Primary data are collected specifically for the project and are obtained by either observing or questioning people. Observational data involve obtaining facts and figures by watching how people behave—either by mechanical or personal methods. So marketing researchers can observe people

(a) mechanically (electronically)

using Nielsen people meters to measure TV viewing behavior or

(b) personally using mystery shoppers or ethnographic techniques.

A recent electronic innovation is neuromarketing—using high-tech brain scanning to record the responses of a consumer’s brain to marketing stimuli like packages or TV ads. Questionnaires involve asking people questions

(a) in person using interviews or focus groups or

(b) via a questionnaire using a telephone, fax, print, e-mail, Internet, or social media survey.