Techniques
Desk Research
Too often, time and money is spent on 're-inventing the wheel'. 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, that are either electronic or in hardcopy. Therefore, libraries, online databases and the Internet are certainly important sources as are speaking to someone at a trade association or carrying out an interview with an industry expert.
In many projects, carrying out an initial desk research stage is strongly recommended to gain background knowledge to a subject as well as providing useful leads that will help to get the maximum from a research budget.
Research for Results Ltd have run courses throughout the UK on the subject of 'Obtaining Information For Next To Nothing'. Therefore, as industry experts, we have vast knowledge of where to look and have a wide resource pool that we can use including libraries, online databases and Internet searching.
