CHAPTER 6
USING SECONDARY DATA
AND ONLINE INFORMATION DATABASES
LEARNING OBJECTIVES

To learn how to distinguish between secondary and primary data

To learn the uses of secondary data and how to classify different types of secondary
data

To understand both internal and external databases and their structure

To understand the advantages and disadvantages of secondary data

To learn how to evaluate secondary data

To learn how to find secondary data, including search strategies needed for searching
online information databases

To know the contents of some of the major sources of secondary data provided by the
government and private sources
CHAPTER OUTLINE
SECONDARY DATA ADD VALUE TO PRIMARY DATA
SECONDARY DATA
Primary Versus Secondary Data
Uses of Secondary Data
CLASSIFICATION OF SECONDARY DATA
Internal Secondary Data
Internal Databases
External Secondary Data
Published Sources
Syndicated Services Data
External Databases
ADVANTAGES OF SECONDARY DATA
Obtained Quickly
Inexpensive Relative to Primary Data
Secondary Data Are Usually Available
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Secondary Data Enhances Primary Data
Secondary Data May Achieve the Research Objective
DISADVANTAGES OF SECONDARY DATA
Incompatible Reporting Units
Measurement Units Do Not Match
Class Definitions Are Not Usable
Data Are Outdated
EVALUATING SECONDARY DATA
What Was the Purpose of the Study?
Who Collected the Information?
What Information Was Collected?
How Was the Information Obtained?
How Consistent Is the Information with Other Information?
LOCATING SECONDARY DATA SOURCES
Search Strategies Used for Searching Online Information Databases
Boolean Logic
Field Searching
Proximity Operators
Truncation
Nesting
Limiting
KEY SOURCES OF SECONDARY DATA FOR MARKETERS
Census 2000: Census of the Population
Other Government Publications
North American Industry Classification System (NAICS)
“Survey of Buying Power”
How to Calculate the Buying Power Index (BPI)
Advantages of the "Survey of Buying Power”
Disadvantages of the SBP
Demographics USA
Lifestyle Market Analyst
KEY TERMS
Primary data
Secondary data
Internal secondary data
Database marketing
Database
Record
Fields
Internal databases
CRM, Customer Relationship Management
Data mining
External secondary data
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Chapter 6: Using Secondary Data and Online Information Databases
Published sources
Catalog
Indexes
Syndicated services data
External databases
Online information databases
Standard subject headings
Boolean logic
Field searching
Proximity operators
Truncation
Nesting
Limiting
Census of the Population
Statistical Abstract of the United States
North American Industry Classification System (NAICS)
Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system
"Survey of Buying Power"
Effective buying income (EBI)
Buying power index (BPI)
Demographics USA
Total business BPI
Hi-tech BPI
Manufacturing BPI
BPI for economy- priced products
BPI for moderate-priced products
BPI for premium-priced products
Business-to-Business (BPI)
High-tech markets (BPI)
Customized BPI
Lifestyle Market Analyst
TEACHING SUGGESTIONS
1. University library staff members are invaluable in orienting students on how to
use secondary sources. Contact the business reference librarian and arrange for
an orientation session on the use of business databases and other online resources
of secondary data.
2. Large companies typically have library and secondary data specialists on staff. If
you have a local contact, invite the company librarian or secondary information
specialist to class to describe the secondary sources used by the company’s
employees. This person can also be a good resource on internal secondary data.
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He or she may be able to describe the various types of internal databases
maintained in his or her company.
3. Using the U.S.Census web site is a good way to introduce students to online
secondary information. The web site (www.census.gov) has a treasure trove of
tables and graphical presentations of census data. One approach is to assign
various states to students and have them look up key demographic factors such as
population, income levels, education, and so on. and to have students report on
their findings in class. Some students are very clever in creating graphs from the
downloadable tables or otherwise copying the census graphs onto a presentation
program such as Microsoft PowerPoint.
4. One way to introduce students to secondary sources is to give them an
assignment that will require them to investigate various secondary sources. Here
are some sample assignments to get students in the library or to compel them to
use Internet sources to search for information.
a. Determine population size, growth and composition for a particular county in
your state. Assign different counties to various students or student teams and
have them make class presentations on their findings.
b. Determine how many and which states have state lotteries, gambling casinos,
video poker, and riverboat gambling.
c. Determine states or regions of the United States that have high or low rates of:
(1) motor vehicle accidents; (2) weather damage (flooding, tornados,
hurricanes, drought, and so on.); (3) home value assessment; (4) multiple
family dwellings; or (5) crime rates. What are the implications of these
findings for insurance companies?
d. Determine countries or regions in the world that are (1) particularly affluent,
(2) densely populated, (3) highly industrialized, (4) largely illiterate, and/or
(5) prone to deadly diseases or viruses. What are the marketing implications
of these findings?
5. A more focused (more than Teaching Suggestion 4, above) assignment would be to
have each student select an industry and to search electronic databases and/or printed
sources. Here is an example assignment: Instructors should pre-plan the assignment
with their reference librarians for online secondary data sources and information
databases to make sure the resources are available to students.
Have students select an industry in which they have a career interest.
a. List the major firms (up to 10) in the industry. Rank them in some meaningful
way such as by sales volume, number of employees, or profits.
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b. Provide market share data for a selected number of firms (or product/service
brands).
c. Using ABI Inform or Business Source Premier, identify three articles that have
been written relating to some aspects of your chosen industry in the last three
years.
6. There are several secondary data source companies identified in the chapter, and
their web site addresses are included as a reference. Because these web sites are
in constant flux, it is not possible to faithfully list their contents. Instructors may
wish to take a few minutes visiting the following web sites to familiarize
themselves with each company’s services and products. With Internet access
capability in the classroom, an instructor can visit key web sites and demonstrate
variety, depth, and specific examples.
Company/Organization
U.S. Census
ERSI
Strategy Research
NAICS
Sales & Marketing Management
Demographics USA
Web site Address
www.census.gov
www.esri.com
www.strategyresearch.com
www.census.gov/epcd/www/naics.html
www.salesandmarketing.com
www.demographicusa.com
7. Tell students that they have been hired as the corporate intelligence officer for a
major garment company. They are to investigate the competition by use of secondary
sources. Who are the competitors, how big are they, what are their distinguishing
features, and so forth? With a large class, you may want to use several industries, or
have student teams concentrate on separate competitors.
8. The chapter introduces Internet secondary data sources. Some students will be
proficient in the use of the Internet and search engines. Ask those with good skills to
provide a demonstration to the class. This may require you to reserve your computer
laboratory facilities or otherwise arrange for an Internet hook-up in your classroom.
9. Tables 6.1 and 6.2 list a large number of secondary sources with brief descriptions of
each. Determine which ones are readily available to your students and assign each
student (or student team) the task of finding the source, becoming familiar with it, and
reporting to the class what the source is all about including specific examples of
information in the source.
10. Some of the end-of-chapter exercises require students to use secondary sources.
Learning by doing is especially appropriate in this area.
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ACTIVE LEARNING EXERCISES
Using Online Information Service Databases to Find Standard Subject Headings
If you do the search we did in Marketing Research Insight 6.3, make sure you take a look
at the article “The Pod Squad.” Pretty interesting idea, isn’t it? Do you think it would
work in the Hobbit’s Choice restaurant?
Here is what students will find: Malone, Michael. Restaurant Business, 2/1/2005, Vol.
104 Issue 2, p22, 5p.
The abstract follows.
This article informs that located in the heart of West Hollywood, the year-old O-liar is, in
many ways, the quintessential see-and-be-seen kind of restaurant. Cocoon dining, in
some shape or other, is featured at several high-profile new eateries, ranging from RM
and Fleur de Lys in Las Vegas, to Mie N Yu in Washington, D.C., to Todd English's
Olives chain, to New York concepts Spice Market, Casa La Femme North, Ono, and
Duvet, the bed-themed latter featuring seven "private bedrooms," curtained-off spaces for
up to 10 that include nightstands, couches, and TVs. Hubert Keller had extreme comfort
in mind for the semi-private spaces at his recently opened Fleur de Lys at the Mandalay
Bay in Vegas, a $5 million spin-off of his famed San Francisco namesake restaurant.
Although most of these operators see their cocooned tables as an amenity, something that
adds to the overall cache and exclusivity of the restaurant— others consider them a profit
center in their own right, and charge a separate fee for their use.
ANSWERS TO END-OF-CHAPTER QUESTIONS
1. Describe how secondary data may add value to primary data.
Review question. This is described at the beginning of the chapter.
The opening vignette addresses this issue with observations provided by Robert D.
Aaron, president of Aaron/Smith Associates, Inc. Aaron states that with the
proliferation of on-line data-bases, it is relatively easy to enhance primary research
with secondary data without ever leaving your desk. His three suggestions are:
 Do Your Secondary Research Homework In the Beginning of the Project
 Secondary Research Can Help You Design Your Research Objectives and
Questions
 Put Your Primary Data In Context
2. What are secondary data, and how do they differ from primary data?
Review question. These are definitions.
Secondary data have previously been gathered by someone other than the researcher
and/or for some other purpose than the research project at hand, while primary data
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refers to information that is developed or gathered by the researcher specifically for
the research project at hand.
3. Describe some uses of secondary data.
Review question. These are mentioned under the section with this title.
Suggested applications include economic trends forecasting, insights on industries,
corporate intelligence, international data, public opinion, and historical data, among
others.
4. How would you classify secondary data?
Review question. Students must find and relate these systems.
The classification system is as follows:
 Internal secondary data are data that have been collected within the firm. Such
data include sales records, purchase requisitions, and invoices, including
internal databases.
 External secondary data are data obtained from outside the firm from three
sources: (1) published, (2) syndicated services data, and (3) databases.
5. What is a database, and how are they organized?
Review question. Students must relate the definition and the organization.
A database is a collection of data and information describing items of interest. Each
unit of information in a database is called a record. A record could represent a
customer, a supplier, a competitive firm, a product, an individual inventory item, and
so on. Records are composed of subcomponents of information called fields.
6. What is database marketing and what is CRM?
Review question. This is mentioned under “Internal Secondary Data.”
Kotler defines database marketing as the process of building, maintaining, and using
customer (internal) databases and other (internal) databases (products, suppliers,
resellers) for the purpose of contacting, transacting, and building relationships.
Companies use their internal databases for purposes of direct marketing and to
strengthen relationships with customers called CRM, customer relationship
management.
7. What are three types of external secondary data?
Review question. The three types are listed in this section of the chapter.
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There are three types of external secondary data:
 Published sources are those sources of information that are prepared for public
distribution and are normally found in libraries or through a variety of other
entities such as trade associations, professional organizations, or companies.
 Syndicated services data are provided by firms that collect data in a standard
format and make them available to subscribing firms.
 External databases are databases supplied by organizations outside the firm.
8. What is the difference between a library catalog and an index?
Review question. These are definitions.
A catalog consists of a list of a library's holdings of books, while an Index is records
compiled from periodicals and contain information on the contents of periodicals
recorded in fields such as author, title, keywords, date of publication, name of
periodical, and so on.
9. What are online information databases? Name three of them.
Review question. This is found in the section on external databases.
Online information databases are sources of secondary data searchable by search
engines online. Examples include Factiva, Lexis-Nexis, Proquest and Gale Group.
10. What are the five advantages of secondary data? Discuss the disadvantages of
secondary data.
Review question. Students should find and report these lists.
The advantages of secondary data:
 Can be obtained quickly
 Inexpensive Relative to Primary Data
 Secondary Data Are Usually Available
 Secondary Data Enhances Primary Data
 Secondary Data May Achieve the Research Objective
Five of the problems associated with secondary data include: (1) incompatible
reporting units that are not suitable for the researcher’s need, (2) mismatch of the
units of measurement as compared to the units needed by the researcher, (3)
definitions used to classify the data that are not useful to the researcher, (4) the
timeliness of the secondary data, meaning it might be outdated, and (5) lack of
information needed to assess the credibility of the data reported.
11. How would you go about evaluating secondary data? Why is evaluation important?
Review question. There is a large section on this issue.
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In order to properly use secondary data, you must evaluate that information before
you use it as a basis for decision making. A user must be most cautious when using an
Internet source because few quality standards are applied to most Internet sites.
To determine the reliability of secondary information, marketing researchers must
answer the following five questions:
 What was the purpose of the study?
 Who collected the information?
 What information was collected?
 How was the information obtained?
 How consistent is the information with other information?
12. Discuss how you would go about locating secondary data in your own library.
Review question. The steps are listed and a table provided.
Six steps are listed as follows:
 Step 1. Identify what you wish to know and what you already know about
your topic
 Step 2. Develop a list of key terms and names
 Step 3. Begin your search using several of the library sources such as those
listed in Table 6.2.
Step 4. Compile the literature you have found and evaluate your findings.
 Step 5. I f you are unhappy with what you have found or are otherwise having
trouble and the reference librarian has not been able to identify sources, use an
authority.
 Step 6. Report results
13. What is a standard subject heading? Explain why knowing how to find a standard
subject heading would help increase your information searching skills when using
online information databases.
Review question. Students must relate and understand the definitions.
These are standard (sometimes called controlled) terms that are consistently used to
describe a particular subject. They are more efficient than keyword searches because
keyword searches generate all possible hits on that keyword, while standard subject
headings will find hits that are relevant to the topic.
14. Explain what is meant by Boolean logic? Proximity Operators?
Review question. These are defined in the description of online database searches.
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Boolean logic allows the establishment of relationships between words and terms in
most databases. Typical words used as operators in Boolean logic are AND, OR, and
NOT.
Proximity operators allow the searcher to indicate how close and in which order two
or more words are to be positioned within the record. Examples are ADJ (adjoining
words in order specified), NEAR (adjoining words in any order), and SAME (both
terms are located in the same field of the record).
15. Why would searching by field help you efficiently search online information
databases?
Review question. Students must describe why this is an efficient method.
Field searching refers to searching records in a database by one or more of its fields.
Databases are collections of records that consist of fields designated to describe
certain parts of the record. Searching “by field” may make a search more efficient
because it narrows down the section of the database that is searched.
16. Describe the purposes of the U.S. Census of the Population.
Application question. Students will need to visit the U.S. Census web site and find
the document titled “Census Basics” where it indicates the purposes. Here is the
passage from this document.
The U.S. Constitution, Article I, Section 2 mandates that an apportionment of
representatives among the states, for the House of Representatives, be carried out
every 10 years (decennially). Apportionment is the process of dividing the 435 seats
in the U.S. House of Representatives among the 50 states. Congress decides the
method to carry out the apportionment and, since 1940, has used the method of “equal
proportions” in accordance with Title 2, U.S. Code. Using equal portions, each state
is assigned one congressional seat (as provided by the Constitution). The
apportionment formula then allocates the remaining 385 seats one at a time among
the 50 states until all 435 seats are assigned.
In addition to apportionment, the decennial census results are used to:
· distribute almost $200 billion annually in federal, state, local, and tribal funds;
· draw state legislative districts;
· evaluate the success of programs or identify populations in need of services;
· and many other purposes.
17. Briefly identify some sources of secondary data.
Review question. Several sources are listed in the chapter.
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The sources identified in the chapter are: Census 2000, the North American Industrial
Classification System (NAICS), which is replacing the Standard Industrial
Classification (SIC) system, the "Survey of Buying Power," Demographics USA, and
the Lifestyle Market Analyst.
18. Go to your library and find a copy of the “Survey of Buying Power.” Find the BPI
for your county. Explain what this number represents. Discuss why it would be a
useful number to evaluate a market.
Application question. Students must use the Survey of Buying Power.
Each instructor’s students will have a different county, so there is no set answer here.
One way to use this question in class is to have students volunteer the BPI for their
various counties and point out that the urban and metropolitan counties have higher
BPI’s than do suburban or rural counties.
19. Go online to your favorite search engine (i.e. Ask Jeeves, Google, Yahoo, and so on.)
and enter “demographics.” Go to some of these sites and describe the kind of
information you are receiving. Why would this information be considered secondary
data?
Application question. This question requires students to use a search engine.
Most likely, the hits will be a combination of public web sites such as the U.S.
Census, company web sites such as Claritas, marketing research companies that
specialize in demographics, databases with demographic data, and others. If students
visit publicly available web sites such as the U.S. Census, they will find that the data
was gathered for the purposes/mission of the organization that gathered it.
20. Access the Statistical Abstract of the United States online and find information
relevant to any topic you are currently studying.
Application question. This exercise is intended to allow students to experience a
secondary data web site.
Two aspects of this resources can be class discussion topics: (1) the number of
sections or categories of topics, and (2) the amount of detail for data on any one topic.
21. Select an industry and go to the NAICS web site identified in this chapter. Find the
NAICS number that represents your industry. Discuss how you could use this
number.
Application question. This question requires students to use NAICS.
Again, this will vary by industries chosen by students. A teaching suggestion is to
have a student or set of students present this information in class.
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22. Suppose you were the marketing director for a luxury car manufacturer. Discuss
what factors you would consider in building a customized BPI that could be used to
evaluate markets for future dealerships.
Application question. Students must think about the components in a customized BPI
for a luxury automobile manufacturer.
A customized BPI uses market factors that are directly relevant to the product or
service. Luxury automobiles are not “commodity” products, so the marketing
director should consider what factors are relevant to this product category in order to
develop a customized BPI. Factors might be: household income above $150,000,
households with professional occupations, and sales of competing luxury automobile
makes.
23. Go to www.easidemographics.com. Look for their sample studies and find an
example of a ring study. What disadvantage of printed secondary data does this
feature overcome?
Application question. This task exposes students to GIS concepts.
It is a geodemographic presentation of the data, so it combines the data with locations
on a map.
24. Explain how a marketer of boats could use the Lifestyle Market Analyst.
Application question. Students must evaluate how this data source helps the marketer
in this case.
This source utilizes life style categories based on hobbies, interests, ownership,
activities, and so forth as well as demographic data. It would give the boat marketer a
good deal of target market information with a high degree of potential usefulness.
CASE SOLUTIONS
Case 6.1 Pure-Aqua Systems
Case Objective
This case requires students to learn more about panels and specifically to think about the
representativeness of a panel. They should also learn that secondary data often provides
some, but not all, the information needed to make a marketing decision.
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Answers to Case Questions
1. How would you evaluate the secondary data referred to in this study (without visiting
the web site)?
First, students should refer to the chapter on how to evaluate secondary data. One
key of evaluating the secondary data referred to in the case is that it was collected in a
joint venture with a marketing research firm (they should have expertise in collecting
data) and by a university (they should be large enough to do the job properly and they
would not likely be associated with a project that didn’t have at least minimal
standards. But, the point of the question is that it is hard to evaluate secondary data.
It is possible that the university and the research firm are not being totally objective in
collecting the data. Also, the personnel may be incompetent to collect data that are
truly representative.
2. Go to the web site (www.uwf.edu/panel) and search for information that would help
you evaluate the secondary data reported. What can you find to either support or
refute the representativeness of the data?
If the students do a good job of exploring they will find a menu item entitled “Is the
Panel Representative?” There the panel developers address the key issues needed to
determine how representative the data are. This web page will also give the students
some good information about panels which were discussed in Chapter 4 on Research
Design and will be discussed again in Chapter 6 on Standardized Information.
3. Given your answers to questions one and two above, do you think Ronny McCall and
Lucy Moody should continue to investigate their proposed bottled water venture?
This question is designed to get the students to think about what the data means. All
we are given is one question that deals with the attitude of quality of tap water.
Although McCall and Moody do have some criteria upon which to judge the data (10
percent in other cities), it is clear that more research is needed to see if the persons
who have a poor or bad attitude toward the quality of their tap water are willing to
buy bottled water for their homes. But, the answer, in any event, should be “yes,”
McCall and Moody should go on with more planning.
CASE 6.2
The Hobbit’s Choice: A Restaurant
Case Objective
Students are required to recommend and investigate secondary data sources and online
information sources relevant to the integrated case.
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Answers to Case Questions
1. Based on the published sources available in CMG’s library, which book would you
recommend as the first book Rogers should consult? The second book? Why?
The first book Rogers should examine should be any one of the special business
dictionaries. Why? These dictionaries are useful for identifying and defining special
terms associated with various aspects of business. Here he may find different
definitions for different types of restaurants—fast-food, family restaurants, and so on.
Also, other terms associated with the restaurant industry such as average ticket, tableturnover, food costs, and so on, will be useful to know when Cory begins to search
the other information sources.
The second book should be the Encyclopedia of Business Information Sources. Now,
having used the special business dictionary, Cory knows exactly which terms to look
up in the encyclopedia. The encyclopedia of sources is a reference guide. In other
words, it will identify the useful sources of information— books, journals,
newsletters, industry magazines, and so on—that will give him insights on the
restaurant business.
2. Conduct a search of the Internet that you think Cory would have conducted. Describe
the kind of information you retrieved about the restaurant industry and provide the
web sites from which you gathered the information.
A good site to visit is http://www.virtualpet.com/industry/howto/search.htm. This
site provides a good overview about how to find information about an industry. A
more specific site is www.restaurant.org which is the site for the National Restaurant
Association. Of course, students should be using search engines such as Yahoo or
Google to find many more sites relevant to the case.
3. Based on the information you retrieved from your Internet search, did you find any
examples illustrating the weaknesses of secondary data? What are the weaknesses?
Ask the students how they know what they’ve found on the Internet is authentic.
They should mention the sponsoring organization of the information. For example, is
the National Restaurant Association a reputable source? They should do a search on
the organization itself. How long has it been in existence? Do reputable restaurants
have membership? Also, for many sites they may find it difficult to determine
authorship. In these cases, validating the information is difficult. If information is
cited from another source, that source (e.g., Business Week) would be evaluated.
How current is the information? Did they find a date on the information they found?
4. Assuming that Cory earns $55,000 a year, estimate what CMG’s costs are for Cory
doing the search that you conducted over the Internet. You can exclude other fixed
costs such as the costs of Internet access, building, utilities, and so on. Just estimate
the amount of Cory’s salary allocated to the search.
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The whole point of this exercise is to illustrate how cost effective a good search of
secondary information may be. Assuming a two-week vacation, and a 247-day work
year, Cory gets paid roughly $28 an hour. Even allocating a like amount for overhead
costs of building, utilities, and so forth, this should total only $112 for two hours of
searching. This amount is a fraction of what it would cost to gather primary
information which would start at several thousand dollars.
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