Lesson Plan

• Describe the advantages of using secondary data in market research.
• Evaluate secondary data sources against relevance, reliability, timeliness, accuracy and cost‑benefit.
• Analyse how secondary data can inform the design of primary research.
• Apply criteria to select appropriate secondary sources for a given business question.
• Summarise key take‑aways on integrating secondary and primary data.

• Projector and screen
• Whiteboard and markers
• Handout with summary table of secondary sources
• Sample secondary data extracts (e.g., government report excerpt)
• Worksheets for evaluating data sources
• Laptop for internet‑search demonstration

Begin with the question, “How would you decide whether a new product idea is worth pursuing before spending money on surveys?” Use this hook to recall students’ prior knowledge of market research. Explain that today they will discover how existing data can answer that question quickly and cheaply, and outline the success criteria: students will be able to evaluate secondary sources and link them to primary research plans.

1. Do‑now (5'): Students list everyday examples of market data they have encountered (e.g., news articles, social media trends).
2. Mini‑lecture (10'): Define secondary research, present key sources, and discuss its speed, cost‑efficiency, breadth, benchmarking and risk reduction.
3. Group activity (12'): In small groups, evaluate provided data extracts using the RECTA criteria (Relevance, Reliability, Timeliness, Accuracy, Cost‑benefit) and complete the worksheet.
4. Whole‑class debrief (8'): Groups share evaluations; teacher highlights common pitfalls and reinforces evaluation points.
5. Integration discussion (10'): Students outline how the evaluated secondary data could shape a primary research design (e.g., identifying gaps, forming hypotheses).
6. Exit ticket (5'): Each student writes one specific way they would use secondary data for a business idea they have in mind.

Recap the five criteria that make secondary data useful and how it feeds into primary research planning. Collect the exit tickets as a quick check for understanding, and assign a homework task: locate a recent secondary source related to a product idea and write a brief evaluation using the RECTA criteria.