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Desk Review Template and Guidance

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CPWG, The Child Protection Working Group

CPWG members are committed to providing and supporting effective, well-coordinated child protection responses based on a robust and timely assessment of needs and capacities. CPWG members have therefore collaborated in developing the Child Protection Rapid Assessment (CPRA) Toolkit. As of May 2013, it has been used in multiple emergency-affected contexts and incorporates changes based on extensive field-testing. The CPRA guidance strongly suggests that undertaking a desk review (DR) is key to an effective rapid assessment. The evidence from the field also suggests that in places where a desk review was conducted prior to or as part of the CPRA, it facilitated the assessment process, especially the contextualization of the tools.

This tool has been developed by the Child Protection Working Group as a guide and generic template for development of a desk review. It provides an outline of what a DR would look like. It provides explanations and examples under each heading.

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What is Desk Research? A Guide + Examples

What is Desk Research? A Guide + Examples

Desk research can help you make data-driven decisions, define or adapt strategies, and uncover untapped market potential to drive growth – when it’s done right!

Nowadays, we have all the information we need at our fingertips; but knowing where to find the right data quickly is key.

So, what is desk research? What does it involve, and how can Similarweb Digital Research Intelligence help?

Let’s find out.

desk research definition

What is desk research?

Desk research is a type of market research that uses existing data to support or validate outcomes and conclusions. Also known as secondary research , it’s a cost-effective way to obtain relevant data from a broad range of channels.

How is desk research used?

From small start-ups to established businesses, doing desk research provides you with crucial insights into trends, competitors, and market size . Whatever you do, desk research can help with product positioning and guide data-driven business decisions that help you become the ultimate competitor and find new ways to grow.

According to the latest data on the Internet of Things , around 130 new devices connect to the web every second. Stats on the state of data show we create and consume data at an exponential rate–data interactions will only continue to rise.

Data consumption growth chart

Primary vs. secondary research – what’s the difference?

Most market research methods fall into either primary or secondary research. When we talk about desk research, we tend to focus only on secondary methods. However, most primary research can also be done remotely, from a desk.

Difference between primary and secondary research

Primary research is self-conducted research that gathers data to answer questions. It usually involves going directly to a source, such as a customer or a prospect. Compared to secondary research, it takes longer, costs more, and demands more resources. Primary research methods include interviews, market research surveys , questionnaires, competitor reviews, market mapping , focus groups, etc.

Secondary research is the synthesis or summary of existing research using previously gained information from various sources. Most market research starts with secondary research: It aims to provide a researcher or analyst with a basis of knowledge formed from existing data. Secondary research methods include collecting data from the internet, government databases, reports, and academic journals, to name just a few.

Pros and cons of desk research

As with any type of market research, you need to choose the right method to deliver the best outcome for your research goal. Desk research is advantageous for several reasons, but it won’t always suit every market research project. Market research best practice tells us that we should use desk-based research before primary research – as this helps to reduce or refine the scope of the work before the second, more costly phase.

Here’s a summary of the pros and cons of desk research.

Advantages of desk-based research

Doing secondary market research is highly beneficial; here’s why.

  • 💰 Low cost – most secondary research sources are low-to-no cost.
  • 💨 Speed – as the data already exists, data collection is quick.
  • 💎 Clarity – desk research drives & add-value to primary research actions.
  • 🌱 Scalability – due to the large datasets used in secondary research.
  • 📆 Availability – pre-collected data is readily available to analyze.
  • 💡 Insightful – get valuable insights and help resolve some initial research questions.

Disadvantages of desk-based research

As any good researcher will attest, it’s always good to look at a topic from every angle. Here are a few things to consider before starting any secondary research process.

  • Out of-date data – consider if the coverage dates of the research are relevant. In a fast-moving market, having access to up-to-date information could be critical.
  • Lack of perceived control over the data – secondary research is undertaken by a third party; as such, methodology controls need to be reviewed with caution.
  • No exclusivity – desk research data is widely available and can be used by other researchers.
  • Verification & interpretation – particularly when working with large data sets, it can take time to analyze and review to ensure the information is suitable for your research.

Types of desk-based research

Nowadays, you can do most market research from a desk. Here, I’ll focus solely on secondary research methods: Where finding and using the right resources is key. The data you use needs to be up-to-date and should always come from a trusted source.

Desk research methods – internal data resources

Before stepping into external research, look for any relevant internal sources. This data can often prove invaluable, and it’s a great place to start gathering insights that only you can see. The information is already yours, so aside from the fact it won’t cost a dime, it’s data your rivals won’t have access to.

Types of internal desk-based research

Sources of internal information that can help you do desk research include:

  • Historical campaign and sales analysis: Everything from website traffic and conversions through to sales. Accessible through your own analytics platform(s).
  • Website and mobile application data: Your own platforms can also tell you where users are – such as the device split between mobile and desktop.
  • Existing customer information: audience demographics , product use, and efficiency of service.
  • Previous research conducted by other analysts: Even if the research seems unrelated, there could be indicative information within.

Desk research methods – external data resources

Using external data sources for desk research is an ideal way to get information about market trends, and explore a new topic.

Types of external desk-based research

  • The internet: A virtual aggregator of all secondary research sources – always validate findings with credible sources.
  • Commercial resources: Research associations and company reports usually cost money but give you data that’s specific to your industry/aim.
  • Trade association reports: To see if there’s a trade association of interest, do a quick search online or use the Encyclopedia of Associations , the Directory of Associations , or the National Trade and Professional Associations Directory
  • Industry Experts: Expert consultancy is an efficient way of getting information from someone who has ‘been there, done that.’ Also, consider ‘influencers.’
  • Research associations & journals: Most research associations are independent and offer bespoke, specialized reports.
  • Media coverage: TV, radio, newspapers, and magazines can often help uncover facts and relevant media stories related to your topic.
  • Market research intelligence software: Platforms like Similarweb give you actionable insights into industry and competitors’ trends. With access to mobile app intelligence , you get a complete picture of the digital landscape.
  • Government & non-government agencies: In the US, the biggest generator of data is the federal government. US Census Bureau , Congressional Research Service , US Government Publishing Office , US Small Business Administration , and the Department of Education . Most information from these sources is free.
  • Local government sites: A reliable source to find data on population density or employment trends.
  • Public library records: Access data via the Digital Public Library of America in the US or the National Archives in the UK.
  • Competitor information: Sign-up for mailing lists, view comparison reports, and read online reviews.
  • Educational institutions: Academic research papers and journals are well-researched. If you can find a relevant one, you’ll likely get solid data from credible sources.

How to choose the best type of desk research

With so many freely-available sources online for desk-based research; it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. The best guidance I can offer is to keep a list of key questions you are trying to answer with this research, and consider:

  • What are you hoping to learn from your research?
  • Why is this data relevant?
  • Is there an action you can take from this information?
  • How up-to-date is the data you are using?

Always keep the questions you’re trying to answer front of mind. It’ll help you stay focused and keep your desk research on the right track. Time and money will usually determine the right type of desk research to use, but, even then, it’s important to stay focussed on where you spend your time vs. the return on that investment.

Inspiration: This article outlines some of the best market research questions to ask.

How to do desk research in five steps

Follow these steps to guide you through doing desktop research:

1. Clearly define your research topic Identify your topic and its purpose, then list any relevant research attributes.

2. Select appropriate resources Make a list of sources that’ll provide relevant information for your research topic.

3. Look for existing data Once you’ve collated your research sources, look for internal and external data relevant to your research topic. Remember to only use data from authentic sources.

4. Collate, compare & assemble Next, you’ll need to collate all the data you’ve obtained, remove any duplication, and bring it together into a usable format.

5. Data analysis The final step of doing desk research is to analyze the data. At this point, you should be able to see if your research questions have been answered. If any questions remain unanswered, go back to step 2, and look for alternative resources that will help you get clearer insights.

How to do desk research

Desk-based research tools

Online resources are by far your most valuable asset for doing secondary research. However, software like Similarweb Digital Research Intelligence , Google Analytics (GA), and Google Search Console (GSC) can save you time and give you a more visually-appealing view of relevant data.

My list of go-to tools for desk research includes:

  • Google Analytics & Search Console – your own site’s performance and visitor stats.
  • Similarweb Digital Research Intelligence – uncover market, industry & competitor trends across web, mobile, and apps.
  • Tableau – data visualization for presenting your findings.
  • Competitor data – on rival’s websites, newsletters, and social media accounts.

Read: The best market research tools of 2023

Note that GA and GSC are free to use but limited in terms of what you can see outside your own site. With Similarweb, you can access virtually limitless industry-wide data.

Stop Guessing, Start Analyzing

Get actionable insights for desk research here

How Similarweb helps with desk research

Here are just a few examples of how Similarweb Digital Research Intelligence can help you with secondary research.

  • Benchmarking yourself against your industry – Competitor benchmarking
  • Understand how competitor websites and apps perform – Company research
  • Get a full picture of your industry – Market research & industry analysis
  • Understand how apps are impacting your market – App Intelligence
  • Analyze consumer behavior – Audience analysis
  • Understand the complete customer journey – Consumer journey tracking

Using research intelligence tools will save you time and money while removing bias from the data – ultimately giving you clarity and a complete view of the digital world relevant to your research topic.

Success Story: See how Airbnb uses Similarweb to reveal growth opportunities in new markets .

Desk research examples with Similarweb

A good example of desk research in action is looking into an industry to uncover market leaders, trends, relevant search trends, and an overview of a complete industry. Using the market analysis module in Similarweb, you can find out exactly what’s happening in your market, and make data-driven decisions that’ll help you increase market share , and drive faster, more sustainable business growth.

For this particular desk research example, I chose the airline industry.

Let’s dive in.

Industry Overview

See a snapshot of industry traffic and engagement metrics . This data is typically based on Similarweb’s index of the top 100 websites in a chosen vertical. You can easily create a custom industry , allowing you to do competitive benchmarking against specific companies in your market.

Similarweb industry overview - platform screenshot

Industry Leaders

Quickly see who is winning in an industry using the Market quadrant analysis graph and industry leaders table. Analyze top-performing websites in your vertical, and dive into their traffic and engagement performance to view bounce rates, visit duration, monthly visits, month-on-month changes, unique visitors, pages/visits, and traffic share .

Similarweb industry leaders - platform screenshot

Industry Trends

Analyze trends in near real-time so you can take action when it matters most–not a quarter later. Create a personalized view of your industry for in-depth analysis and make informed decisions that will help you grow your market share.

Similarweb industry trends - platform screenshot

Marketing Channels

Access valuable traffic metrics and insights for each marketing channel. See data for direct, social, display ads, paid search, referrals, emails, and organic traffic channels and evaluate performance for each. Uncover opportunities to grow your own traffic share, evaluate engagement and quality of traffic, and identify trends over time.

Similarweb marketing channels- platform screenshot

Search Trends (within an industry)

Discover trending topics and emerging search terms in any industry. View what’s trending, search volume, % change, volume trend, and traffic leaders for both branded and non-branded search in your sector. Use these insights to get an understanding of market demand, search intent, and audience interests within a specific category, brand, or product.

Similarweb search trends - platform screenshot

Demographics

Gain crucial insights into the audiences visiting your website, your competitors’ websites, and your industry as a whole. See gender and age distribution across web, mobile, or combined traffic channels, and compare your demographics with that of your rivals.

Similarweb demographics - platform screenshot

The market analysis element of Similarweb will help you answer some of your most important research questions, such as:

  • How a specific industry grew over time
  • Who the top and emerging players are in your industry
  • Which products or services are trending and/or what are consumers searching for
  • What demographics are relevant to you, and your competitors

The app intelligence module completes the picture and gives you a broad view of the digital landscape across your market. You can quickly see how apps are impacting your industry, and look at download, engagement, installs, ranking, and more.

Engagement over time

Here, I’m sticking with the airline industry to establish whether or not android or iOS is the best fit for a new app. Immediately, I can see there are between 1-1.5M monthly active users on iOS vs. an equivalent of around 350,000k on Android.

Like what you see? Take a tour of Similarweb for yourself.

Discover industry insights for desk research here

Wrapping up

Good desk research helps you quickly uncover key information that can shape and steer successful market research projects. When done right, you’ll be able to answer questions and discover crucial data about your industry, competitors, and key trends to consider while building a strategy for growth.

Asking the right research questions from the onset and keeping these at the forefront of your mind throughout will save time and help direct your market analysis in the right direction.

Is desk-based research free?

Depending on the method used, desktop research can be done for free. If you require industry or government agency reports, these often carry a charge but are more likely to be free from bias when compared to commercially produced reports that (sometimes) receive sponsorship. 

Which businesses can utilize secondary desk research?

Desk-based research can uncover crucial insights into market trends, market sizing, and competitors. The information can be used by any size business to help guide strategic decision-making and help refine a product’s positioning.

Should you do secondary research before primary research?

Absolutely, yes. Secondary research should always come before primary or field research. The formative research phase helps pinpoint where more in-depth primary research is required. Desk research can also verify and support findings from field research but should not replace primary research–as they are each utilized under different circumstances.

Who does desk-based research?

Desk research can ‘technically’ be done by anyone, but it’s typically performed by a researcher, an analyst, or a marketing professional. Good market research has solid foundational data to drive critical business decisions. Experienced researchers and analysts are best-placed to spot opportunities, trends, and patterns when the stakes are this high.

So, while anybody can access secondary data free of charge, investing the necessary resources to do things right to get the most out of the process is essential.

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desk review methodology pdf

Surviving the desk-review

  • Published: 05 February 2019
  • Volume 18 , pages 1–5, ( 2019 )

Cite this article

  • Fabian Jintae Froese 1 &
  • Katharina Bader 2  

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Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.

One major goal of scientific research is communication with other researchers via publishing the results of your work in scientific journals. Unfortunately, not all manuscripts can be published in esteemed peer-reviewed journals. In fact, many submitted manuscripts will not even enter the peer-review process; they will be desk-rejected without receiving detailed feedback from peer-reviewers. What are the reasons for desk-rejects, and what can authors do to avoid them?

Scientific journals receive an increasing number of submissions. For instance, Asian Business & Management (ABM) received 712 submissions in 2018. To guarantee academic rigor and to identify potentially impactful research, each published manuscript undergoes a thorough peer-review process, involving at least two independent double-blind peer-reviews and an assessment of an editor. However, before manuscripts are introduced into this work-intensive process, they need to pass an in-depth desk-review. This is for an important reason: the peer-review system thrives on voluntary contributions. Reviewing for journals is an important task, and it takes expertise, time and energy from those involved. Therefore, we would like to express our sincere gratitude to all our editors and reviewers who have dedicated their precious time to helping others improve their work. They have done an excellent job in supporting the journal. As the time at the disposal of our editors and reviewers is limited, it is impossible to send all manuscripts into the review process. Consequently, we can only send those manuscripts into the review process, which we believe can have a realistic chance for eventual publication. Therefore, what can authors do to increase the chances of their manuscript surviving desk-review?

In the following, we briefly explain the desk-review process, common mistakes, and provide some recommendations on how authors can avoid such mistakes and thus hopefully have their manuscripts published in ABM.

The desk-review process

All incoming submissions to ABM will be screened by an editorial assistant, the reviewing editor and the editor-in-chief. First, the editorial assistant checks formality and runs all manuscripts through a computerized plagiarism detection software. Second, the reviewing editor checks the results of the editorial assistant, reads the manuscript and makes a recommendation on whether to advance the manuscript into the review process or to desk-reject it. Third, the editor - in - chief receives the recommendation from the reviewing editor and scrutinizes the submission. If the recommendation is unequivocal, the editor-in-chief will then either forward the manuscript to a handling editor , e.g., an associate editor or guest editor, or desk-reject it. In case of doubt, the editor-in-chief carefully reads the manuscript to render a decision whether to advance or desk-reject the manuscript. Finally, the handling editor , usually an expert in the area of the manuscript, enters the manuscript into the double-blind peer-review process or desk-rejects it.

Reasons for desk-rejects

Unfortunately, because of the high number of submissions, we are not always able to give detailed and comprehensive reasons for all desk-reject decisions. Yet, having received and reviewed hundreds of submissions, there are a couple of general issues that lead to a desk-reject which we would like to share with potential authors. In the following, we will review the common reasons for desk-reject decisions and provide recommendations on how authors can avoid these mistakes. We organize the main reasons into four overarching categories: mismatch with the journal, theoretical contribution, writing, and methods.

Mismatch with the journal

Each journal has a different mission, topic and methods coverage. ABM covers business and management topics in the areas of corporate governance, entrepreneurship, human-resource management, innovation management, international business, marketing, organizational behavior, organization theory, strategy, and related areas; but desk-rejects articles in other areas that are not within the scope of the journal, e.g., accounting, economics, finance, information systems, operations research. As a region-focused journal, ABM publishes articles that illuminate business and management in and/or from Asia. ABM is open to various methods, including quantitative, qualitative, and conceptual work, and welcomes innovative research methods. For more detailed information about the scope of ABM, see the editorial by the editor-in-chief (Froese 2018 ): https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/s41291-017-0028-0 .

It is important to submit manuscripts to a journal that is interested in your field of research. For instance, if your manuscript is not within the scope of ABM as stated above, it will, unfortunately, be automatically desk-rejected. Therefore, we recommend carefully reading the editorial (Froese 2018 ), browsing ABM’s homepage, and prior issues to determine the fit with the journal, to make modifications, or to submit to a different journal with a better fit to avoid mismatch. Furthermore, even though the regional focus of ABM is already clearly reflected in its title, some submissions surprisingly fail to acknowledge the Asian context. The editorial (Froese 2018 ) describes different ways in which authors could consider the Asian context. Please ensure reviewing this critical aspect carefully before submitting to ABM and consider how best to include the Asian context in your work.

Theoretical contribution

The potential theoretical contribution of an article is one of the most important criteria to determine the value of a submission. ABM and most other journals emphasize theoretical contributions, and value practical and empirical contributions to a lesser extent. Unfortunately, in a substantial number of submissions, the theoretical contribution is not clear, or only very minor; it seems that sometimes authors themselves are not aware of their theoretical contributions or fail to develop and discuss the novel theoretical insights of their work. Furthermore, a substantial number of submissions do not refer to any theory but merely mention theories without proper integration. Another problem is the replication of prior work without adding any novel insights. Not discarding the value of replication studies, ABM is primarily interested in novel contributions.

In order to highlight the theoretical contribution, it is important for authors to build their work on the existing theory and extend it, or to develop new theory. Quantitative papers should build their hypotheses based on an underlying theory. Qualitative papers usually develop research questions based on theory and/or develop new theory. No matter which approach you choose, it is vital to integrate the underlying theory properly in your manuscript. Merely citing a theory does not justify a theoretical contribution—it does not even pass as a sound theoretical basis. We recommend authors to clearly articulate their theoretical contributions briefly at the end of the introduction and to elaborate on theoretical advancements in detail in the discussion.

While quantitative papers follow a standard structure, qualitative and conceptual papers have more variety in structures. Papers in ABM follow typical structures of articles published in management journals. These standards are firmly established. For instance, quantitative papers have typically the following structure: (1) introduction, (2) theory, (3) methods, (4) results, and (5) discussion. If you fail to structure your work accordingly, the paper is likely to get desk-rejected. Language and spelling is another writing-related concern of some submissions—not only for non-native English authors. Furthermore, journals have different style guides, and many manuscripts do not comply with the ABM style guide or use inconsistent formatting.

To increase readability and professionalism, authors are recommended to follow common standards of management research manuscripts (see recent articles in ABM). Authors should carefully check their manuscript and/or hire a professional proofreader prior to journal submission. Furthermore, ABM’s style guide can be found here: https://www.palgrave.com/gp/journal/41291/authors/presentation-formatting . The style guide also includes a recommendation regarding the length of articles. ABM recommends 7000–10,000 words. We believe that shorter articles do not allow for sufficient depth, while longer articles usually lack focus. If authors submit to ABM, they are expected to adhere fully to ABM’s style guide.

Methodological rigor is important for quantitative and qualitative studies. Methodological rigor will be scrutinized in detail during the peer-review process. At the initial desk-review stage, we screen for major methodological flaws. One such major concern is small sample size. While we do not have clear cut-off sample sizes, as this would vary substantially depending on employed research methods, we do expect sufficiently large sample sizes to infer generalizable results. Quantitative studies need sufficient statistical power. Qualitative studies need sufficient data to generate reliable findings. Another major concern is whether methods are suitable to tackle corresponding research questions and if the methods are applied appropriately. In this regard, we frequently observe inappropriate statistical analyses, problematic operationalization of variables, and ecological fallacy. Unclear and incomplete description of samples, procedures, and analyses also raise concerns.

It is important for submitting authors to employ the appropriate methods to answer their research questions. Given the variety of different methods, it is difficult to propose specific recommendations. Rather, we recommend inexperienced researchers to receive guidance from methods experts to select and implement the adequate methods in a rigorous manner. If authors use standard methods, e.g., OLS regressions, standard reporting is sufficient. If authors use qualitative or less-common quantitative methods, it is essential that authors elaborate more on the methods applied so that editors and reviewers can clearly assess the appropriateness and quality.

Concluding remarks

It is important for us in our role as editors to stress that it is our sincere wish to help authors improve and publish their work. We do not enjoy sending out desk-reject letters; on the contrary, we prefer to help authors develop their work. Therefore, in this editorial, it was our aim to highlight common pitfalls and provide specific recommendations to help authors improve their submission and survive the desk-review. While some of the problems can easily be rectified, e.g., style guide, others are more fundamental, e.g., lack of theoretical contribution, or inadequate methods. Therefore, we recommend authors to take extra time to ensure they achieve high scientific standards. As we know how much time authors spend on their research, we hope that this editorial will motivate them to carefully plan and conduct their research to avoid fundamental problems, select the right target journal, and then adapt their manuscript to conform to the respective guidelines in order to increase publication chances. We hope to receive more submissions to ABM that will pass the desk-review, further improve them during the review process, and publish them. We look forward to your valuable submissions.

Froese, F. J. (2018). Editorial. Asian Business & Management, 17 (1), 1–3.

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Froese, F.J., Bader, K. Surviving the desk-review. Asian Bus Manage 18 , 1–5 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41291-019-00060-8

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Published : 05 February 2019

Issue Date : 14 February 2019

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1057/s41291-019-00060-8

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desk review methodology pdf

Introduction to Desk Reviews

Module 1 objectives.

Module Objective : Provide an overview of the desk review purpose and process.

By the end of the module, the learner will have achieved the following learning objectives:

Learning Objective 1 : Learner will be able to explain the purpose of a desk review.

Learning Objective 2 : Learner will be able to distinguish between a desk review and other secondary research approaches.

Learning Objective 3 : Learner will be able to define different types of desk research.

What is a Desk Review?

A desk review is a form of secondary research. Unlike primary research, in which the researcher is uncovering new information and creating new knowledge, secondary research focuses on information that has already been acquired and documented. Secondary research is used to present an overview of the current state of knowledge in a field. It can also be used to highlight areas or gaps in existing information where additional primary research is needed.

It is wise to complete a desk review as an initial step in:

Proposal research and development

Program design

Qualitative or quantitative primary research activities

Community assessments (reviewed in WI-HER's Data Collection for Community Assessments training )

Program reporting

Why complete a desk review?

As secondary research, a desk review serves a very specific purpose. A desk review can rarely completely replace primary research activities. However, it can provide an overview of relevant policies, programs, and primary research that has been completed on your specific topic. Desk reviews are especially helpful if there are a large number of reputable sources that have already written on your topic (you will learn more about assessing the quality of sources in Module 2). To be helpful, information presented in a desk review should be directly relevant to your topic and purpose .

Desk reviews may also help you justify primary research activities; if you can demonstrate a lack of literature on your topic or in your location of interest, you will be more successful in advocating for primary research. This primary research, or field research, will provide an opportunity to collect more specific information related to the work you are doing. For additional information about field research, you can access WI-HER's Data Collection for Community Assessments training .

What is Desk Research?

As the name implies, desk research is research that can be undertaken from your desk. This is why desk research is considered secondary research – it does not require leaving your desk to pursue the acquisition of new information.

There are two types of desk research:

Internal Desk Research : Refers to the review of data, reports, tools, or other resources developed by your organization (either publicly available or not). Depending on the context, it could also include internal information from partner organizations. However, not all information housed within your organization or a partner organization is considered internal. If you are reviewing materials that were produced or created from outside your organization that are kept on record in your organization (for example, an encyclopedia or a copy of a presentation from another organization), you are conducting external desk research.

External Desk Research : Refers to the review of data, reports, tools, or other resources that exist outside of your organization. Module 2 will cover how to find this information from reputable sources.

Other Secondary Research Formats

There are a number of other forms of secondary research with slightly different functions than a desk review, such as literature reviews, systematic reviews, and scoping reviews. The following sources will allow you to explore these common types of secondary research.

desk review methodology pdf

Literature Reviews

Please watch the video "What's a Literature Review?" and review the content on the webpage.

desk review methodology pdf

Systematic Reviews

Please review the webpage.

desk review methodology pdf

Scoping Reviews

Please watch "Part 1: Scoping reviews: an overview with examples" (the first video on the page).

Activity: Compare and Contrast Secondary Research Formats

Use the form below to complete the activity.

Desk Review Process

Pre-writing: the research framework.

Before beginning the desk review, it is important to determine the focus of the review and its scope. For example, you may need to perform a desk review focusing on education systems in Argentina, but within the scope of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Agriculture, and Math). The focus and scope of your review may be well established based on your project, or it may be pre-determined by your client or research partners, but there may be flexibility. There will also need to be standards established relating to research parameters and style , which will be covered in later modules.

The purpose of the desk review should guide its development. Desk reviews may be used for internal knowledge development for your organization to inform proposal design or activity design. When responding to a request for proposals, the desk review can help identify prior work and opportunities for your organization to develop innovative solutions. The review may also be published for an external audience as a standalone document or as part of a larger report. Desk reviews may also be used as a preface for the presentation of primary research or fieldwork, providing background to the situation and pointing out the gaps in current knowledge future research or fieldwork will then cover.

The introduction of your desk review will include the purpose and rationale for your desk review. It is helpful to establish a clear vision for your desk review with precise limitations on its focus. You should identify a clear research question you would like to answer, and you should identify the aims or objectives necessary to answer this question. This research framework should guide your entire desk review process, and you should return to this framework throughout your research and writing to ensure the information you collect is relevant to the framework. For example, if you are writing a desk review on maternal health in Rwanda, your research framework may look like this:

Research question: What are the factors facilitating or hindering maternal health in Rwanda?

Aim 1: To describe the current development context in Rwanda, with a focus on health and gender.

Aim 2: To understand access to and utilization of maternal health services, including family planning, antenatal care, delivery, postpartum care, and neonatal care.

Aim 3: To review the quality of primary health care services, with an emphasis on services affecting maternal health.

Aim 4: To understand extrinsic sociocultural factors impacting maternal health, including marriage practices, childbearing practices, and economic situations.

Beginning the Writing Process

The review should begin with an outline that highlights key topics and sub-topics that need to be researched to address the main focus and aims of the review. You may need to complete initial key document reviews on your topic before you know what key sections will make up (or be included in) your outline. The WI-HER Desk Review outline, below, provides a helpful outline to begin conceptualizing the format for a desk review. When developing the outline, consider the major topics that are relevant to your area of focus. To return to the example of maternal health in Rwanda, you may develop an outline covering the following topics:

Rwanda: Country Overview

Women’s access to and utilization of care

Quality of primary health care services

Gender-based violence

Child marriage and early pregnancy

Women’s employment and economic independence

The topics you include in your outline should be directly related to your chosen topic, and you should continue to relate each section to your research framework. For example, when discussing women's employment, the information presented should be framed in the context of maternal health. To ensure relevance, you may discuss how childbearing affects employment or earnings or what policies exist for paternity leave or childcare.

During the outline phase, it is also helpful to identify key pieces of information that will be necessary in each section. For example, if providing a brief overview on general health context, it is important to determine what information is most relevant to include; in a desk review relating to maternal health, statistics on antenatal care and maternal mortality will be critical, and other health statistics may not be as useful for inclusion.

After developing an outline, you will have a better understanding of what types of resources you will need to gather. It is important to be thorough in the research process while maintaining efficiency. The research process will be discussed in greater detail in the next module.

The length of the desk review, and the amount of time you should dedicate to the review, will vary widely by project. Some reviews may not need as much information, and sources for certain topics may be more easily accessible or prolific. It is important to establish both the length of the desk review and the timeline for its completion when initially planning your project and developing the outline to ensure you complete an appropriate amount of research and writing. Define clearly with your client and with your colleagues the scope, limits, and timeline for the desk review project. Identify some benchmarks to keep you on track and to mark check-in moments that convene the group to voice challenges and confirm consensus that the targets are still on track. A typical desk review should range between 10 and 15 pages in length. You should likely not exceed 20 pages in length unless there are exceptional circumstances (i.e., large project scope).

The Assessment to Action Guide , developed for the USAID SHOPS Plus project, contains a detailed explanation of the desk review process. Examine the guide. The topics covered in this guide will be explained in greater detail during the course of these modules, but it can serve as a quick reference for you during the desk review process.

desk review methodology pdf

Examining a Desk Review

Follow the link to find an example of a desk review developed for the USAID Office of Food for Peace Food Security program in Liberia. Briefly review this document, keep the following questions in mind:

Why do you think this secondary research was necessary?

How is the document structured?

Does this desk review include any primary research?

After reviewing the document, use the button below to complete the activity.

Note: This is a lengthy desk review, and you do not need to read the entire document. Focus on exploring the structure of the document.

Activity: Examining a Desk Review

Wi-her desk review outline.

The WI-HER Desk Review outline, below, was developed based on desk reviews completed in a variety of focal areas. The outline can be easily adapted for a variety of contexts and provides insight into how to structure a desk review and identify important areas of focus.

You may find it useful to download the outline and adapt it for your own use.

desk review methodology pdf

Module 1 Knowledge Assessment

After completing all of the activities in Module 1, please complete the module knowledge assessment before proceeding to Module 2. You will receive feedback on all activities and the assessment based on the learning schedule you developed.

Proceed to Module 2

Systematic approach to desk-top research and university projects

  • Post author By admin
  • Post date September 22, 2014
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How to conduct effective desk-top research?

This article is for any university student about to embark on writing essays or completing dissertations and projects for the first time. I have also run workshops introducing these methods and they do seem to be overwhelmingly useful even to more experienced researchers. This article is also intended to help  dissertation supervisors who may want to produce a ‘mini-systematic review’ for an undergraduate or postgraduate research project. This provides a robust methodology for the students to follow and is a much more rewarding and exacting project than a mere literature review. It will also satisfy requirements of those professional bodies who look for an element of ‘data analysis’ within the project.

So, let us embark on an interesting and hopefully informative journey about how to carry out effective desk-top research.

Airport departures

Introducing the systematic review

The word “ systematic ” in relation to a review involves the use of precise methods to gather and assess the results of research publications that (most importantly) minimises bias within the process. The result should be a robust and reliable assimilation of evidence in order to reach a reliable conclusion. Medical systematic reviews are conducted and published through the Cochrane Library  named after Archie Cochrane a Scottish doctor who established the idea of evidence-based medicine. Why do I mention systematic reviews in relation to desk-top research? Well – if you understand the premise and approaches of a systematic review and apply them to your essays, coursework and dissertations, then you will be undertaking a high quality piece of work (or suggesting a high quality assignment if you are setting the work). The steps highlighted below would also provide you with a methodology and the basis of a methods section for a dissertation.

Figure 1 illustrates the systematic approach.  The details on the left hand side are the minimum approach that could be undertaken in an essay or piece of desk-top research. For more in-depth undergraduate projects, and certainly for full systematic reviews, the details on the right hand side would need to be fully understood and reported.

Full systematic reviews can be conducted on any subject, not just medical ones. I have written  ones on education subjects – and here too, they are useful to  pool knowledge about best practice, or to evaluate new innovations in teaching for example. In education, often the methods are more relaxed as generally education papers do not meet the high quality standards of medical papers and their research designs. This is often due to not being able to randomise groups of students / learners due to the constraints of timetabling and classrooms. This isn’t the entire story though, as generally there is a feeling that much medical research and education research is simply not conducted as well as it could be .

Systematic principles – we should all use them!

A full systematic review is a serious piece of research and I like to teach the principles to my university students wherever possible because it provides them with a basis for doing high quality literature reviews, essays and dissertations. In fact I believe that anyone conducting research should know these principles. How many times do we hear that people are just using a Google Search or even Scholar, and they think it is research? The mainstay for any professional research must be the use of peer-reviewed and edited articles, and Scholar will not provide a robust enough search of these, and will also retrieve non-peer-reviewed reports and documents. Interesting as background reading certainly, but not for citation within a professional piece of work.

1) Setting the research question

The formulation of a precise research question is the starting point for any research and can be quite tricky. In medicine the  PICO framework  is used to define the various elements – population, intervention, comparison and outcome measure. For example I might be interested whether probiotics help people with diarrhoea.

Population – patients with diarrhoea Intervention – probiotics Comparison – no treatment Outcome – alleviation of diarrhoeal symptoms

So a question might be,

In patients with diarrhoea, do probiotics compared to no treatment, alleviate symptoms?

A PICO based question is the starting point of any dissertation student of mine, although not all the categories may apply. Once the question is set, the search strategy evolves and we can start generating keywords around the question categories.

But let’s take an education example. I’m interested in free online learning in the form of massive online open courses – MOOCs and the student experience.

P = learners I = MOOCs C = face to face/ traditional learning O = student experience

The question might be,

Do MOOCs enhance the experience of learners compared to traditional methods?

2) Deciding where to search?

A systematic review will aim to find ALL the articles in the world! This means not just using electronic databases, but hand searching books and journals, and contacting experts for unpublished or ongoing research. This can be quite a time intensive process. Today, the process is greatly helped by being able to save your searches within electronic databases, so once established (e.g. you might run a search at the start of your student project), you can simply run it again at the end to check for recent articles. Be pragmatic with the time you have – you might not be able to search everywhere, and the school of thought is that actually a good search of electronic databases will retrieve you the majority of articles these days, although do take care if you are particularly interested in more historic ones that may not be digitised.

So, where you decide to search will depend on what your organisation or local library has access to. Web of Knowledge and Medline are the mainstays of my research – which is both medical and educational. For my review on MOOCs I also used SCOPUS, IEEE and others. These cover both conference proceedings and workshop proceedings alongside published articles (original research, literature reviews, comments, opinions, letters etc).

3) Building up keyword lists for searching

From our PICO categories, we can start building up lists of keywords on similar themes.

P = learners, students, users I = MOOCs, xMOOC, cMOOC, massive online open course, free course C = face to face teaching, traditional teaching O = student experience, learning gain, knowledge gain

The next step is building up these words further. This is where I recommend using Wikipedia . It is a great keyword generator. I will also run some searches at this point to find relevant studies and look at their keywords to add to the list. If you were carrying out a full systematic review to publish, you would spend some time building up your keywords and then testing the results to ensure you were retrieving relevant articles. This iterative process might go on for some time, although for shorter-time scale projects such as undergraduate work, this may not be desirable.

4) Getting the keywords organised using Boolean logic

In some research I recently conducted looking at massive online open courses – MOOCs – I used six online databases to search, and used Boolean notation for searching with my keyword lists. There is a nice explanation of the use of Boolean logic on Ithaca College Library website. This in its simplest form uses the words (inputed in capitals – AND, OR, NOT) to combine keywords in order to expand and cross-reference your search accordingly. The Figure 2 summarises this approach.

You can also truncate words to search for all the variants of word endings using an asterisk *

e.g. MOOC MOOCs we can search for MOOC* e.g. Massive or massively we can search for massiv*

If searching phrases these need to be in quotations otherwise the individual words will be searched for separately and return thousands of results.

e.g. “massiv* online open cours*”

I’ve referred to the use of Boolean notation in another blog article – “ Seek and ye shall find ” complete with webcasts and instructions. This is following very simple principles and those expert in searching and forming Boolean instruction will be more complex than this. Here are some of the more commonly used ‘operators’ or instructions within the notation.

# means search OR – this will link together keywords and is used to broaden a search AND – this will cross-reference two searches (and not expand the search as you might suspect) NOT – this will exclude terms from the search

Going back to our question whether probiotics are effective for patients with diarrhoea, we could just haphazardly search for the keywords as shown below in Figure 3. However, as shown by the numbers, you will retrieve vast numbers of records and your search will not be specifically addressing your question.

The use of Boolean notation can be illustrated by the formation of a Venn diagram which shows the principles of combining the three separate searches using the word ‘AND’. The ‘OR’ term will enable you to expand out your searches such as for probiotics and lactobacillus. You may also search for humans and adults as a focus, and also the disease of interest. By using the ‘AND’ term you are cross-referencing the three searches to find those papers in the centre of the Venn diagram (Figure 4) – you can see a more manageable number of 1312 papers. These of course can be further limited perhaps by searching just for clinical trials.

5) Running the search and being organised!

Organisation is key and many online databases can set up accounts to save your searches (Medline is great for this) or export your outputs to a reference manager. I prefer to sometimes run the search, save the results as a ‘txt’ file and input into Microsoft Excel for analysis. The analysis steps might be important in a systematic review where you have pre-set what your research question is and your criteria for including studies. You can therefore use a new Excel sheet for each step in the analysis to maintain a good record of your process.

If you are completing a full systematic review, you will wish to refine your search in an iterative manner. That is, you will look at your search results to see if they are retrieving relevant articles, and refine the keywords and Boolean strategy if necessary to produce a more precise result. This step can in my experience take far more time than you might realise. The benefit is, once the search is right, you can save it and use it to update your coursework / project or review in the future.

6) What are study inclusion and exclusion criteria? (Could be optional depending on type of project or research)

For an undergraduate project you may not wish to be so stringent to think about what types of studies you wish to include or exclude. If you are completing a literature review, you may want just to provide an overall evaluation of everything that you have found. If you are being more systematic and wish to generate data for your project, you can follow the steps undertaken by a full systematic review, and record the numbers of studies you include and exclude at each phase. The beauty of this within a project or piece of research is that you are generating legitimate research data that can be displayed in a number of established figures and formats as illustrated below in Figure 5. Here, the results of a literature search and numbers of studies that are excluded during the process are shown.

Some excellent details on how to report systematic review results can be found not he following website, describing the PRISMA statements – preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta analyses .

In my studies of ‘education’, I set the entry gate quite wide so not to restrict the numbers of studies based on their design and quality. You will need to decide your inclusion and exclusion criteria at the start when you are writing your research proposal, or planning your essay. If you did wish to consider excluding types of articles, you might for example be doing a medical review and may well wish to only include randomised controlled trials. You might be researching an area of biomedical science and wish only to include animal investigations. If you are interested in systematic reviews in education specifically, this is a subject of development and debate the present time (e.g. Bennett 2005).

When you are analysing the results of your searches you will often soon spot ‘duplicate studies’. You will almost certainly find the same study on a number of databases, so you can use the ‘sort’ function to scan your lists of authors and remove duplicates. Studies can be duplicated in more subtle ways, for example an author might publish an abstract of data in a national journal, and then present the data at international conference. These are strictly duplicate studies because they contain the same data. The duplicate will need to be removed as shown in Figure 5.

7) Data collection and analysis

If you are intending to follow a systematic approach you will need to construct a series of spreadsheets to gather and organise your results. If you are completing a full systematic review you will establish the layout of a data extraction table prior to starting the review. This would include items such as author name, date of publication, methodology, outcome measures, and a host of other details. Again, the Cochrane organisation has further details on  data extraction .

Sorting your search results and applying the inclusion and exclusion criteria does take time, but ultimately it will give you the good results you are looking for. In a full-scale systematic review a number of authors would do these steps independently to ensure the process is accurate and to avoid bias introduced by personal choices and preferences. A third author can help discuss any areas of conflict or indecision. Filtering of the papers generally occurs in two phases:

Phase 1 of filtering. You can quickly filter your results often by just looking at the titles and author names to identify duplicates. You may need to review the abstracts at this point to ensure they match your inclusion criteria. Anything that is unclear will need to be checked by reviewing the full paper.

Phase 2 of selecting and filtering. If your inclusion criteria is looking for a specific methodology – e.g. randomised controlled trial, or specific subset of articles – e.g. animal studies, if you cannot glean this information from the abstract you will need the full paper to review.

So you might go through a phase of ordering full papers, and again use a reference manager of file system on your computer to organise yourself. I generally obtain the full paper for every article as I go along.

8) Qualitative versus quantitive analysis

For a full systematic review, if you have identified enough studies you can then extract data for pooling in a meta-analysis to provide quantitative data. As part of a review it is also good practice to provide a brief ‘narrative’ of the papers identified, and also to summarise your results in table form. The extent to which you do all of this will depend on the numbers of papers retrieved, and for the purposes of ‘containing’ an undergraduate project within 5000 words which is often the limit, you may need to restrict the textual explanations of the papers.

Providing the ‘narrative’ is often the part that students struggle to do within project result sections, therefore it is worth gaining a deeper understanding of the approaches and styles that can be undertaken. Popay et al in 2006 wrote a report on narrative synthesis that may be a starting point.

9) Finishing off and identifying themes and conclusions

If you have adhered to your question, keywords and inclusion / exclusion criteria, you should end up with a corpus (body of literature) directly relevant to your question. Depending on the volume of papers retrieved you may be able to look for sub-themes and organise your discussion around these. For example, searching for probiotics and diarrhoeal disease may reveal areas of research focusing on children as opposed to adults for example. The research may focus on different types of bacteria or blends of bacteria. A systematic approach is a great way of organising your research from start to finish!

Bennett, J., Fred Lubben , Sylvia Hogarth & Bob Campbell (2005). Systematic reviews of research in science education: rigour or rigidity?, International Journal of Science Education, 27:4, 387-406.

Cochrane Library (2014). About Cochrane Systematic Reviews and Protocols. Available:  http://www.thecochranelibrary.com/view/0/AboutCochraneSystematicReviews.html

Popay, J., Roberts, H., Sowden, A., Petticrew, M., Arai, L., Rodgers, M., … & Duffy, S. (2006). Guidance on the conduct of narrative synthesis in systematic reviews. A product from the ESRC methods programme. Version, 1.

  • Tags research methods , Study skills , systematic review

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How to Do Desk Research in 5 Simple Steps

Olesia Havryshko

Before you launch a product, you should get answers to several questions. The first and, we believe, most important one is to define the overall market situation and take a closer look at the potential customer. Mastering how to do desk research is a suitable, cost-effective way to get information for making data-driven decisions.

In this article, we’re going to highlight some essential tools for conducting desk research and defining user groups.

What is desk research?

Desk research (also called secondary research) is a research method that involves using existing data. This technique will allow you to get the first idea of your market and users “from your desk.”

Secondary research includes already published materials in reports, articles, or similar documents. We also recommend using software tools that can help you become more familiar with your users (you can find some of them below).

This method is much more cost-efficient than primary research and requests less time for conducting it. Still, a lot of analysis work should be done, and the result is really helpful. The best way is to mix qualitative user research and desk research. It’ll help you fit into your timelines and budgets.

Illustration that shows what is desk research.

Primary vs. secondary research

Since we’ve just mentioned primary research, let’s see what it is and how it differs from secondary desk research.

Primary research refers to the process of gathering firsthand data directly from the source, be it customers or prospects. This approach takes more time and effort than desk research, but you get the latest and most detailed information.

The most common primary research methods include the following:

  • interviews;
  • questionnaires;
  • competitor reviews;
  • focus groups;
  • market mapping.

Secondary research , or desk research, involves analyzing existing data and information collected by someone else or for another project or research purpose. It’s often the starting point for market research, providing foundational knowledge from pre-existing data. This method is quicker and easier than primary research, but the information you get might be older or less specific.

The desk research methods include gathering data from the following sources:

  • government databases;
  • academic journals;
  • social media.

While both research methodologies are helpful, you may be wondering when to use each. 

Go for primary research when you:

  • need up-to-date information not readily available;
  • study specific questions or problems not addressed in existing research;
  • require in-depth info directly from your target audience;
  • aim to test new ideas.

Desk research often paves the way for primary research. Chose this approach when you:

  • need a basic overview of a topic or industry;
  • want to get a background knowledge and context;
  • aim to study existing trends and statistics;
  • want to compare different perspectives on the same topic;
  • seek to save time and resources.

Pros and cons of desk research

Desk research is a valuable tool for any researcher. But, like any tool, it has its strengths and weaknesses. 

Pros of desk research

Using desk research methods is highly beneficial. Here are just several reasons for that:

  • Budget-friendly. Compared to primary research, desk research is more cost-efficient. You’re using existing information at low to no cost instead of generating it yourself.
  • Fast. Desk research lets you access data and reports instantly, offering quick insights without lengthy data collection.
  • Scalable. Desk research allows you to cover vast amounts of data.
  • Readily available data. Data for desk research is readily available online, and you can access it anytime.
  • Insightful. With careful searching, you can find helpful reports, studies, and expert opinions that provide valuable perspectives on your topic.

Cons of desk research

Despite the advantages, desk research comes with its cons. Here’s what to prepare for:

  • Outdated data. Data for desk research can quickly become outdated, so verifying its relevance is a must.
  • Limited control. You’re relying on someone else’s data, meaning you can’t control its methodology or accuracy.
  • Minimal exclusivity. Desk research findings are readily available to others, therefore they’re not exclusive to your unique project.
  • Verification complexities. Verifying data sources and interpreting information can be time-consuming.

Types of internal and external data sources

Desk research is a way to gather insights literally without leaving your desk. But where do you find the necessary info? Let’s look at the secondary data sources available to you:

Internal data sources

Internal data sources for desk research.

Your company is already a goldmine of information. So before jumping into other types of desk research, consider digging into internal resources:

  • Historical campaigns and sales. Review past campaigns, website traffic insights, sales conversions, and other relevant data.
  • Product analytics. Dive into product analytics to learn more about different customer segments , user behavior, engagement patterns, performance metrics, and user flows.
  • Internal research. Use existing internal research reports and studies (if any) and get insights from them.

External data sources

External data sources for desk research.

Besides studying your company information, there are plenty of external resources to explore. Look into the following examples of secondary data:

  • Internet. Access any type of resources through the web.
  • Commercial resources. Industry reports or market research studies by third-party firms can offer data specific to your topic.
  • Trade associations. Use reports and resources from trade associations, for example, the Directory of Associations , the National Trade and Professional Associations Directory , or the Encyclopedia of Associations .
  • Industry experts. Connect with industry thought leaders and analysts.
  • Research associations. Access independent research papers and industry publications.
  • Media. Monitor news, press releases, magazine articles, and TV and radio content to get information on your topic.
  • Market research software. Leverage specialized software platforms that offer advanced analytics, reports, or access to industry data.
  • Government data. Use statistics and reports from government agencies like the US Census Bureau , US Government Publishing Office , US Small Business Administration , and so on.
  • Local government data. Get market data, demographic info, and employment trends through local gov websites.
  • Public libraries. Access library databases through the Digital Public Library of America or the National Archives in the UK.
  • Competitors. Study competitor websites, press releases, mailing lists, online reviews, and social media activity.
  • Educational resources. Analyze academic research papers and journals relevant to your topic.

Examples of desk research

Let’s now explore some examples of design projects leveraging desk research:

Analyzing dreams with Sleepify

The creator of the Sleepify project sought a user-centric design for an app tracking dreams and well-being. They leveraged external desk research and competitor analysis to:

  • study sleep’s impact on a person’s well-being through UCE Research and ePsychologi.pl platforms;
  • discover the strengths and weaknesses of competitor apps.

The secondary research findings, along with quantitative research, were used for creating a high-fidelity prototype, ready for user testing and validation.

Example of high-fidelity app prototype, created owing to desk research.

Keeping users fit with MYFIT

MYFIT project suggests creating a fitness app packed with workout routines, aimed to boost user engagement and retention. It is expected to be a clean, stylish, and modern fitness app designed to keep users active and motivated. The designer proposes to tackle this challenge by:

  • researching user behavior and frustrations with existing apps using various methods;
  • exploring why users abandon fitness apps;
  • creating optimal user journeys.

A fitness app created owing to user and desk research.

Reaching personalized sales with AI

Designers aimed to explore the potential of using AI for personalized sales in the gaming industry. Their desk research targeted:

  • The global market size of generative AI in business, its usage in gaming, and sales marketing.
  • Industry gap. While personalization thrives in eCommerce, the gaming industry lags behind.

The insight the designers derived is that a personalized AI tool based on in-game actions, purchase history, demographics, and player data could revolutionize game sales.

Five steps to conduct desk research

As already mentioned, the reason to conduct research is to become more familiar with your users and potential customers. Your focus should be on collecting notable data and analyzing it. Here’s how to do this in five steps:

1. Determine your research topic and goal

Before even starting your research, ask yourself what you want to study and why. Outline the questions you aim to answer or the information you’re looking for. Is it to understand industry trends or handle customer journey mapping ? The more specific your question, the easier it will be to steer your research in the right direction.

2. Choose relevant secondary data sources

Go through internal and external resources relevant to your topic, making sure they are credible and objective. Make a list of resources suitable for your research topic and goals.

3. Explore existing data

Go down your resource list and find relevant data. Here’s what you can study:

Most likely, you should start with the existing text available in the public domain. What to look for? Everything! You can go through government or private companies’ reports, the original material on which these reports are based, conference proceedings, primary periodicals, official publications, and articles in newspapers and journals. 

This method of data collection is the most inexpensive and nontime-consuming way.

Document analysis is an important part of business analysis . This process includes the examination of existing documents and recordings. In some way, you are using the research that has already been completed.

The objective of this process is to track changes over the whole period. You can analyze logs, email logs, databases, web analytics, minutes of meetings, staff reports, and information logs. These are only a few examples of the sources for this type of research.

For instance, before redesigning the existing product, you have to understand the reason for the low level of purchases or numerous complaints in support. Documents and records help track the interaction between employees and customers or between your current website and customers. This is the way to make correct conclusions.

Knowing your competitors helps analyze the existing solutions and define the current problems they cover. Obviously, to share the entire experience and provide an ultimate guide for conducting competitive research, we have to write a whole new article. Here are some points to pay attention to:

  • determine the products your competitors offer;
  • pay attention to their sales tactics and results;
  • analyze how they market their products;
  • take note of their content strategies;
  • look at competitors’ social media presence, strategies, and go-to platforms;
  • make a SWOT analysis to learn their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

There are a lot of tools that may help. We’d like to share some of those that we use while conducting desk research:

  • Crunchbase is a live company database, which updates constantly. This tool helps you identify upcoming marketing tendencies. For example, you can find how many companies in a specific industry are raising.
  • Capterra is an intermediary between buyers and technology vendors within the software industry. Here, you can find the most comprehensive lists of products per industry, reviews, ratings, and infographics, and easily compare needed competitors.
  • Serpstat is one of the top-rated SEO tools and definitely will help you outline competitor analysis just by entering your domain.
  • Semrush analyzes the data for you and gives you instant recommendations on SEO, content marketing, and advertising that help you improve your online visibility in days.

4. Organize and compare your data

Gathering data is just the beginning. Now, you should organize and make sense of it. Consider using mind maps or spreadsheets to structure your data. Remove any duplications as well.

5. Analyze your data

Now that you have your data in a digestible format, analyze it for helpful insights. Check if the gathered data answers the questions you aimed to study. If not, go back to step two and find other sources of information.

How to do desk research.

Useful resources for defining your user groups

As soon as you finalize your desk research, you will most likely be able to group your users. So now it’s time to take a deeper look at them. Here are some free tools you can use to identify your user personas.

Google Analytics

If you already have launched your website, don’t forget to insert the Google Analytics tracking code. It will help you get more information about your clients. Now we’ll share which reports we suggest using:

This report shows the key age group and gender of your website visitors. To kick off the demographic report, follow the flow: Audience tab at the left menu > Demographics > Overview.

Age and Gender Demographics in Google Analytics.

Learn more about the preferred interests of your users. As you have already opened an Age or Gender report, you can add a secondary dimension. Select ‘Affinity Category’ at the dropdown. You will see all the segments your visitors are interested in. It is helpful to identify your ideal online customers at scale.

One more good analytics tool to identify the users who are actively researching and comparing items across the Google Display Network (YouTube, paid search results via AdWords, display ads via AdSense, etc.)

This report will provide you with an overview of all the languages your users have set in their browsers and the locations where they may live. It will be useful in understanding cultural differences and will decrease effort for your marketing campaigns.

If you’re going to create a mobile app, think about which devices your guests are most likely to use to access your website. Go to Audience > Benchmarking > Devices. After that, dive deeper into Mobile Devices’ info. You will see exactly which brand of mobile devices they are using. Go to Audience > Mobile > Devices.

So, we’ve just outlined some useful data to understand your users better. Now, let’s move forward to other sources.

Facebook Insights

As almost everyone over the Internet is a social media user, it is good to use the data it represents. It will help you create more target posts and campaigns that cover your customer needs.

If you already have a customer list or just a list of users with phones or email addresses, you can use it to gain extra information about these people.

You need a list in the .csv file. In the Facebook Ads Manager, you can create a custom audience. Then Facebook Audience Insights will finish uploading the list, and you will receive a ‘Ready’ notification. At this point, you can analyze your audience.

Initially, you need to open an Audience Insights tool. You can choose an Audience you want to analyze. This tool can give you access to such data:

  • age, gender, and relationship status;
  • lifestyle preferences, demographics, and interests;
  • education level and job title;
  • Facebook pages that are likely relevant to your audience;
  • top cities, countries, and languages;
  • frequency of certain activities;
  • device usage;
  • household size and estimated household income;
  • homeownership status and house market value;
  • spending methods, purchase behavior, and estimated retail and online retail spending habits.

Analysis of Required Audience on Facebook.

Even if you don’t have a customer list yet, you can use generic insights connected to your Business Page. You can also use software tools that provide you with potential customer emails. Take a look at these tools:

  • Snov.io helps find more convertible leads, verify contacts, track your lead’s progress, and automate cold outreach.
  • Hunter is a cloud-based email search solution that helps businesses find emails on company websites, verify domains, compose follow-ups, and more.

Try to pull out the most useful insights about your potential users, finalize all the gathered information, and be sure your team is aware of the user groups you are trying to reach.  

LinkedIn is one more powerful resource for collecting data. A good LinkedIn profile is a pretty ready proto persona. You can discover the user’s location, career path and goals, achievements, and daily work responsibilities. It is especially useful for B2B marketing. By the way, if you are in this segment, you can also use tools like Leadfeeder to understand which companies are visiting your website.

Now, we will break out four components that could be revealed from LinkedIn: business attributes, pain points, hangouts, and values.

They give you a deeper view of the demographics of your business page followers and visitors. What can you gather here? You can see location, job function, seniority, industry, company size. There is also data about similar companies and the comparison in analytics. It’s a great specific tool to reinforce Google Analytics.

Business attributes example from Linkedin.

Pay attention to the sections ‘Summary,’ ‘Skills & Endorsements,’ ‘Activity,’ and ‘Interests.’ 

In ‘Summary,’ we can get an overview of the person’s work trajectory, education, and main skills. From the ‘Skills & Endorsements’ section, we can receive data about a person’s strengths and people who endorsed their skills (who can also be useful in the research). The ‘Activity’ section is a great way to observe what the person is talking about, what they like, and comment. ‘Interests’ shows a list of the following companies and people, so it is possible to examine what engages the person.

Personal profile example from Linkedin.

Company Page includes information about the history, size, and career opportunities. Such pages also may have stories about employees and their quotes. The company’s job descriptions show the professional attributes required of a candidate.

Company pages and job posting example from Linkedin.

After gathering all this data, you can create a direct message to increase the chances that relevant people will view it. How to do it? Open your Company Page > Click on ‘Create Post’ > Manage Post Audience: from Anyone to Targeted audience. Add some specific details about your audience.

Use LinkedIn Advanced Search to earn data about market size and the number of required companies or people. By working on the filters, you can find more insights about locations, education, seniority levels, etc.

Advanced Search feature from Linkedin.

Last thoughts

Taking market temperature and understanding your audience are the key ingredients in a way to creating a successful product. Pay attention to detail, document the whole process, and share it with your team and all the stakeholders. Help them to keep an empathic approach to your product and audience.

Have a great time conducting research. If you will need professional help with it, feel free to contact us .

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What is the desk research method?

Secondary desk research is a research method that involves collecting and analyzing information from existing sources like reports, articles, and websites.

How to do UX desk research?

To do UX desk research, follow these steps:

1.Define your goals and research questions,

2.Choose secondary data sources like usability studies or industry reports,

3.Go through the data relevant to your research,

4.Structure and compare the gathered data,

5.Analyze the data to make necessary UX improvements.

What are examples of desk research?

What are the two types of desk research techniques?

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Desk Research - Methodology and Techniques

As depicted by name Desk Research is the research technique which is mainly acquired by sitting at a desk .

Desk research is basically involved in collecting data from existing resources hence it is often considered a low cost technique as compared to field research, as the main cost is involved in executive’s time, telephone charges and directories. However, it could also be a complete waste of time and money if the researcher does not have the proper knowledge of how the research is performed.

Desk Research

Desk research is very effective and can be conducted in starting phase of market research as it is quite quick and cheap and most of the basic information could be easily fetched which can be used as benchmark in the research process.

There are basically two types of desk research techniques:

The main advantage here in performing internal desk research is that it involves internal and existing organizational resources to organize the collected data in such a way that it is not only efficient but also usable. Internal desk research is comparatively very cheap and effective as internal recourses are deputed and the expenditure in getting data from outside is less.

There could be two approaches for digging out the relevant information from internet, one is directly browsing the specific information from industrial, marketing or business sites and extracting the information out of these sites. Secondly, using the various search engines like www.google.com, www.yahoo.com, www.infoseek.go.com, www.altavista.com etc, for modulated searching.

The important aspect here is to refine the searching techniques in such a way that results are promising and relevant. For this it is necessary that the researcher should know the importance of the research and follow the guideline intellectually to reduce the efforts made and time consumed in searching.

Customers are the one who are considered the most informed as they are actually using products and services and are aware of the current market trends more than any other. Hence the feedback and information provided by customers is the most accurate and useful data which can be used most effectively in the further process of research.

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Authorship/Referencing - About the Author(s)

The article is Written By “Prachi Juneja” and Reviewed By Management Study Guide Content Team . MSG Content Team comprises experienced Faculty Member, Professionals and Subject Matter Experts. We are a ISO 2001:2015 Certified Education Provider . To Know more, click on About Us . The use of this material is free for learning and education purpose. Please reference authorship of content used, including link(s) to ManagementStudyGuide.com and the content page url.
  • Origin of CRM
  • Features of CRM
  • Importance of CRM
  • CRM and Marketing
  • Misunderstandings about CRM
  • Benefits and Challenges of CRM Software
  • CRM (Customer Relationship Management) Software and Its Importance
  • What is Customer Relationship
  • Types of Customers
  • Orientation of Customers
  • Customer Modeling
  • Customer Profiling
  • Regression Scoring
  • Quality of Relatiosnhip with Customers
  • Need of Relatiosnhip with Customers
  • Customer Relationship with Supplier
  • Cost Sensitivity of Customers
  • Bargaining Power of Customers
  • Desk Research
  • Report Preparation
  • Action Plan in Report Preparation
  • Strategic CRM
  • Operational CRM
  • Analytical CRM
  • Collaborative CRM
  • Customer’s Response - Introduction
  • Measuring Customer Response
  • Medium of Customer Responses
  • Qualities of a Good Response
  • Response in Consumer Sector
  • Response in Core Sector
  • Customer Acquisition - Introduction
  • Customer Life Cycle
  • Customer Acquisition Cost
  • Measuring Acquisition Equity
  • Customer Loyalty - Introduction
  • Customer Loyalty & Satisfaction
  • Drivers of Customer Loyalty
  • Customer Loyalty Breakers
  • Tracking Customer Loyalty
  • Increasing Customer Loyalty
  • Customer Satisfaction
  • Why Dissatisfaction in Customers
  • Measuring Customer Satisfaction
  • Methods of Measuring Satisfaction
  • Factors affecting Customer Satisfaction
  • Customer Retention - Introduction
  • Customer Retention Strategy
  • Determinants of Customer Retention
  • Methods/Tools for Customer Retention
  • Myths about Customer Retention
  • Benefits of Cloud CRM for Small Businesses
  • Practical Tips for Effectively Implementing Salesforce

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COMMENTS

  1. Module 2: Desk review

    The desk review is an evaluation of data quality dimensions of completeness, internal consistency, external comparisons and external consistency of population data. Normally, the desk review requires monthly or quarterly data by sub-national administrative area for the most recent reporting year, and annual aggregated data for the last three ...

  2. Analysing desk research (Chapter 11)

    Summary. Desk research can call for quantitative or qualitative approaches to analysis. Clearly, if you are embarking on the secondary analysis of data, then you will need to follow the same kind of approach that you would if you had collected the data yourself. If, on the other hand, you are analysing the results of a literature or internet ...

  3. Desk Review Explained as Part of the Manuscript Review Process

    OVERVIEW OF THE DESK REVIEW PROCESS. A desk review is a process whereby individuals associ-ated with the Journal make pre- peer review decisions. Desk review decisions are not scientific reviews but are more administrative decisions that occur after the au-thor's electronic submission. One administrative practice during this early phase is ...

  4. PDF GUIDELINES FOR INCEPTION REPORTS

    An Inception Report summarizes the review of documentation ("desk review'') undertaken by the evaluation team mandated by UNODC and specifies the evaluation methodology determining thereby the exact focus and scope of the exercise, including the evaluation questions, the sampling strategy, a critical analysis of the quality of ...

  5. PDF An Introduction to Research Methodologies

    A good source of market research data, offering full or part reports is www.marketresearch.com which allows access to a collection of over 50,000 publications from over 350 research firms. One of the best general databases of commercial and financial news is ft.com - the Financial Times' web site.

  6. Desk Review Explained as Part of the Manuscript Review Process

    Several issues can help expedite the desk review process. Authors are responsible for formatting the manuscript, tables, figures, and references in a manner consistent with the Author Guidelines. When the correct formatting is applied, peer reviewers can focus on content and not be distracted by incorrectly formatted manuscripts.

  7. PDF Guide for Desk Reviews of Single Audit Reports

    2016 Uniform Guide for Desk Reviews of Single Audit Reports Page 2 C-2. Based on our review, the auditee's Schedule of Expenditures of Federal Awards, Corrective Action Plan, and Summary Schedule of Prior Audit Findings appropriately present the elements required by the Uniform Guidance, and Form SF-SAC accurately reflects the results of

  8. DATA QUALITY REVIEW

    2.2 DQR desk review implementation. Preparation and implementation of the desk review. The data requirements. For the desk review, the data required for the selected indicators are monthly or quarterly data by subnational administrative area for the most recent reporting year and annual aggregated data for the last three reporting years.

  9. PDF DATA QUALITY ASSURANCE

    Data Quality Review. Module 2: Discrete desk review of data quality - Implementation guide Acknowledgements This toolkit is the result of collaboration between the World Health Organization, the Global Fund, Gavi and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)/MEASURE Evaluation.

  10. Desk Review Template and Guidance

    Desk Review Template and Guidance. Publication year: English. Format: (67.0 KiB) Publisher: CPWG, The Child Protection Working Group. View & Download. CPWG members are committed to providing and supporting effective, well-coordinated child protection responses based on a robust and timely assessment of needs and capacities.

  11. Desk Research: Complete Guide & Best Practices

    My list of go-to tools for desk research includes: Google Analytics & Search Console - your own site's performance and visitor stats. Similarweb Digital Research Intelligence - uncover market, industry & competitor trends across web, mobile, and apps. Tableau - data visualization for presenting your findings.

  12. Surviving the desk-review

    The desk-review process. All incoming submissions to ABM will be screened by an editorial assistant, the reviewing editor and the editor-in-chief. First, the editorial assistant checks formality and runs all manuscripts through a computerized plagiarism detection software. Second, the reviewing editor checks the results of the editorial ...

  13. (PDF) Desk based review of the methods used to assess the effects of

    1) Review the methodology of da ta co lle c ti on for bre ed in g b ir ds at wind far ms and present fi nd i ng s as to how th e se da ta cou ld be used fo r further analysis

  14. Desk Review Training

    Module Objective: Provide an overview of the desk review purpose and process.. By the end of the module, the learner will have achieved the following learning objectives: Learning Objective 1: Learner will be able to explain the purpose of a desk review.. Learning Objective 2: Learner will be able to distinguish between a desk review and other secondary research approaches.

  15. PDF Methodology: National Desk Reviews and Legal Analyses

    Desk Reviews The desk reviews were undertaken as a first preparatory phase for Disrupting Harm during the first year, with the intent to inform and direct the primary data collection activities that followed. Given the scarcity of policy, research or other documentation directly relevant to OCSEA in the target countries, the review

  16. PDF Strengthening Public Participation at The United Nations for

    Study methodology . This study was commissioned by DESA/ DSD Major Groups programme (subsequently referred to as "DESA/DSD") in April 2013. Its methodology included three elements: • Desk review - of UN official documents and reports as well as contributions from Major Groups and reports by independent sources.

  17. Systematic approach to desk-top research and university projects

    Introducing the systematic review. The word " systematic " in relation to a review involves the use of precise methods to gather and assess the results of research publications that (most importantly) minimises bias within the process. The result should be a robust and reliable assimilation of evidence in order to reach a reliable conclusion.

  18. (PDF) Research Design and Methodology

    PDF | There are a number of approaches used in this research method design. ... collection thr ough desk review, data colle ction through ... Research methodology implies the path through which ...

  19. How To Conduct Effective Desk Research in 3 Easy Steps

    Pros and cons of desk research. Desk research is a valuable tool for any researcher. But, like any tool, it has its strengths and weaknesses. Pros of desk research. Using desk research methods is highly beneficial. Here are just several reasons for that: Budget-friendly. Compared to primary research, desk research is more cost-efficient.

  20. PDF Chapter 3 Research Methodology 3.1 Introduction

    Figure 3.1 Flowchart Illustrating the Research Methodology LITERATURE REVIEW STAGE 1: DESK STUDY Case Study: Narrowing down process of the study area STAGE 2: SITE SELECATION CRITERIA Basis to select the right residential area STAGE 3: PRELIMINARY SITE OBSERVATION U2/U3 damage road was identified and measured STAGE 4: SAMPLING TECHNIQUE

  21. Desk Research

    Desk Research - Methodology and Techniques. As depicted by name Desk Research is the research technique which is mainly acquired by sitting at a desk. Desk research is basically involved in collecting data from existing resources hence it is often considered a low cost technique as compared to field research, as the main cost is involved in ...

  22. PDF Health Communication Capacity Collaborative

    Health Communication Capacity Collaborative - Social and Behavior ...

  23. PDF Desk Review Report

    DESK REVIEW REPORT 7 This desk review attempts to analyse the migration trends across countries as well as current efforts to address migrants' needs with regards to HIV. Access to health care is offered mostly to documented migrants. However, it was found that in some