parts of a desk research

What Is Desk Research? Meaning, Methodology, Examples

Apr 4, 2024

10 min. read

Research in the digital age takes many shapes and forms. There are traditional methods that collect first-hand data via testing, focus groups, interviews, and proprietary data. And then there are ways to tap into the time and effort others have put into research, playing “armchair detective” by conducting desk research .

Desk research gives you a shortcut to insights by pulling data from other resources, which is crucial for understanding the customer journey . It takes less time and is more cost-effective compared to conducting primary market research . Most importantly, it can give you the consumer insights you need to make important business decisions.

Let’s explore the official desk research definition along with types of desk research, methodologies, examples, and how to do desk research effectively.

Desk Research Meaning: What is Desk Research?

Advantages and limitations of desk research, desk research methodology and methods, how to conduct desk research effectively, best practices for desk research, applications of desk research, how to conduct desk research with meltwater.

Desk Research definition: Desk research, also known as secondary research or complementary research , involves gathering information and data from existing sources, such as books, journals, articles, websites, reports, and other published materials. Users analyze and synthesize information from already available information.

Companies use desk research at the onset of a project to gain a better understanding of a topic, identify knowledge gaps, and inform the next stages of research. It can also supplement original findings and provide context and background information.

Desk research gives marketers attractive advantages over traditional primary research, but it’s not without its shortcomings. Let’s explore these in more detail.

Desk research advantages

• Quick insights. Conducting interviews, focus groups, panels, and tests can take weeks or even months, along with additional time to analyze your findings. With desk research, you can pull from existing information to gain similar results in less time.
• Cost-effectiveness. Desk market research is usually less expensive than primary research because it requires less time and fewer resources. You don’t have to recruit participants or administer surveys, for example.
• Accessibility. There’s a world of data out there ready for you to leverage, including online databases, research studies, libraries, and archives.
• Diverse sources. Desk market research doesn’t limit you to one information source. You can use a combination of sources to gain a comprehensive overview of a topic.

Want to see how Meltwater can supercharge your market research efforts? Simply fill out the form at the bottom of this post and we'll be in touch.

Desk research limitations 

• Data quality. Marketers don’t know how reliable or valid the data is, which is why it’s important to choose your sources carefully. Only use data from credible sources, ideally ones that do not have a financial interest in the data’s findings.
• Less control. Users are at the mercy of the data that’s available and cannot tailor it to their needs. There’s no opportunity to ask follow-up questions or address specific research needs.
• Potential bias. Some sources may include biased findings and/or outdated information, which can lead to inaccurate conclusions. Users can mitigate the risk of bias by relying only on credible sources or corroborating evidence with multiple sources.

Desk research typically involves multiple sources and processes to gain a comprehensive understanding of an idea. There are two main desk methodologies: qualitative research and quantitative research .

• Qualitative research refers to analyzing existing data (e.g., interviews, surveys, observations) to gain insights into people's behaviors, motivations, and opinions. This method delves deeper into the context and meaning behind the data.
• Quantitative research refers to analyzing and interpreting numerical data to draw conclusions and make predictions. This involves quantifying patterns and trends to find relationships between variables.

Both desk research methodologies use a variety of methods to find and analyze data and make decisions.

Examples of desk research methods include but are not limited to:

• Literature review. Analyze findings from various types of literature, including medical journals, studies, academic papers, books, articles, online publications, and government agencies.
• Competitor analysis . Learn more about the products, services, and strategies of your competitors, including identifying their strengths and weaknesses, market gaps, and overall sentiment.
• Social listening . Discover trending topics and sentiments on social media channels to learn more about your target audience and brand health.
• Consumer intelligence . Understand your audience based on digital behaviors, triggers, web usage patterns, and interests.
• Market research . Analyze market reports, industry trends, demographics, and consumer buying patterns to identify market opportunities and strengthen your positioning.

Now let’s look at how to use these methods to their full potential.

While desk research techniques can vary, they all follow a similar formula. Here’s how you can conduct desk research effectively, even if it’s your first time.

1. Define your objective

Desk research starts with a specific question you want to answer. 

In marketing , your objective might be to:

• Learn about Gen Z buying behaviors for home goods
• Gauge the effectiveness of influencer marketing for food brands
• Understand the pain points of your competitor’s customers

These questions can help you find credible sources that can provide answers.

2. Choose reliable data sources

Based on your objectives, start collecting secondary data sources that have done the heavy lifting for you. Examples include:

• Market reports (often available as gated assets from research companies)
• Trade publications
• Academic journals
• Company websites
• Government publications and data
• Online databases and resources, such as Google Scholar 
• Secondary research companies or market research tools like Meltwater and Linkfluence
• Online blogs, articles, case studies, and white papers from credible sources

In many cases, you’ll use a combination of these source types to gain a thorough answer to your question.

3. Start gathering evidence

Go through your source materials to start answering your question. This is usually the most time-intensive part of desk research; you’ll need to extract insights and do some fact-checking to trust those insights.

One of your top priorities in this step is to use reliable sources. Here are some ways you can evaluate sources to use in your desk research:

• Consider the authority and reputation of the source (e.g., do they have expertise in your subject)
• Check whether the content is sponsored, which could indicate bias
• Assess whether the data is current
• Evaluate the publisher’s peer review processes , if applicable
• Review the content’s citations and references
• Seek consensus among multiple sources
• Use sources with built-in credibility, such as .gov or .edu sites or well-known medical and academic journals

If your source materials have supporting elements, such as infographics, charts, or graphs, include those with your desk research.

4. Cross-reference your findings with other sources

For desk research to be effective, you need to be able to trust the data you find. One way to build trust is to cross-reference your findings with other sources. 

For instance, you might see who else is citing the same sources you are in their research. If there are reputable companies using those same sources, you might feel they’re more credible compared to a random internet fact that lacks supporting evidence. 

5. Draw your conclusions & document the results

Organize and synthesize your findings in a way that makes sense for your objectives. Consider your stakeholders and why the information is important.

For example, the way you share your research with an internal team might have a different structure and tone compared to a client-facing document.

Bonus tip: Include a list of sources with your documentation to build credibility in your findings. 

When conducting desk research, follow these best practices to ensure a reliable and helpful outcome.

Organize and manage your research data

It’s helpful to have a system to organize your research data. This way, you can easily go back to review sources or share information with others. Spreadsheets, databases, and platforms like Meltwater for market research are great options to keep your desk research in one place.

Create actionable recommendations

It’s not enough to state your findings; make sure others know why the data matters. Share the data along with your conclusions and recommendations for what to do next.

Remember, desk research is about decision-making, not the data itself.

Document your sources

Whether you choose to share your sources or not, it’s best practice to document your sources for your own records. This makes it easier to provide evidence if someone asks for it or to look back at your research if you have additional questions.

Now for the big question: How can marketers apply desk research to their day-to-day tasks?

Try these desk research examples to power your marketing efforts.

Use desk research for market intelligence

Markets, preferences, and buying habits change over time, and marketers need to stay up to date on their industries. Desk research can provide market intelligence insights, including new competitors, trends, and audience segments that may impact your business.

Apply desk research in competitive analysis

Desk research can help you identify your true competitors and provide more context about their strengths and weaknesses. Marketers can use this intel to improve their positioning and messaging. For instance, a competitor’s weak spot might be something your company does well, and you can emphasize this area in your messaging.

Include desk research in content strategy and audience analysis

Desk research can support consumer intelligence by helping you define various audience segments and how to market to them. These insights can help you develop content and creative assets on the right topics and in the right formats, as well as share them in the best channels to reach your audience.

Emerging technologies like Meltwater's integrated suite of solutions have a strong impact on desk research, helping you streamline how you find and vet data to support your desired topics.

Using a combination of data science, AI, and market research expertise, Meltwater offers the largest media database of its kind to help marketers learn more about their audience and how to connect with them. Millions of real-time data points cover all niches, topics, and industries, giving you the on-demand insights you need.

Our clients use Meltwater for desk research to measure audience sentiment and identify audience segments as well as to conduct competitor analysis , social listening , and brand monitoring , all of which benefit from real-time data. 

Learn more about how you can leverage Meltwater as a research solution when you request a demo by filling out the form below:

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What is Desk Research? A Guide + Examples

Desk research can help you make data-driven decisions, define or adapt strategies, and uncover untapped market potential to drive growth – when it’s done right!

Nowadays, we have all the information we need at our fingertips; but knowing where to find the right data quickly is key.

So, what is desk research? What does it involve, and how can Similarweb Research Intelligence help?

Let’s find out.

What is desk research?

Desk research is a type of market research that uses existing data to support or validate outcomes and conclusions. Also known as secondary research , it’s a cost-effective way to obtain relevant data from a broad range of channels.

How is desk research used?

From small start-ups to established businesses, doing desk research provides you with crucial insights into trends, competitors, and market size . Whatever you do, desk research can help with product positioning and guide data-driven business decisions that help you become the ultimate competitor and find new ways to grow.

According to the latest data on the Internet of Things , around 130 new devices connect to the web every second. Stats on the state of data show we create and consume data at an exponential rate–data interactions will only continue to rise.

Primary vs. secondary research – what’s the difference?

Most market research methods fall into either primary or secondary research. When we talk about desk research, we tend to focus only on secondary methods. However, most primary research can also be done remotely, from a desk.

Primary research is self-conducted research that gathers data to answer questions. It usually involves going directly to a source, such as a customer or a prospect. Compared to secondary research, it takes longer, costs more, and demands more resources. Primary research methods include interviews, market research surveys , questionnaires, competitor reviews, market mapping , focus groups, etc.

Secondary research is the synthesis or summary of existing research using previously gained information from various sources. Most market research starts with secondary research: It aims to provide a researcher or analyst with a basis of knowledge formed from existing data. Secondary research methods include collecting data from the internet, government databases, reports, and academic journals, to name just a few.

Pros and cons of desk research

As with any type of market research, you need to choose the right method to deliver the best outcome for your research goal. Desk research is advantageous for several reasons, but it won’t always suit every market research project. Market research best practice tells us that we should use desk-based research before primary research – as this helps to reduce or refine the scope of the work before the second, more costly phase.

Here’s a summary of the pros and cons of desk research.

Advantages of desk-based research

Doing secondary market research is highly beneficial; here’s why.

• Low cost – most secondary research sources are low-to-no cost.
• Speed – as the data already exists, data collection is quick.
• Clarity – desk research drives & add-value to primary research actions.
• Scalability – due to the large datasets used in secondary research.
• Availability – pre-collected data is readily available to analyze.
• Insightful – get valuable insights and help resolve some initial research questions.

Disadvantages of desk-based research

As any good researcher will attest, it’s always good to look at a topic from every angle. Here are a few things to consider before starting any secondary research process.

• Out of-date data – consider if the coverage dates of the research are relevant. In a fast-moving market, having access to up-to-date information could be critical.
• Lack of perceived control over the data – secondary research is undertaken by a third party; as such, methodology controls need to be reviewed with caution.
• No exclusivity – desk research data is widely available and can be used by other researchers.
• Verification & interpretation – particularly when working with large data sets, it can take time to analyze and review to ensure the information is suitable for your research.

Types of desk-based research

Nowadays, you can do most market research from a desk. Here, I’ll focus solely on secondary research methods: Where finding and using the right resources is key. The data you use needs to be up-to-date and should always come from a trusted source.

Desk research methods – internal data resources

Before stepping into external research, look for any relevant internal sources. This data can often prove invaluable, and it’s a great place to start gathering insights that only you can see. The information is already yours, so aside from the fact it won’t cost a dime, it’s data your rivals won’t have access to.

Sources of internal information that can help you do desk research include:

• Historical campaign and sales analysis: Everything from website traffic and conversions through to sales. Accessible through your own analytics platform(s).
• Website and mobile application data: Your own platforms can also tell you where users are – such as the device split between mobile and desktop.
• Existing customer information: audience demographics , product use, and efficiency of service.
• Previous research conducted by other analysts: Even if the research seems unrelated, there could be indicative information within.

Desk research methods – external data resources

Using external data sources for desk research is an ideal way to get information about market trends, and explore a new topic.

• The internet: A virtual aggregator of all secondary research sources – always validate findings with credible sources.
• Commercial resources: Research associations and company reports usually cost money but give you data that’s specific to your industry/aim.
• Trade association reports: To see if there’s a trade association of interest, do a quick search online or use the Encyclopedia of Associations , the Directory of Associations , or the National Trade and Professional Associations Directory
• Industry Experts: Expert consultancy is an efficient way of getting information from someone who has ‘been there, done that.’ Also, consider ‘influencers.’
• Research associations & journals: Most research associations are independent and offer bespoke, specialized reports.
• Media coverage: TV, radio, newspapers, and magazines can often help uncover facts and relevant media stories related to your topic.
• Market research intelligence software: Platforms like Similarweb give you actionable insights into industry and competitors’ trends. With access to mobile app intelligence, you get a complete picture of the digital landscape.
• Government & non-government agencies: In the US, the biggest generator of data is the federal government. US Census Bureau , Congressional Research Service , US Government Publishing Office , US Small Business Administration , and the Department of Education . Most information from these sources is free.
• Local government sites: A reliable source to find data on population density or employment trends.
• Public library records: Access data via the Digital Public Library of America in the US or the National Archives in the UK.
• Competitor information: Sign-up for mailing lists, view comparison reports, and read online reviews.
• Educational institutions: Academic research papers and journals are well-researched. If you can find a relevant one, you’ll likely get solid data from credible sources.

How to choose the best type of desk research

With so many freely-available sources online for desk-based research; it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. The best guidance I can offer is to keep a list of key questions you are trying to answer with this research, and consider:

• What are you hoping to learn from your research?
• Why is this data relevant?
• Is there an action you can take from this information?
• How up-to-date is the data you are using?

Always keep the questions you’re trying to answer front of mind. It’ll help you stay focused and keep your desk research on the right track. Time and money will usually determine the right type of desk research to use, but, even then, it’s important to stay focussed on where you spend your time vs. the return on that investment.

Inspiration: This article outlines some of the best market research questions to ask.

How to do desk research in five steps

Follow these steps to guide you through doing desktop research:

1. Clearly define your research topic Identify your topic and its purpose, then list any relevant research attributes.

2. Select appropriate resources Make a list of sources that’ll provide relevant information for your research topic.

3. Look for existing data Once you’ve collated your research sources, look for internal and external data relevant to your research topic. Remember to only use data from authentic sources.

4. Collate, compare & assemble Next, you’ll need to collate all the data you’ve obtained, remove any duplication, and bring it together into a usable format.

5. Data analysis The final step of doing desk research is to analyze the data. At this point, you should be able to see if your research questions have been answered. If any questions remain unanswered, go back to step 2, and look for alternative resources that will help you get clearer insights.

Desk-based research tools

Online resources are by far your most valuable asset for doing secondary research. However, software like Similarweb Digital Intelligence , Google Analytics (GA), and Google Search Console (GSC) can save you time and give you a more visually-appealing view of relevant data.

My list of go-to tools for desk research includes:

• Google Analytics & Search Console – your own site’s performance and visitor stats.
• Similarweb Digital Research Intelligence – uncover market, industry & competitor trends across web, mobile, and apps.
• Tableau – data visualization for presenting your findings.
• Competitor data – on rival’s websites, newsletters, and social media accounts.

Read: The best market research tools of 2023

Note that GA and GSC are free to use but limited in terms of what you can see outside your own site. With Similarweb, you can access virtually limitless industry-wide data.

Stop Guessing, Start Analyzing

Get actionable insights for desk research here

How Similarweb helps with desk research

Here are just a few examples of how Similarweb Digital Research Intelligence can help you with secondary research.

• Benchmarking yourself against your industry – Benchmarking suite
• Understand how competitor websites and apps perform – Company research module
• Get a full picture of your industry – Market research & industry analysis tools
• Understand how apps are impacting your market – App Intelligence
• Analyze consumer behavior – Audience analysis tool
• Understand the complete customer journey – Consumer journey tracker

Using research intelligence tools will save you time and money while removing bias from the data – ultimately giving you clarity and a complete view of the digital world relevant to your research topic.

Success Story: See how Airbnb uses Similarweb to reveal growth opportunities in new markets .

Desk research examples with Similarweb

A good example of desk research in action is looking into an industry to uncover market leaders, trends, relevant search trends, and an overview of a complete industry. Using the market analysis module in Similarweb, you can find out exactly what’s happening in your market, and make data-driven decisions that’ll help you increase market share , and drive faster, more sustainable business growth.

For this particular desk research example, I chose the airline industry.

Let’s dive in.

Industry Overview

See a snapshot of industry traffic and engagement metrics . This data is typically based on Similarweb’s index of the top 100 websites in a chosen vertical. You can easily create a custom industry , allowing you to do competitive benchmarking against specific companies in your market.

Industry Leaders

Quickly see who is winning in an industry using the Market quadrant analysis graph and industry leaders table. Analyze top-performing websites in your vertical, and dive into their traffic and engagement performance to view bounce rates, visit duration, monthly visits, month-on-month changes, unique visitors, pages/visits, and traffic share .

Industry Trends

Analyze trends in near real-time so you can take action when it matters most–not a quarter later. Create a personalized view of your industry for in-depth analysis and make informed decisions that will help you grow your market share.

Marketing Channels

Access valuable traffic metrics and insights for each marketing channel. See data for direct, social, display ads, paid search, referrals, emails, and organic traffic channels and evaluate performance for each. Uncover opportunities to grow your own traffic share, evaluate engagement and quality of traffic, and identify trends over time.

Search Trends (within an industry)

Discover trending topics and emerging search terms in any industry. View what’s trending, search volume, % change, volume trend, and traffic leaders for both branded and non-branded search in your sector. Use these insights to get an understanding of market demand, search intent, and audience interests within a specific category, brand, or product.

Demographics

Gain crucial insights into the audiences visiting your website, your competitors’ websites, and your industry as a whole. See gender and age distribution across web, mobile, or combined traffic channels, and compare your demographics with that of your rivals.

The market analysis element of Similarweb will help you answer some of your most important research questions, such as:

• How a specific industry grew over time
• Who the top and emerging players are in your industry
• Which products or services are trending and/or what are consumers searching for
• What demographics are relevant to you, and your competitors

The app intelligence module completes the picture and gives you a broad view of the digital landscape across your market. You can quickly see how apps are impacting your industry, and look at download, engagement, installs, ranking, and more.

Here, I’m sticking with the airline industry to establish whether or not android or iOS is the best fit for a new app. Immediately, I can see there are between 1-1.5M monthly active users on iOS vs. an equivalent of around 350,000k on Android.

Like what you see? Take a tour of Similarweb for yourself.

Discover industry insights for desk research here

Wrapping up

Good desk research helps you quickly uncover key information that can shape and steer successful market research projects. When done right, you’ll be able to answer questions and discover crucial data about your industry, competitors, and key trends to consider while building a strategy for growth.

Asking the right research questions from the onset and keeping these at the forefront of your mind throughout will save time and help direct your market analysis in the right direction.

Is desk-based research free?

Depending on the method used, desktop research can be done for free. If you require industry or government agency reports, these often carry a charge but are more likely to be free from bias when compared to commercially produced reports that (sometimes) receive sponsorship. 

Which businesses can utilize secondary desk research?

Desk-based research can uncover crucial insights into market trends, market sizing, and competitors. The information can be used by any size business to help guide strategic decision-making and help refine a product’s positioning.

Should you do secondary research before primary research?

Absolutely, yes. Secondary research should always come before primary or field research. The formative research phase helps pinpoint where more in-depth primary research is required. Desk research can also verify and support findings from field research but should not replace primary research–as they are each utilized under different circumstances.

Who does desk-based research?

Desk research can ‘technically’ be done by anyone, but it’s typically performed by a researcher, an analyst, or a marketing professional. Good market research has solid foundational data to drive critical business decisions. Experienced researchers and analysts are best-placed to spot opportunities, trends, and patterns when the stakes are this high.

So, while anybody can access secondary data free of charge, investing the necessary resources to do things right to get the most out of the process is essential.

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Home Market Research

Desk Research: What it is, Tips & Examples

What is desk research?

Desk research is a type of research that is based on the material published in reports and similar documents that are available in public libraries, websites, data obtained from surveys already carried out, etc. Some organizations also store data that can be used for research purposes.

It is a research method that involves the use of existing data. These are collected and summarized to increase the overall effectiveness of the investigation.

Secondary research is much more cost-effective than primary research , as it uses existing data, unlike primary research, in which data is collected first-hand by organizations, companies, or may employ a third party to obtain the data in your name.

LEARN ABOUT: Data Management Framework

Desk research examples

Being a cost-effective method, desk research is a popular choice for businesses and organizations as not everyone can pay large sums of money to conduct research and collect data. That is why it’s also called “ documentary research “.

Here are some more common secondary research methods and examples:

1. Data available on the Internet: One of the most popular ways to collect data for desk research is through the Internet. The information is available and can be downloaded with just one click.

This data is practically free or you may have to pay a negligible amount for it. Websites have a lot of information that companies or organizations can use to meet their research needs. However, you need to consider a reliable website to collect information.

2. Government and non-government agencies: Data for secondary research can also be collected from some government and non-government agencies. There will always be valuable and relevant data that companies or organizations can use.

3. Public libraries: Public libraries are another good source to search for data by doing desk research. They have copies of important research that has been done before. They are a store of documents from which relevant information can be extracted.

The services offered at these public libraries vary. Most often, they have a huge collection of government publications with market statistics, a large collection of business directories, and newsletters.

4. Educational Institutions: The importance of collecting data from educational institutions for secondary research is often overlooked. However, more research is done in colleges and universities than in any other business sector.

The data collected by universities is mainly used for primary research. However, companies or organizations can go to educational institutions and request data.

5. Sources of business information: Newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations are a great source of data for desk research. These sources have first-hand information on economic developments, the political agenda, the market, demographic segmentation and similar topics.

Companies or organizations can request to obtain the most relevant data for their study. Not only do they have the opportunity to identify your potential customers, but they can also learn the ways to promote their products or services through these sources, as they have a broader scope.

Differences between primary research and Desk Research

How to do a desk research.

These are the steps to follow to conduct a desk investigation:

• Identify the research topic: Before you begin, identify the topic you need to research. Once done, make a list of the attributes of the research and its purpose.
• Identify research sources: Subsequently, explain the sources of information that will provide you with the most relevant data applicable to your research.
• Collect existing data: Once the sources of information collection have been narrowed, check to see if previous data is available that is closely related to the topic. They can be obtained from various sources, such as newspapers, public libraries, government and non-government agencies, etc.
• Combine and compare: Once the data is collected, combine and compare it so that the information is not duplicated and put it together in an accessible format. Make sure to collect data from authentic sources so you don’t get in the way of your investigation.
• Analyze data: Analyze the data that is collected and identify if all the questions have been answered. If not, repeat the process to dig deeper into practical ideas.
• Most of the information is secondary research and readily available. There are many sources from which the data you need can be collected and used, as opposed to primary research, where data must be collected from scratch.
• It is a less expensive and time-consuming process, as the required data is readily available and does not cost much if it is extracted from authentic sources.
• The data that is collected through secondary or desktop research gives organizations or companies an idea about the effectiveness of primary research. Thus, a hypothesis can be formed and the cost of conducting the primary research can be evaluated.
• Doing desk research is faster due to the availability of data. It can be completed in a few weeks, depending on the objective of the companies or the scale of the data required.

Disadvantages

• Although the data is readily available, the credibility and authenticity of the available information must be assessed.
• Not all secondary data resources offer the latest reports and statistics. Even when they are accurate, they may not be up to date.

Desk research is a very popular research method, because it uses existing and reliable data that can be easily obtained. This is a great benefit for businesses and organizations as it increases the effectiveness of the investigation.

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Blog General

Desk Research 101: Definition, Methods, and Examples

Parvathi vijayamohan.

2 March 2023

Table Of Contents

If you ever had to do a research study or a survey at some point, you would have started with desk research .

There’s another, more technical name for it – secondary research. To rewind a bit, there are two types of research: primary , where you go out and study things first-hand, and secondary , where you explore what others have done.

But what is desk research? How do you do it, and use it? This article will help you:

• Understand what is desk-based research
• Explore 3 examples of desk research
• Make note of 6 common desk research methods
• Uncover the advantages of desk research

What is desk research?

Desk research can be defined as a type of market/product research, where you collect data at your desk (metaphorically speaking) from existing sources to get initial ideas about your research topic.

Desk research or secondary research is an essential process from a business’s point of view. After all, secondary data sources are such an easy way to get information about their industry, trends, competitors, and customers.

Types of secondary data sources

#1. Internal secondary data: This consists of data from within the researcher’s company. Examples include:

• Company reports and presentations
• Case studies
• Podcasts, vlogs and blogs
• Press releases
• Websites and social media
• Company databases and data sets

#2. External secondary data: Researchers collect this from outside their respective firms. Examples include:

• Digital and print publications
• Domain-specific publications and periodicals
• Online research communities, like  ResearchGate
• Industry speeches and conference presentations
• Research papers

What are examples of desk research in action?

#1. testing product-audience match.

Let’s say you’re developing a fintech product. You want to do a concept testing study. To make sure you get it right, you’re interested in finding out your target audience’s attitudes about a topic in your domain. For e.g., Gen Z’s perceptions about money in the US.

With a quick Google search, you get news articles, reports, and research studies about Gen Z’s financial habits and attitudes. Also, infographics and videos provide plenty of quantitative data to draw on.

These steps are a solid starting point for framing your concept testing study. You can further reduce the time spent on survey design with a  Concept Testing Survey Template . Sign up to get free access to this and hundreds more templates.

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#2. Tracking the evolution of the Web

As we wade into the brave new world of  Web 5.0 , there are quite a few of us who still remember static websites, flash animations, and images sliced up into tables.

If you want to refresh your memory, you can hop on the  Wayback Machine . iI gives you access to over 20 years of web history, with over 635 billion web pages saved over time!

Curiosity aside, there are practical use cases for this web archive. SEO specialist Artur Bowsza explores this in his fantastic article  Internet Archeology with the Wayback Machine .

Imagine you’re investigating a recent drop in a website’s visibility. You know there were some recent changes in the website’s code, but couldn’t get any details. Or maybe you’re preparing a case study of your recent successful project, but the website has changed so much, and you never bothered to take a screenshot. Wouldn’t it be great to travel back in time and uncover the long-forgotten versions of the website – like an archaeologist, discovering secrets from the past but working in the digital world?

#3. Repairing a business reputation

As a brand, you hope that a crisis never happens. But if hell does break loose, having a crisis management strategy is essential.

If you want examples, just do a Google search. From Gamestop getting caught in a  Reddit stock trading frenzy  to Facebook being voted  The Worst Company of 2021 , we have seen plenty of brands come under fire in recent years.

Some in-depth desk research can help you nail your crisis communication. Reputation management expert Lida Citroen outlines this in her article 7 Ways to Recover After a Reputation Crisis .

Conduct a thoughtful and thorough perception sweep of the reputation hit’s after-effects. This includes assessing digital impact such as social media, online relationships and Google search results. The evaluation gives you a baseline. How serious is the situation? Sometimes the way we believe the situation to be is not reflected in the business impact of the damage.

6 popular methods of desk research

#1. the internet.

No surprise there. When was the last time you checked a book to answer the burning question of “is pineapple on pizza illegal?” (it should be).

However, choosing authentic and credible sources from an information overload can be tricky. To help you out, the Lydia M. Olson Library has a 6-point checklist to filter out low-quality sources. You can read them in detail here .

#2. Libraries

You have earned some serious street cred if your preferred source is a library. But, jokes apart, finding the correct information for your research topic in a library can be time-consuming.

However, depending on which library you visit, you will find a wealth of verifiable, quotable information in the form of newspapers, magazines, research journals, books, documents, and more.

#3. Governmental and non-governmental organizations

NGOs, and governmental agencies like the US Census Bureau, have valuable demographic data that businesses can use during desk research. This data is collected using survey tools like SurveySparrow .

You may have to pay a certain fee to download or access the information from these agencies. However, the data obtained will be reliable and trustworthy.

#4. Educational institutions

Colleges and universities conduct plenty of primary research studies every year. This makes them a treasure trove for desk researchers.

However, getting access to this data requires legwork. The procedures vary according to the institution; among other things, you will need to submit an application to the relevant authority and abide by a data use agreement.

#5. Company databases

For businesses, customer and employee data are focus areas all on their own. But after the pandemic, companies are using even more applications and tools for the operations and service sides.

This gives businesses access to vast amounts of information useful for desk research and beyond. For example, one interesting  use case  is making employee onboarding more effective with just basic employee data, like their hobbies or skills.

#6. Commercial information media

These include radio, newspapers, podcasts, YouTube, and TV stations. They are decent sources of first-hand info on political and economic developments, market research, public opinion and other trending subjects.

However, this is also a source that blurs the lines between advertising, information and entertainment. So as far as credibility is concerned, you are better off supporting this data with additional sources.

Why is desk research helpful?

Desk research helps with the following:

• Better domain understanding.  Before doing market research, running a usability test, or starting any user-centric project, you want to see what companies have done in the past (in related areas if not the same domain). Then, instead of learning everything from scratch, you can review their research, success, and mistakes and learn from that. 
• Quicker opportunity spotting.  How do you know if you’ve found something new? By reviewing what has gone before. By doing this, you can spot gaps in the data that match up with the problem you’re trying to solve.
• More money saved . Thanks to the internet, most of the data you need is at your fingertips, and they are cheaper to compile than field data. With a few (search and mental) filters, you can quickly find credible sources with factual information.
• More time saved . You have less than 15 minutes with your research participant. Two minutes if you’re doing an online survey. Do you really want to waste that time asking questions that have already been answered elsewhere? Lack of preparation can also hurt your credibility.
• Better context.  Desk research helps to provide focus and a framework for primary research. By using desk research, companies can also get the insight to make better decisions about their customers and employees.
• More meaningful data.  Desk research is the yin to the yang of field research – they are both required for a meaningful study. That’s why desk research serves as a starting point for every kind of study.

This brings us to the last question.

How do you do desk research?

Good question! In her blog post , Lorène Fauvelle covers the desk research process in detail.

Y ou can also follow our 4-step guide below:

• First,  start with a general topic l ike “handmade organic soaps”. Read through existing literature about handmade soaps to see if there is a gap in the literature that your study can fill.
• Once you find that gap, it’s time to  specify your research topic . So in the example above, you can specify it like this: “What is the global market size for handmade organic soaps”?
• Identify the relevant secondary data for desk research. This only applies if there is past data that could be useful for your research.
• Review the secondary data  according to:
• The aim of the previous study
• The author/sponsors of the study
• The methodology of the study
• The time of the research

Note: One more thing about desk research…

Beware of dismissing research just because it was done a few years ago. People new to research often make the mistake of viewing research reports like so many yogurts in a fridge where the sell-by dates have expired. Just because it was done a couple of years ago, don’t think it’s no longer relevant. The best research tends to focus on human behaviour, and that tends to change very slowly.

• Dr David Travis, Desk Research: The What, Why and How

Wrapping up

That’s all folks! We hope this blog was helpful for you.

How have you used desk research for your work? Let us know in the comments below.

Growth Marketer at SurveySparrow

Fledgling growth marketer. Cloud watcher. Aunty to a naughty beagle.

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• What is desk research: Definition, tips & examples

Defne Çobanoğlu

Every research starts with thinking and then continues with reading. Lots of reading 🤓. It’s because you have to know what other scientists, marketers, and researchers have found on the subject so you can build on it. This is basically what desk research is. 

In this article, you will learn what secondary or desk research is and how to do it with some excellent tips and examples. Let us get started with the basic definition!

• What is desk research?

In layman’s terms, desk research is a type of research where you gather data while “ sitting at a desk .” It is another name for secondary research where the study itself is desk-based research and not experiment-based research. 

Broadly speaking, there are two types of main research types. One of them is primary research , where the researcher tries to gather data firsthand (directly from the data source). The other one is secondary research , where the researcher is going through secondary data from published books, case studies, and other quantitative research. In other words, secondary research basically equals desk research.

• Why do you need desk research?

No matter the objective of the study, desk research should always be the first step. Because previously done experimental research and explanatory research give a good starting point. If you can take advantage of the existing information, it is always constructive to see what was previously said. But that is not the only reason to use this research method. So here are the advantages of desk research:

✅Insightfulness

It would be foolish of you to just jump into the middle of research without doing any research beforehand. A researcher who collects data before going along with their plan will gather substantial information and continue with their plan with this obtained insightfulness.

✅Time efficiency

Conducting a full-on study from start to finish is quite time-consuming. However, secondary data is right there waiting to be inspected. Thanks to that, the data collection is very quick.

✅Availability

As mentioned above, the secondary data collection sources are available on many platforms. They can be found in libraries, databases, online sources, booklets, and many more.

✅Cost-effectiveness

In addition to the other advantages, doing desk research is very cheap, too. So long as you can access a library or have an internet connection, you can gather the appropriate data without a cost.

The benefits of desk research

• How to do desk research

The best approach to any research is a systematic one. That is why you should always have a plan or outline you will follow during your research. And we have gathered this step-by-step plan to guide you on your desk research. You can use it as is or build on these steps.

• Identify the topic: The first thing is to identify the research topic clearly to make sure you know what you want to know.. (You can change the topic as you explore the concept further.)
• Find research sources: Secondly, go on and identify the research sources.
• Collect data: Afterward, you can start collecting data from these sources. Go through every option to gather as much information as possible.
• Combine everything: Combine all that you gathered and compare it with the other information you collected. Make sure there are no contradictions.
• Make an informed analysis: The last step is to try to see if the findings answer the research topic well enough or not. If not, you can change the question or repeat the process. If you are satisfied with the findings you can decide if you want to continue with exploratory research methods to further your findings.

5 Steps to conduct a desk research

• Expert tips for desk research

Even the simplest task is best done by following a structured plan and organization. In addition to this, if you are planning to start your desk research, you should mind these smart tips to guide you in your way:

• Make sure the data you collect is not outdated .
• Take systematic notes while going through the sources so as not to get mixed up.
• Be critical and analytical and question your findings to make sure there are no contradictions.
• Do not limit yourself to just a few sources. It is better to make use of all options .
• Do not be biased. Stay open-minded . If you limit yourself to only a number of sources, your findings will be more than likely, insufficient. You should broaden your perspective by looking into various sides and frames.
• You can change course according to your findings. Do not feel limited to a frame. 
• You can combine and support your findings with some primary research techniques such as surveys, interviews, or observations.
• Applications of desk research

Now, we know how to do desk research, what to have in mind, and its advantages. But on what occasions can you use this type of research? Let us see some examples of desk research.

1. Doing market research on a subject

When you want information on the latest fashion trends and clothing preferences of teenagers, it is best to consult appropriate data. You can read through magazines, fashion articles, fashion brand reports, and so on. Worth the data you obtain, you can build your fashion brand or create an eye-catching ad.

2. When you have an academic approach

Let us say you are a scholar who specializes in second language acquisition in children in a bilingual household. You can check out available online academic sources such as Google Scholar, ResearchGate, Wiley Online Library, or Library Genesis. There, you can find previously done studies, articles, and statistics.  

3. Getting a general idea of a specific group of people

Let us say you will work with or around university students aged 18-28, and you want to know more about their behaviors and preferences to make informed decisions. You can use sources such as textbooks, news articles, reviews, journal entries, and previously done interviews and surveys. 

• Frequently asked questions about desk research

What are the common resources for desk research?

The sources for desk research are limitless. Because they are basically every study conducted on the research topic. As long as they are organized, tangible, and objective , there is no problem using them. Some appropriate resources for desk research are:

• Published books
• Case studies
• Directories
• Company financial data
• Government statistics
• Commercial publications

When is desk research not reliable?

You may go through the relevant sources all you want, but if you fail to make sure the data is accurate, this can disrupt your project. There are some instances where desk research is not reliable and usable. For example, you can not use information that is outdated, biased, insufficient, irrelevant, or inaccurate .

Desk research vs. Empirical research

Empirical research is based on observation as directly experienced by the researcher. And even though secondary research backs up the theory part, empirical data is a primary research method . In desk research, the researcher goes through existing sources; therefore, desk research is a secondary research method.

Desk research vs. Primary research

Desk research is also known as secondary research and it involves collecting data from secondary sources such as published documents. And, primary research involves collecting data directly from the original sources. For example, doing experiments, observations, or interviews. 

Desk research vs. Field research

Desk research, also known as secondary research, is when data collection is completed from secondary sources such as published documents or website sources. Field research, also known as primary research, is when data collection is directly from the source about a specific subject.

In desk research you collect pre-existing information while in field research you create new knowledge via exploration.

Desk research is an essential part of any study, no matter the concept. Thanks to desk research, the researcher collects all available data to draw their own conclusions or support their research theory.

It can be done using a number of source materials from books, reports, analyses, and entries. İt is a valuable part of the study. Desk research has its own advantages, and it can be perfected with some tips as well. What's more, you can use a smart tool such as a form and survey maker tool like forms.app to help you with all your research subjects!

Defne is a content writer at forms.app. She is also a translator specializing in literary translation. Defne loves reading, writing, and translating professionally and as a hobby. Her expertise lies in survey research, research methodologies, content writing, and translation.

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How to Do Desk Research in 5 Simple Steps

Before you launch a product, you should get answers to several questions. The first and, we believe, most important one is to define the overall market situation and take a closer look at the potential customer. Mastering how to do desk research is a suitable, cost-effective way to get information for making data-driven decisions.

In this article, we’re going to highlight some essential tools for conducting desk research and defining user groups.

What is desk research?

Desk research (also called secondary research) is a research method that involves using existing data. This technique will allow you to get the first idea of your market and users “from your desk.”

Secondary research includes already published materials in reports, articles, or similar documents. We also recommend using software tools that can help you become more familiar with your users (you can find some of them below).

This method is much more cost-efficient than primary research and requests less time for conducting it. Still, a lot of analysis work should be done, and the result is really helpful. The best way is to mix qualitative user research and desk research. It’ll help you fit into your timelines and budgets.

Primary vs. secondary research

Since we’ve just mentioned primary research, let’s see what it is and how it differs from secondary desk research.

Primary research refers to the process of gathering firsthand data directly from the source, be it customers or prospects. This approach takes more time and effort than desk research, but you get the latest and most detailed information.

The most common primary research methods include the following:

• interviews;
• questionnaires;
• competitor reviews;
• focus groups;
• market mapping.

Secondary research , or desk research, involves analyzing existing data and information collected by someone else or for another project or research purpose. It’s often the starting point for market research, providing foundational knowledge from pre-existing data. This method is quicker and easier than primary research, but the information you get might be older or less specific.

The desk research methods include gathering data from the following sources:

• government databases;
• academic journals;
• social media.

While both research methodologies are helpful, you may be wondering when to use each. 

Go for primary research when you:

• need up-to-date information not readily available;
• study specific questions or problems not addressed in existing research;
• require in-depth info directly from your target audience;
• aim to test new ideas.

Desk research often paves the way for primary research. Chose this approach when you:

• need a basic overview of a topic or industry;
• want to get a background knowledge and context;
• aim to study existing trends and statistics;
• want to compare different perspectives on the same topic;
• seek to save time and resources.

Pros and cons of desk research

Desk research is a valuable tool for any researcher. But, like any tool, it has its strengths and weaknesses. 

Pros of desk research

Using desk research methods is highly beneficial. Here are just several reasons for that:

• Budget-friendly. Compared to primary research, desk research is more cost-efficient. You’re using existing information at low to no cost instead of generating it yourself.
• Fast. Desk research lets you access data and reports instantly, offering quick insights without lengthy data collection.
• Scalable. Desk research allows you to cover vast amounts of data.
• Readily available data. Data for desk research is readily available online, and you can access it anytime.
• Insightful. With careful searching, you can find helpful reports, studies, and expert opinions that provide valuable perspectives on your topic.

Cons of desk research

Despite the advantages, desk research comes with its cons. Here’s what to prepare for:

• Outdated data. Data for desk research can quickly become outdated, so verifying its relevance is a must.
• Limited control. You’re relying on someone else’s data, meaning you can’t control its methodology or accuracy.
• Minimal exclusivity. Desk research findings are readily available to others, therefore they’re not exclusive to your unique project.
• Verification complexities. Verifying data sources and interpreting information can be time-consuming.

Types of internal and external data sources

Desk research is a way to gather insights literally without leaving your desk. But where do you find the necessary info? Let’s look at the secondary data sources available to you:

Internal data sources

Your company is already a goldmine of information. So before jumping into other types of desk research, consider digging into internal resources:

• Historical campaigns and sales. Review past campaigns, website traffic insights, sales conversions, and other relevant data.
• Product analytics. Dive into product analytics to learn more about different customer segments , user behavior, engagement patterns, performance metrics, and user flows.
• Internal research. Use existing internal research reports and studies (if any) and get insights from them.

External data sources

Besides studying your company information, there are plenty of external resources to explore. Look into the following examples of secondary data:

• Internet. Access any type of resources through the web.
• Commercial resources. Industry reports or market research studies by third-party firms can offer data specific to your topic.
• Trade associations. Use reports and resources from trade associations, for example, the Directory of Associations , the National Trade and Professional Associations Directory , or the Encyclopedia of Associations .
• Industry experts. Connect with industry thought leaders and analysts.
• Research associations. Access independent research papers and industry publications.
• Media. Monitor news, press releases, magazine articles, and TV and radio content to get information on your topic.
• Market research software. Leverage specialized software platforms that offer advanced analytics, reports, or access to industry data.
• Government data. Use statistics and reports from government agencies like the US Census Bureau , US Government Publishing Office , US Small Business Administration , and so on.
• Local government data. Get market data, demographic info, and employment trends through local gov websites.
• Public libraries. Access library databases through the Digital Public Library of America or the National Archives in the UK.
• Competitors. Study competitor websites, press releases, mailing lists, online reviews, and social media activity.
• Educational resources. Analyze academic research papers and journals relevant to your topic.

Examples of desk research

Let’s now explore some examples of design projects leveraging desk research:

Analyzing dreams with Sleepify

The creator of the Sleepify project sought a user-centric design for an app tracking dreams and well-being. They leveraged external desk research and competitor analysis to:

• study sleep’s impact on a person’s well-being through UCE Research and ePsychologi.pl platforms;
• discover the strengths and weaknesses of competitor apps.

The secondary research findings, along with quantitative research, were used for creating a high-fidelity prototype, ready for user testing and validation.

Keeping users fit with MYFIT

MYFIT project suggests creating a fitness app packed with workout routines, aimed to boost user engagement and retention. It is expected to be a clean, stylish, and modern fitness app designed to keep users active and motivated. The designer proposes to tackle this challenge by:

• researching user behavior and frustrations with existing apps using various methods;
• exploring why users abandon fitness apps;
• creating optimal user journeys.

Reaching personalized sales with AI

Designers aimed to explore the potential of using AI for personalized sales in the gaming industry. Their desk research targeted:

• The global market size of generative AI in business, its usage in gaming, and sales marketing.
• Industry gap. While personalization thrives in eCommerce, the gaming industry lags behind.

The insight the designers derived is that a personalized AI tool based on in-game actions, purchase history, demographics, and player data could revolutionize game sales.

Five steps to conduct desk research

As already mentioned, the reason to conduct research is to become more familiar with your users and potential customers. Your focus should be on collecting notable data and analyzing it. Here’s how to do this in five steps:

1. Determine your research topic and goal

Before even starting your research, ask yourself what you want to study and why. Outline the questions you aim to answer or the information you’re looking for. Is it to understand industry trends or handle customer journey mapping ? The more specific your question, the easier it will be to steer your research in the right direction.

2. Choose relevant secondary data sources

Go through internal and external resources relevant to your topic, making sure they are credible and objective. Make a list of resources suitable for your research topic and goals.

3. Explore existing data

Go down your resource list and find relevant data. Here’s what you can study:

Most likely, you should start with the existing text available in the public domain. What to look for? Everything! You can go through government or private companies’ reports, the original material on which these reports are based, conference proceedings, primary periodicals, official publications, and articles in newspapers and journals. 

This method of data collection is the most inexpensive and nontime-consuming way.

Document analysis is an important part of business analysis . This process includes the examination of existing documents and recordings. In some way, you are using the research that has already been completed.

The objective of this process is to track changes over the whole period. You can analyze logs, email logs, databases, web analytics, minutes of meetings, staff reports, and information logs. These are only a few examples of the sources for this type of research.

For instance, before redesigning the existing product, you have to understand the reason for the low level of purchases or numerous complaints in support. Documents and records help track the interaction between employees and customers or between your current website and customers. This is the way to make correct conclusions.

Knowing your competitors helps analyze the existing solutions and define the current problems they cover. Obviously, to share the entire experience and provide an ultimate guide for conducting competitive research, we have to write a whole new article. Here are some points to pay attention to:

• determine the products your competitors offer;
• pay attention to their sales tactics and results;
• analyze how they market their products;
• take note of their content strategies;
• look at competitors’ social media presence, strategies, and go-to platforms;
• make a SWOT analysis to learn their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

There are a lot of tools that may help. We’d like to share some of those that we use while conducting desk research:

• Crunchbase is a live company database, which updates constantly. This tool helps you identify upcoming marketing tendencies. For example, you can find how many companies in a specific industry are raising.
• Capterra is an intermediary between buyers and technology vendors within the software industry. Here, you can find the most comprehensive lists of products per industry, reviews, ratings, and infographics, and easily compare needed competitors.
• Serpstat is one of the top-rated SEO tools and definitely will help you outline competitor analysis just by entering your domain.
• Semrush analyzes the data for you and gives you instant recommendations on SEO, content marketing, and advertising that help you improve your online visibility in days.

4. Organize and compare your data

Gathering data is just the beginning. Now, you should organize and make sense of it. Consider using mind maps or spreadsheets to structure your data. Remove any duplications as well.

5. Analyze your data

Now that you have your data in a digestible format, analyze it for helpful insights. Check if the gathered data answers the questions you aimed to study. If not, go back to step two and find other sources of information.

Useful resources for defining your user groups

As soon as you finalize your desk research, you will most likely be able to group your users. So now it’s time to take a deeper look at them. Here are some free tools you can use to identify your user personas.

Google Analytics

If you already have launched your website, don’t forget to insert the Google Analytics tracking code. It will help you get more information about your clients. Now we’ll share which reports we suggest using:

This report shows the key age group and gender of your website visitors. To kick off the demographic report, follow the flow: Audience tab at the left menu > Demographics > Overview.

Learn more about the preferred interests of your users. As you have already opened an Age or Gender report, you can add a secondary dimension. Select ‘Affinity Category’ at the dropdown. You will see all the segments your visitors are interested in. It is helpful to identify your ideal online customers at scale.

One more good analytics tool to identify the users who are actively researching and comparing items across the Google Display Network (YouTube, paid search results via AdWords, display ads via AdSense, etc.)

This report will provide you with an overview of all the languages your users have set in their browsers and the locations where they may live. It will be useful in understanding cultural differences and will decrease effort for your marketing campaigns.

If you’re going to create a mobile app, think about which devices your guests are most likely to use to access your website. Go to Audience > Benchmarking > Devices. After that, dive deeper into Mobile Devices’ info. You will see exactly which brand of mobile devices they are using. Go to Audience > Mobile > Devices.

So, we’ve just outlined some useful data to understand your users better. Now, let’s move forward to other sources.

Facebook Insights

As almost everyone over the Internet is a social media user, it is good to use the data it represents. It will help you create more target posts and campaigns that cover your customer needs.

If you already have a customer list or just a list of users with phones or email addresses, you can use it to gain extra information about these people.

You need a list in the .csv file. In the Facebook Ads Manager, you can create a custom audience. Then Facebook Audience Insights will finish uploading the list, and you will receive a ‘Ready’ notification. At this point, you can analyze your audience.

Initially, you need to open an Audience Insights tool. You can choose an Audience you want to analyze. This tool can give you access to such data:

• age, gender, and relationship status;
• lifestyle preferences, demographics, and interests;
• education level and job title;
• Facebook pages that are likely relevant to your audience;
• top cities, countries, and languages;
• frequency of certain activities;
• device usage;
• household size and estimated household income;
• homeownership status and house market value;
• spending methods, purchase behavior, and estimated retail and online retail spending habits.

Even if you don’t have a customer list yet, you can use generic insights connected to your Business Page. You can also use software tools that provide you with potential customer emails. Take a look at these tools:

• Snov.io helps find more convertible leads, verify contacts, track your lead’s progress, and automate cold outreach.
• Hunter is a cloud-based email search solution that helps businesses find emails on company websites, verify domains, compose follow-ups, and more.

Try to pull out the most useful insights about your potential users, finalize all the gathered information, and be sure your team is aware of the user groups you are trying to reach.  

LinkedIn is one more powerful resource for collecting data. A good LinkedIn profile is a pretty ready proto persona. You can discover the user’s location, career path and goals, achievements, and daily work responsibilities. It is especially useful for B2B marketing. By the way, if you are in this segment, you can also use tools like Leadfeeder to understand which companies are visiting your website.

Now, we will break out four components that could be revealed from LinkedIn: business attributes, pain points, hangouts, and values.

They give you a deeper view of the demographics of your business page followers and visitors. What can you gather here? You can see location, job function, seniority, industry, company size. There is also data about similar companies and the comparison in analytics. It’s a great specific tool to reinforce Google Analytics.

Pay attention to the sections ‘Summary,’ ‘Skills & Endorsements,’ ‘Activity,’ and ‘Interests.’ 

In ‘Summary,’ we can get an overview of the person’s work trajectory, education, and main skills. From the ‘Skills & Endorsements’ section, we can receive data about a person’s strengths and people who endorsed their skills (who can also be useful in the research). The ‘Activity’ section is a great way to observe what the person is talking about, what they like, and comment. ‘Interests’ shows a list of the following companies and people, so it is possible to examine what engages the person.

Company Page includes information about the history, size, and career opportunities. Such pages also may have stories about employees and their quotes. The company’s job descriptions show the professional attributes required of a candidate.

After gathering all this data, you can create a direct message to increase the chances that relevant people will view it. How to do it? Open your Company Page > Click on ‘Create Post’ > Manage Post Audience: from Anyone to Targeted audience. Add some specific details about your audience.

Use LinkedIn Advanced Search to earn data about market size and the number of required companies or people. By working on the filters, you can find more insights about locations, education, seniority levels, etc.

Last thoughts

Taking market temperature and understanding your audience are the key ingredients in a way to creating a successful product. Pay attention to detail, document the whole process, and share it with your team and all the stakeholders. Help them to keep an empathic approach to your product and audience.

Have a great time conducting research. If you will need professional help with it, feel free to contact us .

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What is the desk research method?

Secondary desk research is a research method that involves collecting and analyzing information from existing sources like reports, articles, and websites. This approach is particularly valuable in the early stages of prototyping , as it helps to gather essential insights with a streamlined resource investment.

How to do UX desk research?

To do UX desk research, follow these steps:

1.Define your goals and research questions,

2.Choose secondary data sources like usability studies or industry reports,

3.Go through the data relevant to your research,

4.Structure and compare the gathered data,

5.Analyze the data to make necessary UX improvements.

What are examples of desk research?

What are the two types of desk research techniques?

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• Home > Publications > Desk Research: How To Get Information For Next To Nothing

Desk Research: How To Get Information For Next To Nothing

There is no point reinventing a wheel and there are many metaphorical wheels available to the market researcher. The expert desk researcher can quickly and inexpensively dig out data from a wide variety of sources to answer many of the questions that have already been asked.

Why Reinvent The Wheel?

So, why do we spend so much on primary research? The reason, very often, is because we don’t know how to locate the information. Or it may be information that is not in quite the shape we require and it escapes our notice that with a little bit of reworking, it could be very useful. It could be dated and we need something more current. Sometimes, desk research seems too easy. A big decision surely needs a lot of money spending on it and merits an original piece of research? It is not so. Information that is in the public domain has at least been subjected to the test of public scrutiny. This is not to say that it will definitely be correct, but it could have been challenged and that may in itself help the researcher judge its accuracy.

I once ran a training course which in the first instance was called simply “desk research”. There were very few takers. It seems such a boring subject. When the course was renamed, “how to get information for next to nothing” it became over-subscribed and has been run many times. Desk research is information that costs next to nothing. It sits underneath our noses. It can easily be carried out by the do-it-yourself researcher. Moreover, for the ‘do your own’ researcher, it is a very practical tool – in most cases he or she is not at any disadvantage compared to the resources of a professional agency. A couple of days of research have a very big yield and the benefits of spending much more time searching quickly diminish.

Desk research is a term that is used loosely and it generally refers to the collection of secondary data or that which has already been collected. To most people it suggests published reports and statistics and these are certainly important sources. In the context of this chapter the term is widened to include all sources of information that do not involve a field survey and, in addition to the more traditional sources, this could include speaking to someone at a trade association or carrying out an interview with an expert.

Until the advent of the Internet and on-line databases, access to libraries was the only important resource needed to carry out desk research. Despite the marvels of the information highway, some data are easier to access from hard copy and off the library shelves. The researcher should acquaint him or herself with the nearest commercial library.

All major cities have at least one good municipal or university library and few researchers will be more than an hour’s travel from such a resource. From time to time the reference books in the main body of the library will be useful but for the most part, it is the commercial section which is of greatest interest.

There are also some important national libraries open to a desk researcher including a range of services from the British Library([1]) and two important government resources: the Central Statistical Office ([2]) and the DTI Export Marketing Information Centre ([3]), a major source of international market research. There are also very many specialist libraries run by industry bodies and others; these can best be located through ASLIB ([4]).

Sources Of Sources – The High Level View

Before exploring some of the popular sources of information to market researchers, it is worth pointing out that there are some useful “sources of sources”. These range from inexpensive books such as How to Find Information – Business : A Guide to Searching in Published Sources (How to Find Series) by Nigel Spencer (available from amazon.com) through to the much more expensive Croner’s A-Z of Business Information Sources or Croner’s European Business Information Sources (www.croner.cch.co.uk) ([5]). Croner’s A-Z lists some of the best Web sources and the European guide provides a starting point for gathering information from European countries. Both are also available on CD-ROM.

There are also other general guides which can be used to track down sources of data including those covering published research, the press, directories and statistics; examples of all of these have been mentioned above. For international markets there are comparable ‘sources of sources’ including European Directory of Marketing Information Sources ([6]) and Directory of International Sources of Business Information ([7]). Some or all of these ‘sources of sources’ will be found in a good library together with other indexes, eg Research Index which lists articles published in the press. The library’s own cataloguing and indexing systems also provide a means of systematically searching out data. With experience, sources likely to be relevant to a particular field will become familiar and provide short cuts, although a full search technique is also recommended.

Encyclopedias are useful storehouses of information for the market researcher, either to check out a technical issue or to obtain a closer definition of the subject and its associated terminology. Encyclopedia Britannica (www.britannica.com) has become universally accessible (including recently launched mobile and tablet applications) for browsing alphabetically, by subject, or for a quick word search.

The United States has led the field in the collection and dissemination of business information for many years. The Central Intelligence Agency use their expertise on our behalf to bring together basic intelligence which began as the National Intelligence Survey and is now an online Factbook that can be very easily examined country by country (www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/). The whole database can be downloaded, though this requires either considerable patience or a broad bandwidth connection. Virtually every country in the world is covered. The Factfile gives geographical statistics of countries, the demographic breakdown of their population, economic overviews (in some detail), transportation, government, and maps galore.

Industry Experts

Another means of locating data sources is through direct contact with organisations and individuals who have knowledge of a particular field. Trade associations and the publishers of information are examples. This sort of approach strays outside desk research in the strictest sense. However, a two-way traffic between sources (which identify potential contacts) and expert interviewing (to identify sources) is a means of getting the most value at little extra cost (possibly at a saving if sources are identified more efficiently).

You could also try FIND/SVP ([8]) which has a Quick Consulting and Research Service that aims to answer questions on markets through a fixed-fee retainer system and deliver the results by phone, fax and e-mail at a quite modest cost.

The Internet

The Internet has revolutionised the way in which people search for information; its constant evolution means that real-time as well as archived data are now readily and publicly available.

For market researchers, the Internet has two important sources of information:

• 1. Websites which companies, organisations and individuals have created to promote or communicate their products, services or views;
• 2. Online communities such as blogs, forums and social media, consisting of people who have an interest in a particular subject.

Given the tens of billions of web pages that are publicly available on the Internet, the problem is not the volume of information as much as finding the tiny bit that you need in this enormous ocean. Fortunately for researchers, search engine intelligence has advanced exponentially over the last five years, saving time and (for the most part) leading users towards the necessary information source(s).

In this massive sea of information it may be difficult to find what we require because:

• We are using the wrong search strategy – a different word or arrangement of words may yield more precise hits
• We are using the wrong word – the use of the British spelling of tyres would miss out on web references to the American spelling of tires.
• The information we are looking for may not be available in precisely that form. A search for the volumes of tyres bought as original equipment by Ford may come to naught, but it would be easy to derive the figure by finding out the number of Ford cars produced per year and multiplying by five (one per wheel plus the spare).

A search strategy with a suitable arrangement of words may well hit the bull’s eye and locate the information that is being sought. When typing in the search string, it may be helpful to use double quotations to enclose the phrase so that “world health organisation” will only deliver references to those three words in that combination. Though the vast majority of search engines are now intuitive enough to recognise well-known phrases, companies, organisations and other common search strings, use of the quotation marks references is particularly useful when looking for a report or product name. Restricting the search to certain file formats can help when looking for reports. For example, entering filetype:pdf before the search term will produce a search result limited to PDF files.

Thinking laterally is certainly the first principle of desk research using the Internet. Common terms will usually lead to thousands of hits but irrelevant results. Where possible, use a phrase (in quotation marks) or proper name to narrow the search and therefore retrieve a smaller number of more relevant results. If too many results are generated, it is easy to refine the word string.

More often the search will start a trail that follows the links between related sites. The searcher must learn to surf from one site to another, book-marking those that are useful for downloading or copying into a work file. Here it is worth emphasising that a crucial rule of desk research is always to note the reference of the data. Referenced data allows the credibility to be judged and it facilitates re-examination.

Online Databases And Market Data

In comparison to the freely available information on the Internet, searching online report databases is more costly and typically could cost between £5,000 to £10,000 per year to a serious user. This is because the databases house collections of valuable reports, which, even though available on a page-by-page basis, still have a hefty price tag.

The major benefit of any sort of online database is the speed of locating material using key word searching to match what is available to what is sought. This is particularly of benefit in searching press files (manually looking through the last few months’ issues of even one paper is a daunting task).

There are an increasing number of web sites that offer archive material to researchers without having to sign up though there usually is a fee for the report or part of it. The table of contents is available free and there are many synopses of reports, which may be sufficient for those requiring just an overview. The charges made for bought-in reports and similar sources range from the nominal to levels comparable to commissioning ad hoc research. Most fall within the £500 to £5,000 bracket.

A good source of market research data, offering full or part reports is www.marketresearch.com which allows access to a collection of over 300,000 publications from over 700 research firms.

One of the best general databases of commercial and financial news is ft.com – the Financial Times’ web site.

Company Data

Researchers need company data for competitor benchmarking, sourcing suppliers or building profiles of customers and potential customers. As recently as ten years ago, company literature was a mainstay of such searches. Such literature was prepared for the public domain and sent readily on request. Today company web sites are brimming with useful information. They contain product and service information, data sheets, company histories, press releases, and often financial background. The information is nearly always more extensive and current than printed brochures and it is available in an instant.

Financial data on companies is available in the UK from Companies House (www.companieshouse.gov.uk) ([9]). Companies House’s WebSales offers the searchable Company Names and Address Index free of charge which enables the searcher to look up information on more than 2.5 million companies. Smaller companies file only limited information and this can reduce the value of company accounts in niche markets. Searching for a company can be carried out using its name or its unique company registration number.

Details that can be obtained free from Companies House online include:

• The registered office address of the company
• Dates for the last accounts and annual returns
• Date of incorporation
• Country of origin (original country of registration)
• Status e.g. live, dissolved, etc.
• Insolvency details
• Previous names
• Company Type
• Nature of business
• Branch details
• Overseas company information

In addition to the free basic company details, certain company documents and reports can be purchased for very modest sums by credit card and delivered electronically. These include scanned image documents of the latest company accounts, annual returns, current appointments and outstanding mortgages.

Another source of company and financial data is Hoovers, a subsidiary of Dun & Bradstreet (www.hoovers.com), which offers information on over 65 million corporations worldwide.

The US Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) requires all US public companies (except foreign companies and companies with less than $10 million in assets and 500 shareholders) to file registration statements, periodic reports, and other forms electronically, and anyone can access and download this information for free from its web site (www.sec.gov).

Government Statistics

In most projects, the desk researcher will seek ‘hard’ statistical data and sooner or later this will point towards a government source. These cover most areas of business and social life.

In the UK, The National Statistics website (www.statistics.gov.uk) contains a vast range of official UK statistics and information about statistics, which can be accessed and downloaded free. The site allows searching by themes such as agriculture/fishing/forestry, commerce, energy, industry, education, crime and justice, the labour market, the population, etc.

The Annual Abstract Of Statistics ([10]) is an easy way into the major series of statistics and is available in hard copy from Her Majesty’s Stationery Office – HMSO. There is also a free catalogue of the main publications from the same government bookshop, which is well worth picking up. However, the bible is the Guide to Official Statistics ([11]), a substantial volume that is regularly revised.

One of the cornerstones of the government’s statistical service and a massive source of data for market researchers (see Market Research Society, 1993) is the decennial Census of Population (the most recent one was carried out in 2011. Marketeers use census output for segmentation by demographics and survey planning (e.g. setting quota samples). The census is also the basis of geodemographic analysis systems.

The UK government is not, of course, unique in providing a statistical service. Governments of most developed countries provide as good or better data covering their own territories – the USA for example is very well documented. A visit to US Department Of Commerce site on www.doc.com offers a treasure trove of information from industry sector statistics to economic analysis to demographic data, and research publications. There is a good search engine to help navigate through this very large site.

There are also international bodies collecting and publishing statistics. For the EU the office responsible is Eurostat ([12]). Two other major publishers are the UN ([13]) and the OECD ([14]).

Trade And Industry Bodies

Every trade, no matter how obscure, nearly always has some collective body to represent its interests (and also usually spawns several trade publications – see below). To meet members’ needs, and for PR purposes, most of these bodies publish or can make available (sometimes to members only) considerable information about their industry. The organisation and sophistication of these bodies and the volume of the information offered varies enormously. Some do no more than publish an annual report, whilst others are the recognised source of detailed industry statistics (e.g. the SMMT ([15]) for the motor vehicle industry). There are various directories of these organisations (e.g. Directory of British Associations ([16])) and a researcher should not only seek out publications of relevant bodies but also contact them directly; information, which is not published, may be obtained in this way.

Market Research Reports

A number of specialist market research companies speculatively carry out studies, which are then sold as publications – albeit relatively expensive, measured against the price we are used to paying for more conventional reference books. However, compared to privately commissioned studies these are incredibly good value. Often referred to as multi-client reports, these publications cover every subject imaginable from A to Z. There are over 30,000 multi-client reports available and they can be located through several sources. Marketsearch ([17]) lists 20,000 published reports from 700 firms. The database can be searched in hard copy or from the company’s web site (www.marketsearch-dir.com). Another directory of published market research is Findex ([18]) from Euromonitor. This directory, also known as The Worldwide Directory of Market Research, Reports, Studies and Surveys provides details on 9,000 market reports.

The general, business and trade press are key sources for the desk researcher. As well as ‘news’, these sources include much background material, including special supplements on industries and markets. The general press includes the quality dailies and Sundays – The Times, Independent, Guardian, Telegraph, etc – and periodicals such as The Economist. Of the business press, The Financial Times ([19]) is a major reference source in its own right.

There are several press indexes (e.g. Research Index ([20])), but searching the general press is now better done on-line. Research Index has indexes of over 300 UK newspapers, trade journals and “popular” business periodicals. The two sections are arranged by company and industry. It is published every 2 weeks, so it is easy to find current information. Each entry gives the title/headline of the article, newspaper or periodical title and date, and page number. The industry section is cumulated quarterly. There is also a Web version of Research Index which covers the most recent 14 months (www.researchindex.co.uk).

In industrial markets the trade press is a very important source of market research information. Every industry and trade has regular journals which can be identified in publications such as BRAD ([21]) and Pims ([22]).

Directories

Directories are the staple diet of market researchers. They provide details of companies that either supply or consume goods and they are the usual source for preparing sample frames (list of companies or people to be interviewed). The directories may also provide a profile of a company, detailing its size by giving the number of employees, or whether it is an agent or producer.

One of the most comprehensive general directories is Yellow Pages (www.yell.co.uk) since every company in the UK with a telephone number is given a free entry. These directories form the most comprehensive listing of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Within the Yell Group, The Business Database supplies data on around 1.5 million UK businesses sourced from the free-line entries in the Yellow Pages printed directories. From its web site it is possible to run counts and download lists for sample frames.

Every country has its Yellow Pages on the Internet (www.gelbe-seiten.de, www.goudengids.nl, www.paginegialle.it, www.paginas-amarillas.es) from where it is possible to locate companies in the detailed product groupings used by the directory. For relatively modest sums, researchers can order lists of companies’ addresses and telephone numbers (in hard or soft copy) filtered by Standard Industrial Classification or NACE code, company size (number of employees) and geographical region.

Other general directories, which comprise larger companies than those in Yellow Pages, include Kompass ([23]) and Dun & Bradstreet’s Key British Enterprises ([24]). These sources can be found in almost any library, as well as being available online.

In addition to these general sources, most industries have their own specialised directories, which may have a better listing of suppliers and buyers. Specialised directories can be located through guides such as Current British Directories ([25]).

The Range Of Information Available From Desk Research

Sources such as those outlined above can be used to obtain data on the large majority of subjects likely to be covered in a market research project. These include those mentioned below.

The marketing environment

Markets do not exist in isolation and are shaped by environmental factors such as the state of the general economy, demographic trends, the legislative framework and various social factors. An understanding of these external factors is likely to be part of any full analysis of a market. The marketing environment is generally well documented and desk research (rather than primary research) is the only practical source available. The economy, demographics and key social variables are all well covered by the government’s statistical service and the many publications it produces. Other sources in this area include special reports (government and private), and press commentary.

Geodemographics

This is a subject in its own right with quite an extensive literature. Geodemographics is also a specialised commercial service with several UK companies (with opposite numbers in other countries) offering such data systems for marketing applications. Leventhal (1990) loosely defines geodemographics as “the classification of small areas according to the characteristics of their residents”. Leventhal also identifies two underlying principles:

• People living in the same neighbourhood are more likely to have similar characteristics than a similar number of people chosen at random.
• Neighbourhoods can be usefully classified on the characteristics of their residents; two geographically separate neighbourhoods of the same classification are likely to contain similar types of people.

UK geodemographics systems are all based on the output of the Census of Population (using the output data at the smallest geographical level – Census Enumeration Districts) and provide classifications based on a number of typologies as given in the table below.

Example of area classification (Pinpoint)

• Armed forces
• Upwardly mobile young families
• Affluent households
• Older people in small houses
• Suburban middle aged or older
• Working people with families
• Poor urban areas
• Low status areas with flats
• Inner city bedsits
• Poor multi-ethnic areas
• Crowded council neighbourhoods
• Unclassified or unmatched

Source: Given in Leventhal (1990)

Although the geographical basis of the input data is Census Enumeration Districts, suppliers of geodemographic systems can provide area classifications to map grid references or postcodes and also complete files of individually classified households.

Applications of geodemographics include customer profiling (through correlation with sales records or via market research surveys) and customer targeting; having profiled customers in geodemographic terms they can be reached very effectively through finely targeted direct marketing. Geographical information systems (GIS) also use this geodemographic data for retail planning and site location by bringing together different information sources to measure overlap and gaps in the data. A simple example would be the overlaying of three databases – a map of main roads, a population database, and a database of car dealer showrooms – in order to see where there is potential (subject to land availability) for new dealer sites.

Geodemographics is now used extensively as an input in research survey sample planning (many large continuous surveys are planned and produce output on a geodemographic basis). Where marketing planning is based on geodemographics, there is an obvious need to have the neighbourhood classifications as a variable in the research data.

Market structure and size

The structure of most business and industrial markets can be fully analysed through desk research. Sources include the general and trade press, directories, company financial data, published reports, trade association output and government statistics. The latter source includes UK Markets (formerly Business Monitor) ([26]), which provides, for all industries, details of production, imports and exports with detailed product breakdowns on an annual basis. Government statistics such as UK Markets go back into long time series and provide a basis for historical and future trend analysis. This source or others may not provide market size estimates of the specific category of interest, but with ingenuity, reasonable approximations can usually be derived from top-down (making estimates from a wider classification which includes the one of interest) or bottom-up (aggregating sub classifications). The skill in this sort of work includes bringing together disparate pieces of data from separate sources, e.g. UK Markets plus press reports and company accounts analysis. A useful additional type of source to mention for market sizing and analysis is various compendiums such as Market Assessment of Top Markets ([27]) and Market Size Digest ([28]).

Suppliers and brands

Data on suppliers and brands can be thought of as an extension of the sort of market structure analysis considered above and may include profiles of major suppliers and their brands, marketing methods and advertising tactics, and factors making for success. The press (including trade journals), directories, company accounts and published reports are all potentially useful sources. So is advertising and trade literature (especially in technical markets), and such material can usually be collected free. One important area of information, which is usually outside the scope of desk research, is consumers’ attitudes to and satisfaction with suppliers. Generally this can only be obtained through primary research; although in some industries published reports may have relevant data.

Distribution and retailing

In most businesses, distributors are playing an increasing role as they provide a cost-effective means of supplying and servicing small (and sometimes not so small) accounts. Distribution structures can vary considerably with many tiers ranging from importers, through to main distributors, local dealers, etc. Sources that provide an analysis of these structures are much the same as those just discussed for primary suppliers. Consumer markets are generally retail markets and retailing generally is very well documented, including in the press and in published reports.

Desk research can provide detailed product information. As well as online data, trade publications in some markets compare products from alternative suppliers. Mail order catalogues are another source of product details. Product literature is often particularly relevant in technical markets and is a valuable source for analysing product features. Visits to exhibitions and trade fairs to collect this literature are an example of ‘near’ desk research, which can be used before moving into primary research. Pricing information may also be available from the sources just mentioned, although the difference between list prices and what is actually paid may reduce the value of such information.

Desk research is not usually thought to have a role in new product evaluation and certainly consumer reaction to a new product has to be established through primary research. However, the fate of other new launches can provide very useful information and can be accessed from the trade press and other sources.

International marketing

The low cost of desk research is even more evident in international marketing. In the UK there are libraries and online databases that are readily accessible and stacked with information on overseas markets. The different types of sources available and the range of topics are much the same as those in the UK. However, the consistency and comparability of data is often a problem. For the EU markets there are a number of pan-Europe sources including the output from Eurostat, which has already been mentioned. Two important and inexpensive sources of European data from Eurostat are Eurostat Yearbook 2011 (the statistical guide to Europe) and the Panorama Of European Business. Electronic copies of both are available online free of charge, whilst hard copies can also be purchased for a modest fee.

Planning, Recording And Evaluating Desk Research

A plan is needed if the search for published data is to be efficient. A written plan is a big help, whether it is utilising library or online sources. Before visiting a library or logging-on, the information sought should be specified in some detail, although flexibility and some ingenuity are also needed (e.g. looking for relevant data under wider or narrower classifications and creatively making connections). Likely sources including ‘sources of sources’ can also be planned in advance, particularly as experience is gained.

The plan should also include a timetable. How long should be spent on that part of a project? This will depend on the breadth of the information sought, the type of data and the resources to be used. It is difficult to generalise. However, what can be said is that diminishing returns apply and after quite a short time, the extra information gained falls in proportion to the time spent searching.

Once found, data needs recording. The source of any data should always be recorded, so that its accuracy can be both evaluated and, if necessary, retraced. The sources should also be recorded, as they may need to be attributed. In long projects and repeat work, this will provide useful short cuts to the most valuable sources and ensure that the same blind alleys are avoided.

Information needs not only collecting but also evaluating. In part this is a matter of making judgements about its validity. We are often fooled into trusting data that is published. Once in black and white, we assume that it must be correct. The experienced researcher learns that market size figures that are published need to be cross-checked by two or three sources and frequently there are some serious anomalies.

All secondary data accessed through desk research was originally generated through primary research. Thorough validation requires going back to the source and understanding the methodology used: was it based on some sort of census, on a sample survey, on some crude formula using a ratio or merely on anecdotal evidence? Where possible two or more sources for the same data can be compared (although make sure that they are different). However, some sense of proportion has to be kept. It is simply not possible to thoroughly validate in such ways all the data and nor is it necessary to do so – as previously mentioned market researchers can work within quite wide bands of accuracy for practical purposes.

As well as validating the data, evaluation also includes its integration into a meaningful whole. Looking for linkages and patterns can and should be part of the process with initial material often pointing to other sources and subjects. That is why we stated earlier that although planning is needed in desk research, flexibility should be retained. Subsequent analysis and integration of data will be facilitated by good note and record keeping when the material is collected and, if this is voluminous, by reasonably organised filing.

The Limits Of Desk Research

Desk research can be very fruitful. However, it has its limits and it may only provide part of the information sought in a project. As previously suggested, where a mix of desk and primary research is likely to be required there is everything to be gained by carrying out desk research first and then filling the gaps through interviewing. In this way, the more expensive primary techniques are used only where essential.

One limit is its unpredictability. At least for the novice or where the subject area is unfamiliar, there can be no certainty of what it will yield and what gaps will remain. This is partly the reason why it is not a major service supplied by market research agencies. It would be difficult for an agency to quote for carrying out desk research, carry out the project and deliver a scant report at the end saying that despite a thorough search, nothing has been found. For this reason, it is mostly carried out in-house by internal researchers. At least a short exercise will involve only modest costs and may save on much more expensive fieldwork. Unlike an agency, a ‘do your own’ researcher can live with little to show for the desk research stage.

Some information is also in principle not available and with a little experience this is obvious from the start. Generally this includes most attitude-type data, especially where the subject of consumer attitudes is particular rather than general opinions – of your own and competitor companies, of a novel product, of a specific advert, etc.

Between desk research and conventional fieldwork there are some useful hybrid activities. These include simple observation as a means of data collection and ‘overview’ interviews, both techniques within the resources of any ‘do your own’ researcher.

• British Library, 96 Euston Road, St Pancras, London NW1 2DB. Tel: 020 7412 7677. Fax: 020 7412 7794
• CSO Newport Library and Information Service, Cardiff Road, Newport, Gwent NP10 8XG. Tel: 01633 812973
• Trade Partners UK, 66-74 Victoria Street, London SW1E 6SW. Tel: 020 7215 5444
• Aslib, The Association for Information Management, Staple Hall, Stone House Court, London EC3A 7PB, United Kingdom Tel: +44 (0)20 7903 0000
• Croner.CCH Group Ltd, 145 London Road, Kingston upon Thames, Surrey KT2 6SR Tel: 020 8547 3333 Fax: 020 8547 2638
• European Directory of Marketing Information Sources, Euromonitor (see ref 13).
• Directory of International Sources of Business Information (Ball), Pitman Publishers, 128 Long Acre, London WC2E 9AN. Tel: 020 7379 7383
• IRN SVP United Kingdom, Vigilant House, 120 Wilton Road, London W1V 1JZ Tel: 0207 8087107 Fax: 0207 8087108
• Companies House, Crown Way, Cardiff CF4 3UZ. Tel: 0870 3333636; Fax: 029 20380900
• Annual Abstract of Statistics, (previously HMSO) The Stationery Office Ltd, 123 Kingsway, London WC2B 6BQ. Tel: 0207 873 0011
• Guide to Official Statistics, The Stationery Office
• Eurostat, Statistical Office of the European Communities, Jean Molinet Building, Rue Alcide de Gaspari, L-2920 Luxembourg. Tel: +00(352)-430133444 Fax: +00(352)-4301-35349
• United Nations Information Centre, 21st Floor, Millbank Tower, 21-24 Millbank, London SWIP 4QH. Tel: 0207 630 1981. Fax: 0207 976 6478
• OECD, 2 Rue Andre-Pascal, 75775 Paris CEDEX 16, France. Tel: 00 33 01 45 24 82 00. Fax: 00 33 01 45 24 85 00 (publications also from The Stationery Office – see ref 10).
• SMMT – Society Of Motor Manufacturers and Traders. Forbes House, Halkin Street, London SW1X 7DS. Tel: 020 7235 7000. Fax: 020 7235 7112
• Directory of British Associations, CBD Research, Chancery House, 15 Wickham Road, Beckenham, Kent BR3 5JS. Tel: 0871 222 3440.
• Marketsearch, Arlington Publications, 1 Hay Hill, Berkeley Square, London W1J 6DH. Tel: 0207 495 1940
• Findex, available through Euromonitor, 60-61 Britton Street, London EC1M 5UX. Tel: 0207 251 1105. Fax: 020 7608 3149
• The Financial Times, Business Research Centre, Fitzroy House, 13-17 Epworth Street, London EC2A 4DL Tel: 020 7970 0100
• Research Index Ltd, Becor House, Green Lane, Lincoln LN6 7DL Tel: 01522 524212.
• BRAD, Maclean Hunter Limited, Chalk Lane, Cockfosters Road, Barnet, Herts EN4 OBU. Tel: 0208 242 3000
• Pims, Pims UK Ltd, Mildmay Avenue, London N1 4RS. Tel : 0207 226 1000
• Kompass, Reed Business Information, Windsor Court, East Grinstead, West Sussex RH19 1XA. Tel: 01342 326972
• Key British Enterprises, Dun & Bradstreet, Holmers Farm Way, High Wycombe, Bucks HP12 4UL. Tel: 01494 422000
• Current British Directories, CBD Research (see ref 23).
• UK Markets, Office of National Statistics, Cardiff Road, Newport, Gwent NP10 8XG. Tel: 01633 815696
• Market Assessment of Top Markets, Market Assessment Publications, 5th Floor, 110 Strand, London WC2R 0AA. Tel: 020 7836 5111
• Market Size Digest, Mintel International Group, 18 Long Lane, London EC1A 9HE. Tel: 020 7606 4533.

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Research Methods: Desk Research

Michael Brown

Photo by Matt Artz  on  Unsplash

An often overlooked but vitally important tool in the researcher’s kit is humble desk research, that is, finding and reading documents that already exist. Unless you're already very familiar with a topic this is almost always the first research you’ll do as part of a project, so it’s important that you plan it carefully to put yourself on the right track.

It’s very rare that desk research will answer all your questions, but it should help you identify assumptions and form the research question you need to answer.

No matter what area you're looking into, it's vital to give your research some structure and direction. Otherwise, you may find yourself drifting through hundreds of documents, unsure what's relevant and what isn't. The first step is to decide what it is you're trying to find out. Set yourself some initial questions. These can be as basic as 'how many people use X product in the UK?' or more complex and high level, such as 'what motivates people to buy X product?'

These questions will guide your search and not only make it much more likely that you will find relevant material, but also make it clear when you've exhausted a topic fully and need to expand your research parameters. 

• Make a plan for how you will capture insights and how you will analyse your findings. This plan should include how you will keep track of the documents you read and how you will pull out and store relevant insights.
• Check your sources and make sure any analysis, reports and documentation highlight the reliability of the sources used.
• Check your language and try using a range of different search terms for what you are exploring.
• If you find something relevant, exploit it as much as possible by exploring what other sources it is linked to or references.

In terms of where to look, these are the five most common places I use:

Blogs/Opinion Pieces: good to get an initial understanding of an area but likely to be extremely biased.

News Sites:  can be well sourced but rarely more than very high level insights.

Wikis: Good range of topics and usually easy to understand but unless well references hard to judge the reliability of information.

Academic databases/Google Scholar: Generally reliable but often very technical and can be hard to understand if you're not used to reading academic articles.

Existing internal documentation:  focused but usually limited in scope. Quality and reliability depend on who documented it.

Once you’ve made an extensive search for information you can either informally synthesize what you’ve found or use traditional research methods for more formal analysis. Personally I prefer a light weight analysis as it stops you spending too much time focused on early stage research, which could lead to you placing too much value on secondary sources which are never exactly the information you will need to inform design.

Whichever approach you take, desk research is your chance to take advantage of the work others have done and use the knowledge they have created. It can allow you to learn from mistakes that other companies have made and identify potential gaps in the market. Simple though it is, it can be a very powerful tool to ensure you're starting your research in the right place, allowing you to make the most of whatever time and budget you have for primary research with users. 

Advantages:

• Quick and cheap to perform
• Takes advantage of existing knowledge and avoids re-doing research
• Helps plan and frame future research

Disadvantages:

• Hard to know exactly how reliable or accurate findings are
• Can be time consuming if you don’t plan it well
• All information is second hand, so has already been interpreted and analysed by someone else

Learn more:

An introductory guide to desk research for designers

Other articles you might like

Research Methods: Structured interview techniques

Nancy Hughes

Research Methods: The value of quick and dirty prototypes

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16 Useful Desk Research Sources and how to use them

The content page to our handy list of reliable desk research resources and how to use them. plus a few tips to look out for when you find your own secondary market research sources..

Not every question needs original, primary research to answer it, the answer may already be out there. There is no point in reinventing the wheel, so desk research (or secondary market research) can be a useful tool in our armoury, particularly when you need to quickly get up to speed with a new topic. However, in this era of ‘post truth’ and fake news it’s not easy to work out which information is reliable, or even relevant.

In this blog series we’re putting a list of reliable data sources together and a ‘how to guide’ to facilitate your interrogation of the often vast data sets. Each post starts off with an introduction to the database’s purpose and who its aimed at.

Our suggestions for reliable secondary market research sources

We are starting with BBC Media Action as it’s a great example of an initiative for social good. Come back and check out when we post the following.

• Confederation of British Industry (CBI)
• Google Trends
• Health and Safety Executive
• International Monetary Fund (IMF)
• National Minimum Data Set for Social Care (NMDS-SC)
• Office of National Statistics (ONS)
• Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
• Science Daily
• United Nations (UN)
• United States Census Bureau
• World Trade Origination (WTO)

Things to look out for

You’ll probably want to look for other sources yourself, so we’ve created a list of things you might want to do to give you confidence in what you find.

• Who is the website run by? Websites run by scientific, governmental, or intergovernmental institutions are likely to be the most reliable, although often a little dry.
• What is the expertise of contributing authors? Expert authors are usually affiliated with an academic institution, extensively published, and frequently cited by others.
• Rankings such as the Journal Quality List will help you determine what these journals are.
• Are the introduction and conclusions relevant enough to warrant a read of the full article?
• For tests or research results are the methods, sample size and audience characteristics (e.g. company size, geography etc.) clearly described in sufficient detail to determine relevance?
• Are assumptions stated for any conclusions or recommendations given?
• Are supporting data sources referenced?
• When was the data collected or statement made, has the situation changed a lot since then?
• Check the bibliography as they can often point you to other useful sources.

We’d like to thank Andy Thomas for his great work in compiling this list with us and giving us insight to the workings of a marvellous the academic mind.

If your desk research doesn’t provide you with the answers you are looking for, give us a call and we help you work out how to fill those information gaps.

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Desk research results

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This chapter summarizes the results of the desk research. During the desk research phase more than 70 artikels, books and reports on technology transfer were examined. The majority focuses primarily on technology transfer between universities and companies. Some deal with technology transfer between public and private research centers others than universities and companies or even technology transfer between companies or intra-organizational technology transfer. The geographic dimension varies too. The majority deals with regional technology transfer, but also literature concerning national and international technology transfer was considered. The majority of literature was written by US authors followed by contributions from Germany, other European countries, and other parts of the world.

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Schneeberger, Arthur; Petanovitsch, Alexander (Eds.): Innovation und Hochschulbildung: Chancen und Herausforderungen einer technisch-naturwissenschaftlichen Qualifizierungsoffensive für Österreich [Innovation and academic education: Chances and challenges of science and technology oriented qualification offensive for Austria], Vienna 2003

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Kremic, Tibor: Technology Transfer: A Contextual Approach, in: Journal of Technology Transfer, Vol. 28, 2003, pp. 149–158

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Frey, Bruno S.; Osterloh, Margit (Eds.): Managing Motivation: Wie Sie die neue Motivationsforschung für Ihr Unternehmen nutzen können [Managing Motivation: How to use modern research in motivation for your company], Wiesbaden 2000

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(2007). Desk research results. In: The Improvement of Technology Transfer. Gabler. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-8349-8274-2_4

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Marketing91

Desk Research: Definition, Importance and Advantages

June 12, 2023 | By Hitesh Bhasin | Filed Under: Marketing

Research is an integral part of the marketing of every business . The success of a business depends on the acceptability of the product . Research is used to understand the expectation of the target audience. The outcome of thorough research helps in developing a successful marketing plan .Research can be categorized into two broad categories, primary research and desk research or secondary research .

Read this article to learn the definition of desk research, what is desk research, the importance of desk research, reasons to conduct desk research, advantages of desk research, and steps to do desk research.

Table of Contents

Desk research can be defined as a type of market research where the information about the topic in research is available in printed form or published on the internet, in newspapers, magazines, and government reports is collected and analyzed.

What is desk research?

Desk research is a type of research that can be performed over a desk. In this type of research, a researcher finds, collects, and reviews the publicly available data about the research topic. In primary research, the researcher interacts with people and collects data firsthand using different primary research methods.

On the other hand, desk research is conducted by gathering and analyzing information available on public platforms such as internet forms, newspaper articles, magazines, market intelligence , government reports, databases, statistics, and data sets.

The desk research is also popularly known as secondary research, as in this research, the data for the analysis is not collected by involving participants. But the previously existed data is gathered and studied.  The researcher conducts research sitting behind his or her desk by collecting the previously existing data.

Many organizations prefer desk research because it helps to establish an understanding of the research topic at a very low-cost. In addition to this, the information collected from the desk research is verified by the public. Hence, the outcome of the research is reliable.

Moreover, desk research can be categorized into two categories: internal desk research and external desk research. Internal desk research is referred to as the analysis of internal reports, data sets, and organization statistics. At the same time, external desk research is applied to the study of information collected from the external sources.

Market research is an essential part of every business. A business needs to understand the product’s demand that they want to launch in the market. Research is the only method to learn about the market condition and the acceptability of the product.

Companies adopt two research methods to analyze the market condition, such as primary research and secondary research. However, conducting primary research is quite expensive and requires a lot of effort and resources.

Therefore, organizations opt for secondary research methods to learn about the field of research. Conducting desk research is a cost-effective method to establish an understanding of the area.

Advantages of desk research

Desk research is one of the essential market research that many organizations opt to learn about their investment. The following are the advantages of conducting desk research.

1. Inexpensive

The first benefit of conducting desk research is that it costs almost nothing. You need to have a desktop and internet connection to perform this type of research.

If you are new in the business world and want to start your business from scratch, then it is understood that you are low on budget to conduct primary research.

Therefore, secondary research is the best option for you to understand the market segment you want to enter and the demand for the product in the market.

2. Helpful in making well-informed decisions

Marketing plays an essential role in the success of every business. A company spends a considerable amount of money to market their product. A manager can make better decisions when they understand the field better.

The desk research allows managers to understand the demands and needs of consumers . Thus, they can create effective marketing plans for their products and services.

3. Helpful in finding new opportunities

Through desk research, a manager can learn about the business opportunities available in the market.

They can analyze the competition in the market and can position their product in such a way so that they can increase their market share .

4. It takes less time to conduct

Secondary research can be undertaken in comparatively less time than the primary research. With the help of technology and using public sources, the information can be collected in very little time.

5. Helpful in focusing the research

Many times, managers face the problem of having one focused research topic. In such a scenario, conducting primary research will be a waste of time and a waste of resources.

The companies can either hire experts in conducting secondary research or use the services of third-party organizations that help you in conducting the secondary research.

Disadvantages of desk research

1. Unreliability of data

Relying on the data collected through desk research is a little risky. The data that you are basing your research on can be outdated as government organizations don’t update their data regularly. Their statistics and database are updated once or twice a year.

2. Difficult to find specific data

Another disadvantage of desk research is that you can’t find accurate data for your research topic. Secondary research is useful to establish an understanding of the research topic, but reaching conclusions only based on the desk research outcome is not advisable.

3. No control over the participants and the methods of research

In secondary research, the data you collect or analyze is based on the research conducted by others. Therefore, as a researcher, you cannot control the research participants and the methods used by them.

Here is a video by Marketing91 on Desk Research.

Resources of desk research

The following are the sources that can be used to collect data for desk research.

1. Business libraries and databases

All large libraries have business sections where one can access the latest material in different fields of business. Many libraries also provide access to online business sources. Therefore, if you are an entrepreneur and want to do preliminary research for your business, libraries are the best source for you to conduct your desk research.

2. Local directories

Local directories are the best place to conduct desk research if you want to start a business locally and have information about your competitors.

Local directories can provide you information about your local competitors and the product and services.

3. Trade associations

The members of an industry form trade associations.

If you want to enter an industry, it will help you have connections in their trade association. Business associations provide statistics, reports, and data to their members.

4. Market research report

Market research reports contain information about a particular market segment. These reports contain information such as threats and opportunities in a specific market. Several organizations sell market research reports.

You can buy research reports to conduct desk research.

5. Newspapers and magazines

Newspapers and magazines are one of the cheapest and readily available sources. In all newspapers, there is a business section where they print business news and market.

Similarly, business magazines publish news about different industries. You can buy their latest copies and can access older copies from your local library.

Steps to conduct desk research

Carrying desk research requires skills and knowledge to scrutinize the right sources to collect data. Whether you want to write a personal story or research a business opportunity, desk research will help you do it effectively.

In this section,  you will learn about the steps you can follow to conduct effective desk research.

Step 1: Define the objective of your research

Conducting desk research will become a lot easier if you have a predefined objective for your research. If you are not sure about your research’s objective, you should list down all the questions you want to research.

Your research should be focused on finding the answers to all of these questions. Follow the logic of going from general research to reaching a precise research topic. Lastly, have a rough idea of how much information you want to collect so you will know when to move to the next step.

Step 2: Make a research plan

Now, this step might contradict your pre-notion about the desk research. Most people believe that desk research takes place without following a plan. But, trust me, having a research plan will make your research work a lot easy.

Choose a research method that you will use and the tool that you will use to collect and analyze your research data.

Step 3: Select a deadline

Having a deadline to conclude your research will make your research work fast and will save you from wasting your time procrastinating, and you will end up conducting your research in less time.

Step 4: Conduct research

Conducting desk research means collecting the data from reliable sources and analyzing them to reach conclusions. Ensure the reliability of the data source and analyze the information collected using tables and flow charts.

Step 5: Reach conclusions

Once you have collected enough information and have organized and analyzed it properly, then reaching conclusions will not be difficult for you.

Your whole effort to conduct research will be successful only if you understand the information entirely and draw conclusions from it without any confusion.

Desk research or secondary research is conducted by collecting and analyzing the data collected by other researchers. Using desk research, you can establish an understanding of your research field by spending fewer resources like time and money.

Liked this post? Check out the complete series on Market research

Related posts:

• Research Ethics – Importance and Principles of Ethics in Research
• What is Research Design? Type of Research Designs
• How to Write Research Proposal? Research Proposal Format
• 7 Key Differences between Research Method and Research Methodology
• Qualitative Research: Meaning, and Features of Qualitative Research
• Descriptive Research – Characteristics, Methods, Examples, Advantages
• Operations Research – Types, Advantages, Disadvantages
• Primary Research – Meaning, Process and Advantages
• What is Survey Research? Objectives, Sampling Process, Types and Advantages
• What is the Importance of Qualitative Research to an Organization?

About Hitesh Bhasin

Hitesh Bhasin is the CEO of Marketing91 and has over a decade of experience in the marketing field. He is an accomplished author of thousands of insightful articles, including in-depth analyses of brands and companies. Holding an MBA in Marketing, Hitesh manages several offline ventures, where he applies all the concepts of Marketing that he writes about.

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How to use desk research in UX and service design?

When you think about conducting research for UX or service design, you often think of the usual suspects – surveys , interviews , observations , diary studies , workshops , or usability testing . But, there is a less talked about step in the research process that the majority of human-centered design projects involve, which is “desk research”. This might be because it can feel a little academic, or let’s face it, boring, compared to the excitement of talking to real users and hearing firsthand what they have to say about your product or service.

Conducting desk research is a critical step in gaining more context about a problem space, understanding the current landscape, and drawing initial hypotheses for the research you’ll conduct with end-users. It can also be highly valuable for clients and stakeholders to see what trends might be popping up in a particular space (like banking, housing, cyber-security, etc.) and how that might influence business and product decisions down the line.

In this blog, we’ll cover:

• What is desk research?
• When to use desk research in the design process
• The difference between internal and external research
• Six key ty pes of desk research used in UX and service design

What is Desk Research?

Let’s start with the obvious question, what is “desk research”? It’s research you can do at a desk without going into the field. Desk research is a catchall term for different types of secondary research , which means you’re conducting a review of research previously conducted by other researchers. Conversely, primary research (like surveys , interviews , diary studies , and observations ) involves gathering data first-hand from users and research participants and generating novel insights. For example, secondary research may involve the literature review of journal articles that describe the findings from interviews and surveys (primary research) completed by another researcher. Desk research is a form of discovery research where you are essentially learning about the topic and problem space before starting to generate ideas and solutions.

When to use desk research in the design process?

Now that you know what desk research is at a high level, when should you conduct desk research? And what the heck is the point of it in the design process?

Desk research is typically done in the preliminary phases of the design and research process, after the project kick-off ! This is before you dig into creating a research plan, recruiting users for research, and conducting primary discovery research . We usually conduct desk research as part of project initiation. We might spend two weeks Googling and reading articles and relevant information online, analyzing that information, and thematically drawing conclusions that may then inform interview protocols, research planning, and design work. Sometimes, for quick projects where primary research with users isn’t feasible, desk research can go a long way toward filling in the gaps.

In addition, sometimes for well-researched/well-known problem areas, desk research is all that’s needed. If you’ve already done a ton of user research in the past, or a particular experience has been designed a million times before, you might not need to focus as much on exploratory research with users. Instead, you can do desk research and some usability testing or validation research once the design has started. Beware! We aren’t advocating for not talking to your users – if you’ve never talked to your users or this is a novel space, then you need to conduct desk research AND primary research before you dig into the design phase. 

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There are several reasons to conduct desk research in the design process, including:

• Informing the direction of primary research (the types of questions you will ask and areas of further exploration.)
• Inspiring your design choices (seeing other design examples of what is being done in the industry you are designing for and analogous industries can give you ideas for what you will design.)
• Developing a business case for conducting research in a new area.
• Better understanding of the context/landscape/problem space. 
• Highlighting any trends that may impact the direction of the product/business/service in the near and long term.

Internal vs. External Desk Research

Before we dive into telling you about the different types of desk research out there, we should first talk about where that data is coming from. There are two perspectives to consider in your desk research, 1) what is going on internally with your organization/product/service, and 2) what is going on externally with competitors, other jurisdictions, trends and research in the same or similar spaces. Looking inside your company means doing a review of information and/or research related to your project that has been done already. It’s important to gather this information first, so you have a solid understanding of what’s been done to date, the goals, and also the gaps in understanding. Looking outside your company/organization is important to understand the marketplace, how to position yourselves, and what information can be drawn from other people’s successes and failures. Both are important for information and future research!

The purpose and type of desk research will vary depending on the goals of your project. It’s best practice to use a mix of desk research methods to ensure that the themes you uncover are accurate.

Types of Internal Desk Research  

Internal desk research is usually the first place to start because it’s using data that is readily available and accessible, and it will provide you with a better sense of what questions you need to answer through your external desk research (and of course through your primary research with users.)

Here are the three types of internal desk research that we most commonly use in service design and UX projects: 

• Document Review (internal) – A document review entails reviewing the existing documentation that your organization may have already created on the same or analogous topic. This is where you and your team will dig into previous research reports, existing user flows, process maps that were previously created, presentations delivered on the topic, and more. This will help you to understand why the project is important to the organization, as well as understand what work has been done previously that may inform the new work, or where new work may actually duplicate effort and be unnecessary.
• As-Is Data Sources (internal) – As-is data sources refer to data that already exists from the internal systems. For example, data and stats that come from the call centre or help desk are often a great place to start. Looking at call volume or the number of tickets created, the types of issues being reported, and the most frequently reported issues, as well as other information that may come from an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system. Some examples are how quickly tickets are resolved or answers to optional surveys sent out after a support call or ticket was resolved. These are all great examples of places to start with as-is data from internal sources. Note, that this type of desk research doesn’t apply to all projects and is most relevant when dealing with a technology product or service.
• Web-Audit and/or Google Analytics Device (internal) – A web audit is another type of internal desk research method that is relevant to UX design projects. In this exercise, your team would review the existing website or applications, look at overall usability , and make an inventory of site pages and content types, which might inform the future-state information architecture, page layouts, and site structure. A web audit can also include a Heuristic Analysis/Review , which is a whole other method we’ll cover in another blog post! Outside of looking at the content and usability of an existing site or application, it’s also really useful to dig into the Google Analytics of the site. A Google analytics review will look at web traffic statistics and user behaviour data (such as drop-offs, time-on-page, page clicks, and page sequences) to determine common user paths, areas of confusion/frustration, and successful engagement. You can look for content that is searched for most often, which pages and links receive the most traffic, visitor demographics, and more.

These are only three of the internal desk research methods, we haven’t touched on all possible methods, including things like social media audits, which can also be very helpful. 

Types of External Desk Research 

• Literature review (external) – This might be the desk research method you are most familiar with, and if you went to university, you likely did a fair bit back in the day! A literature review involves reading existing literature (in the form of books, journal articles, reputable online blogs and articles, research reports, white papers, etc.) and highlighting common themes that are appearing across the various secondary sources. Typically, once you highlight a few themes that would be relevant to your project, you’ll report on them by summarizing the theme and providing links to references. A literature review is a helpful pre-discovery exercise, to identify areas of exploration for primary research, inform the research planning, and develop a line of questioning for interviews and surveys. How do you conduct a literature review? Usually, you’ll print off articles, read and highlight important passages, and use coding/tagging methods as repeating ideas appear across the various articles and books.
• Jurisdictional Scan (external) – A jurisdictional scan is very useful when you are conducting research within the government. Oftentimes, in public sector projects, it’s important to understand what other departments and organizations from different countries, provinces, or municipalities are doing in the same space. For example, if you’re completing a digital transformation of motor vehicle registration and bringing those processes online, it might be useful to see how other jurisdictions have successfully done that in the past. A scan will help you identify some experts that you could reach out to from those jurisdictions to ask about their learnings. This is especially important in government because as you can probably guess, public sector work has a lot of red tape and is heavily bureaucratic. Whatever solution you design may require changes to policy, which can impact job functioning and completely change entire departments. So, you need to look into policies that may need to be changed in order to complete the transformation, and in doing that you’d want to learn the successes and failures of others to know exactly what to look out for.
• Competitive Analysis/Comparative Analysis (external) – Evaluate and compare existing products or services in the marketplace. This is particularly helpful in UX/UI projects when you want to understand where your product will fit in the market , how it differs from the competition and any gaps or areas of opportunity that may be untapped. A competitive analysis typically starts with some quick google searches, looking at google images, and also creating a dummy account on your competitor’s sites so you can capture the experience. You might be looking to compare things like ease of use, flow, and features. This work will involve capturing screenshots, screen recording interactions of competitor experiences, and comparing them against several different criteria. Criteria may include, but are not limited to, features, friction, number of clicks, data entry requirements, accessibility compliance, look and feel, and ideal paths/ journeys . The value of a competitive analysis is that it can bring the design team a lot of inspiration, it can prove or disprove the value of your product/service, and help your team to find ways to further differentiate your service. Competitive analysis can include things like a simple feature list comparison between the various applications/products in the same space (imaging Asana vs. Trello vs. Monday.com ). It may also include documenting detailed user flows in a tool, like Figma or Miro , by grabbing screenshots and linking them together. Another useful analysis is to create a 2×2 framework by which to compare. Choose two meaningful spectrums by which to compare the competitors and hopefully this will show the gaps/areas for growth in the market.

Once again, there are many other methods for conducting external desk research, like looking into trends and strategic forecasting, but we’ll save these for another day! Even though desk research might not be the most “exciting” form of research, it’s important and shouldn’t be left behind. After reading this post, you should better understand what desk research is, exactly how it fits into the design process and the differences between internal and external desk research.

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Why desk research is an important part of a data-driven culture

• June 10, 2020

We all have heard the new adage that “data is the new gold”. Organisations are spending hundreds of millions of dollars building ‘data strategies’. They aim to generate and organise more data to help them build competitive advantage. As the amount of data to be processed increases, so will the number of tools required to analyse them. However, building a data-driven culture is not just about giving your team the right tools and data to analyse. It is also about inculcating the right behaviours and building the right skillsets.

Desk research is a very accessible way for your team to incorporate data into their day-to-day work. Many employees go about their day executing on processes and tasks without finding insights that could help them. Therefore the business could work better and begin to generate real business ROI’s. Here are several reasons why desk research is great to get your team to start learning about being data-driven:

1. You can discover more details

You may start your project with very broad goals in mind. They can be: enter a new market, understand your competitors’ value proposition, closing a deal, etc. However, you eventually will need to get into the specifics as you move into planning and execution stages.

Here is an example. In a market entry project, you may need to get details on the target countries you want to enter. Details such as relevant market sizes, competitors, regulations, and so on could impact your strategy.

A team that is data-driven should consider several factors. How they can validate their hypothesis? What data is required to validate their assumptions? What case studies can be used to support their approach? Desk research reveals the hidden details and unknowns in your business and projects that could be key in helping you generate the ROI you need.

2. Desk research contextualises your insights

Data is only useful when you can act on them. However, to act on a piece of data, careful processing and analysis are required. The same set of data may also yield different insights, depending on your project.

For instance, a set of data that shows overall growth in the F&B industry may paint an over-simplified picture about the stellar performance of the industry as a whole. However, through deeper desk research, one may find that growth in the industry is mainly driven by only one segment of the industry, for example the health food segment, while other segments are in decline.

Since most datasets are not customised to your business’ specific needs, it is important for you to conduct additional research to fill in the gaps in knowledge and understanding. If nothing else, additional desk research will only corroborate your facts and help you make a more informed decisions. Contextualising your insights through desk research is the least you can do to make sure you have a robust decision-making process.

3. Desk research builds foundational analytical abilities

If you are thinking of building a data-driven culture, you need to have a team that is comfortable with basic data analysis. Desk research does not require fancy analytical tools like Python or Tableau. However, it still requires significant creative problem solving skills and analytical abilities. Here’s an example.

When looking to size a market for a new product, one needs to be creative and also resourceful. Most information, even industry reports by research firms, is not designed for specific company’s use, but for mass consumption. If you are looking to open a new bakery specialising in gluten-free goodies, the market size of the overall F&B industry may not be that relevant. Instead, you might want to segment the market further to understand the overall size and performance of only the health food segment, for instance.

To do that, one may need to find creative ways to break apart the overall F&B industry into its segments. The same person also needs to apply mathematical robustness in their approach to make sure the results are derived logically. Someone with a strong aptitude in desk research might be able to provide an estimate of the health food segment by extrapolating the historical rate of growth of overall health food segment to estimate the current market size. The same person might want to fact check that by using other proxies such as trends in health food keyword searches in Google to further corroborate the findings.

While ultimately people act on the final output of the research, the research methodology itself is very important. Desk research helps people practice their qualitative and quantitative analytical skills. This helps your team be more inquisitive about information and analyse them more critically.

4. All teams are able to do it

Desk research skills should not only be constrained to the analytics or strategy team in your company. Everyone in your company should find value in being able to generate relevant insights in their jobs.

• A salesperson going for a sales pitch benefits from researching their prospects upfront. They can figure out what is on their CEO’s minds, what key initiatives their prospects are working on, and who are the key stakeholders their prospects report to. Having these insights helps your sales team understand their clients’ key purchasing drivers. This will lead to a more strategic discussion with them.
• An operations specialist can analyse their internal processes and generate insights to help them identify key bottlenecks and areas of improvements. They can research for best practices across the industry and propose new ways of doing things that can help improve overall productivity in your team.
• A growth manager looking to expand into a new countries can provide recommendations that are validated by government data and competitor performance.

By incorporating desk research intentionally into your team’s activities, they are able to think deeply about the problems they are trying to achieve and the corresponding information and data that they need to solve them. Your team will not only start making more data-driven decisions, they will also start thinking more strategically about your overall business priorities and they are better able to contextualise the value of their role in the overall organisation.

5. Desk research is accessible

Your team does not need to be a Tableau-whiz to be able to whip up visualisations and insights. Desk research can generate meaningful insights with simple tools like spreadsheet software, your company’s internal database, and the internet.  There is no need to purchase expensive software, spend days and days on training, and hire an expensive consultant to implement new tools or workflow.

The low barrier to adopting desk research makes it inexcusable for your business to not leverage data in your business day-to-day. It is a great entry point to start changing the way your team and organisation treat data. It is a great starting point to embed a more data-driven behaviour and culture across your entire organisation.

As organisations evolve into leveraging more complex tools and data in making decisions, it is fundamentally important for you to build basic analytical capabilities to help your team succeed. Desk research is a great starting point for that.

Ravenry is an on-demand platform that connects you with Asia’s top 5% of writers, analysts, and consultants within 24 hours, so you can save on all that interview time. A strict vetting process is also of top priority, so you can be certain to get matched with only talents of the best quality, catered to the productivity needs of your business.

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What is the advantage of desk research, written by: paul stallard.

Desk research falls under the same category as (and in many ways is a synonymic term for) secondary research. This means that you are looking at statistics and figures that are already publicly available and analysing them. Not only does this provide you with a broad understanding of the field, but it also prevents you from tripping over yourself in an attempt to try something new that has already been covered. This can be useful as it gives you a foundation for what you are doing but it also means that you are not wasting time and resources reinventing the wheel.

It is always important to enter a project by planning and preparing for your findings, and desk research is a key way to get one step ahead. Not only do you not want to waste your participants time in making them complete surveys related to current research, but it is also far most cost-effective to use current projects for influence and guidance.

Desk research is usually conducted with a strong PR focus, as if you are looking to use the research for a press release or viewpoint, it will be far more effective if your research is new and never-before seen. You can also diagnose what has worked in the media before and tailor your survey to provide something unique that generates new interest and engagement.

It is always important to enter a project by planning and preparing for your findings, and desk research is a key way to get one step ahead

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Desk Research

Desk (secondary) research has been a staple of our market research for over 30 years.

Secondary research (also commonly known as ‘desk research’) is the review and collation of data that has already been collected. As well as ‘traditional’ methods (such as using libraries, speaking to industry experts and using published case studies from publicly-accessible previous market research studies) the internet (e-intelligence) is becoming vitally important in secondary research.

When to use desk research ?

Turquoise often recommends conducting secondary market research at the outset of a project in order to uncover useful leads and background knowledge, both of which provide invaluable orientation for our full service market research projects. Conducting as little as a day or two of secondary research can provide invaluable information, especially on sample frames (i.e. ‘who’ to interview), as well as key market information about products, services and competitors.

Turquoise desk research has benefited many leading firms …

Our desk research capabilities …

Offline research, online research, project planning, research strategy, can secondary research benefit your business .

Whether or not secondary (‘desk’) research is used as a stand-alone method or part of a multi-method project, Turquoise primarily uses desk research to achieve the following, using an extensive array of different sources and techniques:

• Identification of sample frames (i.e. the most relevant people to speak to)
• To understand who the key purchasers of products/services are, and potential target markets
• To identify industry trends
• To understand key behaviours within target markets
• To identify individuals, companies and organisations which can further assist with the project’s secondary research aims

Do you need a bit of turquoise in your business ?

Whether there is a unique secondary research objective, or if you are planning a wider research project, our desk research service can help.