Lecture note on Internet Research and Desk Research: for MBA students

 Lecture note on Internet Research and Desk Research: for MBA students

 

From my study of research methods, I notice that the three main secondary research methods are systematic literature review, document and content analysis and secondary data analysis. Could you then clarify to me whether Internet research and desk research are also secondary research methods, or are they subsumed under the three main research methods mentioned above? Or are Internet research and desk research too vague or outdated as names for secondary research methods?

 

 

Short answer first

• Desk research is essentially a broad label for secondary research as a whole, not a distinct method alongside your three.qualtrics+2
• Internet research is usually treated as a source or setting for secondary data (e.g., online databases, websites), not a discrete method at the same level as systematic review, document/content analysis, or secondary data analysis.pubrica+1
• As terms, “desk research” and “Internet research” are indeed vague and somewhat outdated in academic methodology; it is better to specify the exact secondary method you are using (e.g. “systematic literature review using online databases”, “content analysis of websites”, “secondary analysis of survey datasets”).cambridge+2

Let’s unpack this in a way that fits your methodological framing.

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Where desk research fits

Most contemporary sources explicitly equate desk research = secondary research, i.e., working with data already collected by others rather than generating new primary data.questionpro+2

Within that umbrella, desk research typically covers:

• Literature reviews (systematic or narrative) of books, journal articles, reports, etc.cambridge
• Research reviews/meta-syntheses of existing empirical studies.scribbr+1
• Secondary analysis of existing data sets (e.g., surveys, administrative data).scribbr+1
• Documentary analysis of reports, financial statements, government publications, etc.bbc+1

So in your typology:

1.    Systematic literature review

2.    Document and content analysis

3.    Secondary data analysis

These are specific methodological approaches that sit inside the broader category of “desk/secondary research.” Desk research is therefore not an additional method, but rather the generic term for using existing data sources.

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Where Internet research fits

Methodological discussions increasingly list Internet research simply as a way of gathering secondary material from online sources: online databases, academic journals, government sites, news media, and so on.libguides.tees.ac+1

In practice:

• When you perform a systematic literature review, much of it will be “Internet research” in the sense of searching Scopus, Web of Science, Google Scholar, etc.pubrica+1
• When you conduct document or content analysis, you might be analysing websites, social media posts, online news, corporate pages—again, via the Internet.bbc+1
• When you do secondary data analysis, you may download public datasets from online repositories.guides.library.iit+1

So Internet research is best seen as:

• A mode of access (online searching and retrieval), and
• A type of data source (web-based documents, digital traces),

rather than a standalone method separate from literature review, document/content analysis, or secondary data analysis.slideshare+1

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Are “desk research” and “Internet research” too vague or outdated?

In professional practice (marketing, UX, consulting), “desk research” is still widely used to mean secondary research done from existing sources rather than fieldwork.thehuman2ai+1

However, in MBA-level and social science methodology:

• “Desk research” is too broad for a dissertation methods chapter; examiners expect you to state and justify specific secondary methods (e.g., “systematic literature review using PRISMA”, “qualitative content analysis of policy documents”, “secondary analysis of longitudinal survey data”).cambridge+1
• “Internet research” tends to sound dated and unspecific unless clarified (e.g., “web-based documentary analysis of housing policy websites”, “social media content analysis”). Current guides treat it as one way to do secondary research, not a precise method label.libguides.tees.ac+1

For your own work and supervision of MBA dissertations, it is usually cleaner to:

• Use “secondary research” (or “desk research”) for the overall approach;
• Under that, name exact methods:
• Systematic literature review
• Narrative/scoping review
• Document analysis / content analysis
• Secondary analysis of quantitative datasets
• Web content analysis / social media analysis

That keeps your methodological writing aligned with current academic expectations and avoids vague terminology while still acknowledging that most of this is “desk” and much of it is “Internet-based.”

** A collection of lecture notes on the subject of research methods for MBA students, 2026 June

A collection of blog notes on using chatgpt for research purpose.