SOURCES OF DATA
Primary and secondary sources of data
Primary data are data that have been collected for the specific purpose.
It is data that has not been previously published and is derived from a new or original research
study and collected at the source such as in marketing.
Secondary data are data that have been collected for some other purpose but which we then use
for our purposes.
Sources of secondary data include the internet, libraries, company reports, newspaper,
governments and banks.
Discrete and Continuous data
Discrete data is non-continuous data. Discrete data can only take certain values for example the
number of students taking a course (there wouldn’t be half a student). Discrete data is counted.
Continuous data is unbroken data that has no gaps. Continuous data can take on any value
(within a range) for example time or distance. Continuous data is measured.
Internal and external sources data
Internal data are data collected from our own records. These are the main source of primary data.
