Primary research is defined as which of the following?

• A. The gathering of 'new' information which does not already exist
• B. The reuse of existing data
• C. The analysis of competitor pricing
• D. The consolidation of market reports

Answer: (A)

Primary research is about gathering new information that hasn’t been collected before. It involves collecting original data directly to answer a specific question—think surveys of customers, interviews, experiments, or field observations. This is different from secondary research, which uses information that already exists, such as reusing existing data, analyzing data from other sources like competitor pricing, or compiling market reports. Since those involve relying on information that has already been created, they aren’t primary research. Therefore, the idea of gathering new information that doesn’t already exist best describes primary research.