Suggesting what to do about the information gathered is done through which of the following?

The type of information you want to gather about your customers, market or competitors will influence the research methods you choose. There are different ways to gather information (from primary or secondary sources) and different types of information to gather (quantitative and qualitative). You may use any combination of these research approaches to get the results you need.

Primary and secondary research

Primary and secondary research relate to the way you gather information.

Primary research

Primary research (or field research) gathers original information directly for your purpose, rather than being gathered from published sources. Primary research includes:

• surveys
• direct observations
• interviews and focus groups that are developed and conducted by you or your researcher.

Primary research gives you control over the type of questions you ask and information you gather. Primary research results can be extremely valuable; however, they can also be much more time-consuming and costly to gather than secondary research.

Secondary research

Secondary research (or desk research) gathers existing information through available sources. Secondary research examples include:

• information on the internet
• existing market research results
• existing data from your own stock lists and customer database
• information from agencies such as industry bodies, government agencies, libraries and local councils.

Secondary research allows you to make the most of existing information about your market. However, it can be a challenge to find the information you really need. Learn more about different research resources for business and industry.

You may use secondary research to get an initial understanding of your market. It is often faster to analyse than primary data because, in many cases, someone else may have already started analysing it. However, when using secondary research be careful how you interpret it, as it may have been collected for a different purpose or from a market segment that isn't relevant to your business. Also make sure that any secondary information isn't out-of-date, as the market can change quickly and this will affect your results.

As well as understanding your market, you can also use secondary research to examine factors inside your business, such as sales figures and financial records.

Quantitative and qualitative research

Quantitative and qualitative research defines the type of information you gather.

Quantitative research

Quantitative research gathers numerical data. Quantitative research includes:

• surveys on customer return frequency
• sales figures
• industry product sales numbers
• online or phone questionnaires
• financial trends.

You can use this approach to identify the size of your market and how much it might be worth to your business, and to find areas for sales growth. Quantitative research can also help you understand the demographics of customers, such as their age and gender.

Quantitative research produces statistics. These are useful as an overview of your market, but make sure you don't rely solely on statistics in your research. Consider all of the information you have. For example, the 'average' price your target market suggested it would pay for a product could be distorted if a few a participants selected a very high amount (i.e. not reflecting the high number who would not pay that much).

Qualitative research

Qualitative research gathers views and attitudes. Qualitative research includes:

• focus groups with customers and potential customers to understand their feelings and attitudes towards your products and services
• formal and informal conversations with customers about their satisfaction with your business
• visits and reviews of competitors to understand their products and customer service practices.

You can use this approach to get a deeper understanding of your customers' interests, needs and habits, and identify opportunities for growing sales and improving customer service. Analysing qualitative data requires a different approach and can take longer to interpret than quantitative data because of the nature of the information.

Deciding on the type of approach you take should be done based on your objectives.

Also consider...

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seep Contributor

Post by seep » Thu Oct 08, 2015 1:19 am

Q-when should we observe a child? My Ans-vary the times, activities and even the days of the week that you choose to observe a child.you need to get a picture of the whole child-in the morning and afternoon,at breaks,circle time and play time and on different days of the week.Observation needs to be a part of the regular routine to truly remain objective and useful-while the child is having good days as well as during challenging times. --------------------------- Q-how can an educator ensure that their interpretation of the information gathered is accurate? My Ans- a)Analyze data from observations to flag patterns that suggest problems with accuracy. Data systems can be expensive, but school systems that invest in them for warehousing and analyzing observation results cite the ability to keep frequent tabs on inter-rater reliability and possible problems with accuracy. b) Audit evidence collected by observers to confirm that it aligns with the scores they assigned. School systems that audit evidence from observations say that it also offers an opportunity to provide observers with feedback on how to improve their evidence-collection and evidence-analysis skills. c) Conduct a reliability audit based on additional observations in a sample of classrooms. he MET project has outlined an auditing procedure that a school system could use to monitor reliability by conducting additional observations in a sample of classrooms. One thing is clear: Ensuring accurate feedback from observations presents a complex challenge for school systems. Leading states, districts, and organizations have learned that simply providing initial training for observers is not a sufficient solution. Therefore, school systems must design a robust solution involving multiple strategies tailored to their own unique circumstances. But those that make such an investment are likely to reap significant dividends. Students benefit greatly when teachers are provided accurate, actionable feedback that helps them improve classroom activities. ------------------------------------------------- Q-when observing children educators often include questions to assist with gathering information, looking at the following headlines,list 2 questions relating to the observation that you could include 1-social skills Q-how the child is supposed to behave? Q-what the child is supposed to be doing? 2-Emotional skills Q-What to do if a child slaps another child? Q-“It sounds like you’re really angry with them.What happened?” 3-cognitive skills Q- How well does the child learn and remember new information? Q-Does the child require more or less support than peers 4-Needs of the child Q-what is it? Q-what is it doing? 5-Language skills Q-spell the work "butter"? Q-What do you think that is? Q-‘What do you think it’s used for? --------------------------------------

Please suggest am I on the right track in my responses? thanks

Post by Lorina » Fri Oct 09, 2015 6:18 am

Your responses are good... However you need to change your response for the second question

how can an educator ensure that their interpretation of the information gathered is accurate?

Effective assessment is responsive to individual children. That is, it involves tools and approaches that are appropriate to individual children and are undertaken in settings familiar to them. They must also be undertaken regularly and multiple times to ensure a more accurate picture is generated at a point in time, but also so that growth and progress are captured. It is also important that professionals take account of children’s cultural context when analysing and interpreting the assessment data, so that an accurate picture is developed.

Ref: Assessment and Learning (also read from page 10 onwards and it has some useful information on observing children which you can add to your response).