It is important to understand the difference between demographics and psychographics. Demographics are the statistical characteristics of a population. These characteristics might include age, income, type of car, size of household and other easily measurable characteristics. Psychographics are more subtle descriptions of the population. These descriptions might include how they feel about a product, what they care about, what they value, how they live.
Demographics are relatively easy to find but psychographics can be difficult to determine.
Published studies will sometimes provide psychographic details of a specific population. This is data or information that has already been gathered by others, analyzed and put into a format that is readily useful. As a result, it is usually of high quality, comprehensive, very inexpensive, and easy to access. Most importantly, it should be accessed first. After examining the secondary data, it is important to determine if you have enough information to answer your questions.