In school, when writing up labs reports or doing a project we need to obtain information in order to answer the question or get to our objective. Same for marketing, in order to analyze whether the product will be a successful or not we would have to gather information. To obtain this information we need to conduct marketing research.
From market research, we can collect and gain data. Data can be categorized into primary and secondary. Primary data are the data that are collected by the researchers; these can be done through surveys, interviews, and experiments. Secondary data are the ones that are collected by other party such as an organization, the government, or a research company. These data are usually kept in the database such as the government or researching company. Usually in order to obtain these data, some fees have to be paid. In my opinion, it is worth to obtain these data even with some cost, as usually it takes really long to gather and usually we use it as a starting point in. From these data, company can plan a strategy accordingly to sustain the customer and company’s need and act on it.
http://www.allbusiness.com/marketing/market-research/1310-1.html – this link shows the importance of data obtain from marketing research.
In my opinion, data is like a leg that helps you to move toward the goal or objective. As we move forwards, the trend and need changes resulting in the change in preferences and need of consumer, hence research is very important to get the latest data in order to produce the right product, market it carefully towards the right group of consumers, and thus steer the company towards the right direction. I’d like to finish off with this video on the importance of market research: 
