Which term refers to research collected directly from users or clients, such as questionnaires, interviews or observations, to inform design decisions?

• A. Secondary research
• B. Primary research
• C. Target market
• D. Annotation

Answer: (B)

The main idea here is collecting first-hand data directly from users to inform how a product should be designed. When you gather information through questionnaires, interviews, or observations, you’re creating new, project-specific data based on what real users do and say. That is what primary research is: data collected directly for the current design issue.

This differs from secondary research, which uses information that’s already published elsewhere, like reports or studies, not data gathered for this exact design project. The term target market refers to the group of people you’re designing for, not the method of gathering data. Annotation isn’t a data-collection method for user research; it’s simply adding notes or comments to a design or document.

So, because the data come directly from users specifically for informing the design decisions, the best fit is primary research.