Primary research

Primary research is when you collect original data by yourself to find something out. This often happens after the researcher has gained some knowledge of the issue, they get this by collecting secondary data. The most common primary research resources are Questionnaire surveys, Direct observations and Telephone interviews. Their are many advantages and disadvantages to primary research such as:

Questionnaire surveys: Making a questionnaire doesn't take up too much time, it is also an easy and cheap way of finding out what the viewers would be interested in, but it is impossible to check if the people are answering honestly.
Here is an example of a questionnaire I made; 
 http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/2M52BB6 
I did this to find out what my target audience (college students) like to listen to on radio stations.

Direct observations: It would be obvious if they was taking it seriously. It would take more time, preparation and money than answering a questionnaire but more useful information may be found out than they would from the results a questionnaire. The interviewer would video the reactions. For example getting a group of people to play a new video game and watching there reactions and facial expressions to the game. 

Telephone interviews: It would be easier doing a interview over the telephone than planning to meet, but the interviewer can only interview one person at a time.

Focus groups are also used a lot in the media company when getting primary research, for example; when film companies show a quick preview of a new film and discuss what they think about it. They also use focus groups with video games. The people in the company would choose a small group of people with different backgrounds to test the game. At the end they may be asked 'what they enjoyed' 'what should be changed' and 'how could they improve the game/film'. Some advantages of using a focus group is people would most likely take it seriously and not just write down anything like they would on a questionnaire. Also there would be a variety of opinions in the group, but it wouldn't be easy to find a variety of people from different backgrounds that would contribute in the group.