Final answer:
The company is collecting primary data through in-depth interviews, focus groups, and content analysis to identify customer characteristics.
Step-by-step explanation:
When a company conducts research to identify the characteristics of its customers using methods such as in-depth interviews, focus groups, and/or analysis of content sources, it is collecting primary data. Primary data is information gathered directly from the source for the first time, tailored to answer specific research questions. This is in contrast to secondary data, which involves the use of existing information collected by someone else for a different purpose.