Market Research

Market research is generally either primary or secondary.
In secondary research, the company uses information compiled from other sources that appears applicable to a new or existing product. The advantages of secondary research are that it is relatively cheap and easily accessible.
Disadvantages of secondary research are that it is often not specific to your area of research and the data used can be biased and is difficult to validate. Primary market research involves testing such as focus groups, surveys, field tests, interviews or observation, conducted or tailored specifically to that product. Primary research which is also called field research or original research is useful for finding new information and getting customers views on products.
Advantages are that it provides up to date, relevant and specific information to your product. The disadvantages are that it's expensive to collect, time consuming and needs a large sample size to be accurate.