Internet Service Provider Research Project

Determining the number of household Internet connections in a given area can be difficult given the rapid expansion of the Internet and the tendency of individuals to not reveal personal information. The latter is particularly true when individuals have an expectation that their personal information will be used for purposes such as direct marketing. From that standpoint, having a third party conduct whatever primary research may be appropriate is a wise choice since a third party might have greater success. The issue of whether primary or secondary research is appropriate is one of the objectives of this analysis; in addition, this analysis outlines the recommended procedure for identifying the number of Internet subscribers within the ISP's service area.

Any research project needs to define its objectives clearly. Certainly this project is concerned with determining how many households have any ISP connection within the service area of the contracting ISP. However, the project will be constrained by the defined service area of the ISP--if the ISP serves the entire country, that will result in a different research design than if the ISP serves only a smaller region. The ISP also needs to determine if the only question it wants addressed is the issue of Internet connection. Given that the ISP is considering using this information for target marketing, the company may want to expand th

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ary data due to the lack of complexity and--generally--fewer researchers required to complete the study. However, secondary data is, by its nature, not as current as primary data. In addition, secondary data may not always cover the exact research question requiring interpretation and assumptions to be made that may compromise the quality of the study results. When timeliness is important, secondary data can be of questionable value ("A Nation," 2002). IMPLEMENTATION OF PRIMARY AND SECONDARY DATA COLLECTION In this situation, the issue of primary or secondary data may not be exclusive. Secondary data research can be conducted to form a preliminary estimation of the best way to approach the primary data issue. Depending on the size of the service area, there may be recent secondary data in existence that meets the need of the research question. Alternatively, secondary data might be available to provide some parameters regarding the expected results of the primary data, or at least a benchmark against which the validity of primary data can be judged. Thus, if a year-old study shows that there was an Internet connection rate of 42 percent in the study area, and the primary data reveals an Internet connection rate of 12 perc
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1252
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page)

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