What are some strengths and weaknesses of Primary Data

Strengths - Primary data is reliable way to collect data because the researcher can do it again as they know the procedures, how it was collected and analysed since they did it themselves. Also, the chances are it will also be more up to date too. Data gathered years previously (e.g. Milgram) are less likely to provide reliable answers to the questions your data needs to address. Since it is direct from the population in question, it is one of the best types of data to collect for research methods like the survey. Weaknesses - Researchers may be subjective in what kinds of data they look for in particular data that fits the hypothesis they are trying to test. For example Milgram may have used primary data from his experiments to back up Agency Theory. The data has to be gathered from scratch which involves finding a large enough population to make the sample credible and generalisable and in turn can collect a large volume of data. This usually makes it more costly and time consuming than collecting secondary data.