What is a disadvantage of primary research?

• A. It is instantly available for free.
• B. It requires no planning
• C. It uses data from existing sources.
• D. It can be more expensive and time-consuming to collect compared to secondary research.

Answer: (D)

When you conduct primary research, you’re gathering new data yourself through methods like surveys, interviews, or experiments. The main downside is that it can be both expensive and time-consuming to collect. You have to plan the study, decide who to sample, design the data collection tools, recruit participants, actually gather the data, and then analyze it. All of this requires resources—money, time, and staff—which makes primary research often more costly and slower than using existing information.

This is why it’s not instantly available for free, and why it needs careful planning. The idea of using data from existing sources describes secondary research, not primary. So the best answer is that primary research can be more expensive and time-consuming to collect compared to secondary research.