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their field. Chisnal (1992) points out that in the UK the Government
Statistical Services Department offers details of great value to market
researchers. The most useful official publications are guides to official

statistics and regional statistics. Statistical data are available for particular
types of products and markets. Secondary data can be obtained on line
using the Internet. Commercial services provide many databases: for
example, the Economic Bulletin Board (EBB) of the US Department of

Commerce examines a host country’s economic data and the market
research reports prepared by US government agencies.

5.6.3 Primary data sources

Secondary data can provide the necessary data for some of the variables

and solves some issues of the research, but primary data is considered
very important as well, as it is collected specifically for the purpose of the
current research. Churchill (1995) mentions that if secondary data cannot

provide a complete solution to the research problem, researchers has to
use primary data. Luck et al. (1982) point out that primary data have the

quality of being unique, because it serves the purpose of the current study.
However, it is important to be convinced that the most appropriate

methods are being used, and this choice depends mainly on the overall
research objectives, the research hypotheses to be tested, and the
characteristics of the population. Several techniques can be used for

collecting survey data, including case studies, interviews, observations,
and self-administered questionnaires. Each of the methods of collecting

survey data possesses some advantages and disadvantages (Churchill,
1987). The main difficulty with primary data is that much of the marketing
research involves getting information from people about their perceptions

concerning a company’s marketing mix. People are different from one
country to another in relation to their income level, education, culture and

understanding of business issues. The other problem is the fact that
personal interviews will require skilled interviewers; telephone surveys
may work poorly and give biased results in countries with low rates of

telephone penetration, such as in most of Africa and in countries such as
in India and China. Mail survey has its problems as well, because it

requires a developed postal system, good mailing lists and an educated