Steps to Conduct Secondary Research for your Microeconomics Assignment!

May 1
18:58

2020

Lexi Edwards

Lexi Edwards

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Here, we will discuss how students can make use of secondary research techniques to find data for your microeconomics assignment. You will also know about the steps involved in conducting secondary research efficiently.

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Microeconomics is a vast field of subject and an important branch of economics. It is the study of individuals and firms and deals with the issues of unemployment,Steps to Conduct Secondary Research for your Microeconomics Assignment! Articles growth, effects of economic policies, etc. The main emphasis on microeconomics is on the factors affecting individual behaviour and their selection. The effect of individual behaviour on demand and supply is covered under microeconomics.

When you are asked to deal with microeconomics assignment writing, the first thing you have to consider is the research. There are two types of research, i.e. primary and secondary. Primary research, as we know, deals with direct interaction with the participants and collecting data personally. Whereas, secondary research deals with Pre-collected data and takes out the relevant information from it.

Today we are going to discuss secondary research and the steps involved in conducting it.

Advantages of secondary research

1. Less expensive – Secondary research is quite inexpensive as compared to primary research. There are no expenses related to research members or of transportation. But sometimes you may have to purchase secondary data sets. You may avoid these costs also by taking freely available data.

2. Time-saving – Primary research requires a lot of time as you have to find participants, prepare interviews and questionnaires and then analyse the data sets. Whereas in secondary research, no such task is involved. You can use the existing data sets which others have already prepared. You can easily access them from libraries or other sources without wasting time.

3. Large data well – In secondary research, you can easily dig deep into a large well of data. When you collect data yourself, you will have limited information. But here you have large data sets which you can explore.

Steps of secondary research 

Step 1: Preparation of research question – Like any other type of research, the first step when you want to start research for your microeconomics assignment is to develop the research question. Identify the general research area in which your topic falls. For e.g. which consumer demand theory you are required to study. Now you must conduct some basic research and literature review to prepare your question. 

Step 2: Identify the secondary data set – After you have prepared your research question and done a literature review, you have to decide which secondary data set is most suitable for your research. You have to conduct thorough research to find out what has already been written about the topic. For this, you can go through large chunks of material available in the library, journals, and articles or online.

Step 3: Assess the data set – Now, when you have finalized the data set, you must evaluate it to find out the best information. You must consider the aim of your study to match with your research. Also, look for the source of data, i.e. who has collected the data originally and when it was collected to identify its reliability and relevance.

Step 4: Prepare and analyse the data – Here, you have to identify all the variables of your interest and record them. Also, look for missing data and re-code the variable wherever needed. Then you can analyse the data by employing different techniques.

Hopefully, you are now well-prepared to collect data for your microeconomics assignment through secondary research technique. Just follow the above steps, and your task will be very easy, and you will finish your assignment in no time.