Secondary research

Secondary Research Patterns

Source Categories and Quality Tiers

Tier 1: Primary Sources (Highest credibility)

• Government data (census, BLS, SEC filings)
• Academic peer-reviewed journals
• Company's own financial filings (10-K, 10-Q)
• Regulatory filings and court records
• Raw datasets from research institutions

Tier 2: Secondary Sources (High credibility)

• Established research firms (Gartner, Forrester, IDC, McKinsey)
• Industry associations and trade groups
• Central bank publications
• Major newspapers and wire services (FT, WSJ, Reuters)
• Think tanks (Brookings, Pew Research)

Tier 3: Tertiary Sources (Use cautiously)

• Wikipedia (verify primary sources; good for overview)
• Industry blogs and analyst commentary
• Press releases (marketing language; verify claims)
• Social media (signal detection only, not citation)

Data Sources by Domain

Business and Market Data

Source	Data Type	Cost
Statista	Market stats, consumer data, charts	Paid ($600+/yr)
IBISWorld	Industry reports, NAICS codes	Paid (~$1,300/report)
Crunchbase	Startup funding, company data	Freemium
PitchBook	VC/PE data, M&A	Paid (institutional)
CB Insights	Market trends, funding	Freemium
FRED (Federal Reserve)	Macro economic data	Free
EDGAR (SEC)	Public company filings	Free
Bureau of Labor Statistics	Employment, wages	Free
Census Bureau	Demographics, business	Free

Technology and IT Research

Source	Coverage
Gartner	Magic Quadrant, Hype Cycle, forecasts
Forrester	Wave reports, analyst opinions
IDC	Market share, spending forecasts
Stack Overflow Survey	Developer tools, languages
State of JS/CSS	Frontend ecosystem
JetBrains Developer Survey	Language popularity

Academic Sources

Database	Coverage	Cost
Google Scholar	Academic papers, citations	Free
JSTOR	Journals and books	Institutional/Paid
PubMed	Biomedical and life sciences	Free
SSRN	Social sciences preprints	Free
arXiv	CS, physics, math preprints	Free
ResearchGate	Papers + author contact	Free
Semantic Scholar	AI-enhanced academic search	Free

Consumer and Demographic Data

Source	Coverage
Pew Research	Attitudes, demographics, technology
Nielsen	Media consumption, retail
Kantar	Consumer panels, brand health
YouGov	Public opinion, surveys
Morning Consult	Real-time polling
Eurostat	European statistics

Research Process

Systematic Desk Research Protocol

1. Define the question precisely
   - What specific claim or gap needs to be filled?
   - What level of certainty is required?

2. Identify likely source types
   - What type of data would answer this? (quantitative/qualitative)
   - Who would collect/publish this data?

3. Search sequence
   a. Government/regulatory (most authoritative)
   b. Academic journals (peer-reviewed evidence)
   c. Major research firms (market-specific)
   d. Quality news sources (recent developments)
   e. Industry sources (practitioner knowledge)

4. Triangulate
   - Find 3+ independent sources supporting key claims
   - Note when sources contradict — investigate why

5. Document sources meticulously
   - URL, publication date, author, methodology notes
   - Note when accessed (web content can change)

Search Operators for Research

Google advanced search:
site:gartner.com "cloud market" 2024
filetype:pdf "market report" "SaaS" 2023
"market size" "$" billion "CAGR" "2024" -site:press-release.com

Google Scholar:
"machine learning" "fraud detection" after:2021

EDGAR full-text search:
EDGAR → Full-Text Search → search 10-K filings

Source Credibility Assessment

CRAAP Test

Criteria	Questions
Currency	When was it published/updated? Is it recent enough?
Relevance	Does it answer your specific question? Right audience?
Authority	Who created it? What are their credentials?
Accuracy	Are claims supported? Peer reviewed? Citations present?
Purpose	Why was it created? Marketing, advocacy, or informing?

Red Flags

• No author or anonymous
• No publication date
• No citations or methodology
• Published by an organization with a financial stake
• Contradicted by multiple other sources
• Uses emotional language in factual claims
• URL ending in .com for statistical claims (prefer .gov, .edu, .org)

Paywalled Content Access

Legitimate free options:
- Institutional library access (university alumni cards)
- Interlibrary loan
- Author's ResearchGate profile (often shares freely)
- Preprint on arXiv or SSRN
- Open Access version (Unpaywall browser extension)
- Google Scholar → "All X versions" for OA copy
- Email the corresponding author directly

Citation Management

Citation Formats

APA 7th (common in business and social science):
Smith, J. A., & Jones, B. (2023). Market dynamics in SaaS. 
Journal of Business Research, 45(2), 123–145.
https://doi.org/10.xxxx/xxx

Chicago (footnote style, common in humanities):
Smith, John A. "Market dynamics in SaaS." Journal of Business Research 
45, no. 2 (2023): 123–145.

For web sources (APA):
Gartner. (2024, March). Magic Quadrant for Cloud Infrastructure. 
Retrieved April 15, 2024, from https://www.gartner.com/...

Research Log Template

Research Question: _______________
Date: ___

| Source | URL/DOI | Date Published | Key Finding | Credibility | Notes |
|--------|---------|---------------|-------------|-------------|-------|
| Gartner | [url] | 2024-01 | Cloud market $600B | Tier 2 | Subscription required |
| BLS | [url] | 2024-02 | Unemployment 3.9% | Tier 1 | — |
| TechCrunch | [url] | 2024-03 | X raises $50M | Tier 3 | Verify with Crunchbase |

Synthesis notes:
- Sources agree on: ___
- Sources conflict on: ___
- Gaps remaining: ___

Working with Reports

Extracting Value from Paid Reports

Gartner Magic Quadrant — read:
1. Criteria for inclusion (who was evaluated)
2. Your vendor's position and description
3. Competitors' positions and strengths/cautions
4. Gartner's market definition and size estimate

Forrester Wave — look for:
1. Score breakdowns (strategy vs. current offering)
2. Vendor-specific commentary
3. Market trend analysis in introduction

McKinsey/BCG Reports:
1. Executive summary first
2. Methodology appendix (sample size? scope?)
3. Headline stats + context around them
4. Check if commissioned by an industry group

Chart and Statistic Verification

Before citing a statistic, verify:
□ Original source (not a chain of citations)
□ Sample size and methodology
□ Date of data collection (vs publication date)
□ Scope (geography, industry, company size)
□ Whether it's been updated since
□ Full context (sometimes headline contradicts detail)

Common misquotation pattern:
Report: "X% of companies that have implemented Y see benefit Z"
→ Often cited as "X% of companies use Y"
Always read original to confirm what was actually measured