You can think of primary research as getting down to the nitty-gritty.

Primary research is conducted to get really intimate with your market, to answer specific questions you might have or address specific areas of focus. It costs more and often takes longer to conduct than secondary research, but it gives conclusive results.

Primary research can be broken down into two subcategories: Qualitative and quantitative.

Qualitative research
Qualitative research includes studies done on smaller groups of people, like one-on-one consumer interviews or focus groups. It's meant to give you direction, to get an answer to a particular concern or question--not to make predictions.

Quantitative research
Quantitative research includes studies done that result in a large amount of data-like surveys. This type of research is statistically valid and can be used to make predictions.