For this sort of project or assignment, Google can definitely be useful--you just have to plan your searches a bit more carefully and thoroughly evaluate what you find.
You can find lots of secondary data that was gathered, compiled, synthesized and reported by someone else for another purpose that may also have relevance for your own business research. The information you find may not be specific to Lincoln, but you can draw conclusions from larger studies of a particular industry, product/service, or target consumer group.
For example, a Google search on
grocery shopping consumers survey filetype:pdf
included this document in the results that provide the results of a nationwide survey of grocery shoppers that reflects consumer attitudes and behaviors.
Professional/industry associations can be another source of information when doing a business/target market-related project. Many times the information on the trade association web site is available only to dues-paying members, but there are often public materials and documents that anyone can access.
Just search for the name of your trade/industry/profession along with the word association
banking association
