys that may receive short, one word replies. Telephone surveys have a higher response rate compare to mail surveys because they involve less energy to pick up the phone and answer questions compared to filling out a paper survey and mailing it back in.

Gathering information from surveys is becoming more and more difficult because people are no longer willing to participate in them. Surveying can be very costly for companies, and if the response rate is not constant with the amount of surveys being administered, is it worth it to be surveying customers at all? What are some of the advantages and disadvantages of sampling a population through surveys? Do the costs out weigh the benefits?