In primary research, there is no data available for the researcher.

In this kind of research, the use of questionnaires is used to collect data from different respondents. In secondary research, information is readily available. The information is collected from other publications such as or reports, like newspaper or annual reports of companies. Wilkinson used primary research through questionnaires from students all over the UK and secondary research through the government and university admissions data.

Primary data is data which has been collected by yourself, which is more reliable and up to date. Secondary data has been collected from a secondary source (Other people, business etc.) so it may not be valid or up to date. "Primary" and "secondary" are terms used to define data relative to the purpose by which the data were collected originally. "Primary data" are data collected for the need at hand. "Secondary data " are data that were collected for another reason but is being re-purposed to address the need at hand. When describing the expertise of data analysts, it is not uncommon to distinguish between primary and secondary data analytics. Primary data analytics involves the ability to analyze data for the purpose by which it has been collected. Secondary data analytics involves identifying "secondary data sources" to solve a new problem and then the ability to re-purpose that data. Primary data is a data which is created for the first time and there is no previous source available. Secondary data is a readily available data like data from trade directories,statistics from websites etc. In Dissertation Literature review is done through secondary data which includes the contents such as theories, models, compilation, research findings by some other scholar etc.\