A finished MKT-445 Topic 3 secondary data audit example, grading published and internal sources for a pet care expansion by relevance, recency and method, and naming the gaps primary research must fill. Searches like "mkt 445 topic 3 assignment example", "mkt445 topic 3 sample" and "mkt-445 topic 3 example" land here.
What a finished MKT-445 Topic 3 secondary data audit looks like
Seven sources appear in the finished audit, each graded on four questions: does it measure the right thing, for the right place, recently enough, by a method the company can trust? The Census Bureau's American Community Survey supplies household counts, income and housing type for the target metro, and scores well on geography and method. A national pet owner survey from an industry association gives ownership rates but only nationally, so the audit applies them to local households and labels the result an estimate. County Business Patterns counts existing grooming and boarding establishments. The company's own records show how far current customers drive, which suggests a trade area radius. County dog license counts are graded low, since many owners never license. Two needs remain unanswered: local price sensitivity for boarding and awareness of existing competitors.
How an MKT-445 Topic 3 example is structured
The audit begins from the question, turns to the sources and ends on the gaps. Its opening breaks the expansion question into five information needs: the number of households with dogs, their income, the existing competition, the likely trade area and the price the market will bear. A source table follows, one row per source, with columns for what it measures, its geography, its date, its method and a grade. Each source then receives a paragraph explaining its grade and the specific need it serves. A section shows how two sources are combined, a national ownership rate applied to local household counts, and states the assumption this requires. A gap section lists the needs no source meets. The audit closes by scoping the primary research that remains, a short survey on boarding prices and competitor awareness, and estimating how much smaller it is than the study first proposed.
Five needs before any source
Dog-owning households, their income, local competition, the trade area and bearable prices are listed first, so every source is judged against a stated need.
Four grades for every source
Relevance, geography, recency and method are scored separately, which shows that a source can be current and rigorous and still describe the wrong place.
A national rate applied locally
Industry ownership figures exist only nationally, so the audit applies them to the metro's household counts and labels the product as an estimate resting on an assumption.
Internal records as secondary data
The company's own customer addresses show how far people drive for grooming, a trade area figure no published source could supply for this business.
A weak source graded honestly
County dog license counts look precise and undercount badly because many owners never register, so the audit keeps them only as a floor.
Primary research scoped by the gaps
Only boarding price sensitivity and competitor awareness remain unanswered, and the survey that follows is limited to those two needs.
Where marks go in MKT-445 Topic 3
A bibliography without grades is the weakest version of this audit, because it shows that information exists and not whether it fits the question. Accepting national figures as though they described one metro draws the next deduction, and the stronger papers state the assumption involved in applying them locally. Drafts frequently overlook the company's own records, which are secondary data too and often the most relevant available. Old sources presented without their dates can quietly describe a market that has since changed. Skipping the gap section leaves no case for the primary research that follows, or no limit on it. A proposal to survey the metro about everything, after secondary sources have already answered three of five needs, spends the budget twice on the same facts.
Get an MKT-445 Topic 3 example written to your instructions
Send the MKT-445 Topic 3 instructions and the rubric attached in your classroom, with the market question your section assigned. We write a custom example to them, with information needs listed first, every source graded on fit, national figures applied with stated assumptions and primary research scoped by the gaps, in 24 to 48 hours. The first one is free.
MKT-445 Topic 3 questions, answered
What counts as secondary data?
Any information collected earlier for some other purpose, whether by government agencies, industry associations, commercial research firms, journalists or the company itself. Sales records, customer addresses and past surveys are internal secondary data. Secondary sources are cheaper and faster than new research, and their weakness is fit: they were designed to answer somebody else's question, so each must be checked against the one at hand.
What makes a secondary source reliable?
By asking who collected it, for what purpose, by what method, when, and for what geography. A government survey with a published methodology and a large sample usually scores well on method. An industry association's figures may be sound and still worth reading for how the association benefits from them. A source that will not describe its method should be treated as an opinion with numbers attached.
Why not skip straight to a survey?
Because a survey costs money and weeks, and part of what it would ask may already be published. In the example, household counts, income and competitor numbers come free from public sources. Surveying for them would spend budget on answers already available and leave less for the two questions only new research can settle. The audit makes the primary study smaller, cheaper and more focused.