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Secondary Data Secondary Data Is Data Collected by Someone Other Than The User. Common

Secondary data is data collected by someone other than the current researcher. Common sources include census data, surveys, and qualitative research. Using secondary data saves time compared to primary data collection and provides larger datasets. However, secondary data cannot be tailored to a new research question and data quality may be a concern if the original collection methods are unreliable. When analyzing secondary data, researchers must understand the original goals, methods, organization and quality of the collected data.

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142 views

Secondary Data Secondary Data Is Data Collected by Someone Other Than The User. Common

Secondary data is data collected by someone other than the current researcher. Common sources include census data, surveys, and qualitative research. Using secondary data saves time compared to primary data collection and provides larger datasets. However, secondary data cannot be tailored to a new research question and data quality may be a concern if the original collection methods are unreliable. When analyzing secondary data, researchers must understand the original goals, methods, organization and quality of the collected data.

Uploaded by

dabli2
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© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Secondary data

Secondary data is data collected by someone other than the user. Common
sources of secondary data for social science include censuses, surveys,
organizational records and data collected through qualitative methodologies
or qualitative research. Primary data, by contrast, are collected by the
investigator conducting the research.

Secondary data analysis saves time that would otherwise be spent collecting
data and, particularly in the case of quantitative data, provides larger and
higher-quality databases than would be unfeasible for any individual
researcher to collect on their own. In addition to that, analysts of social and
economic change consider secondary data essential, since it is impossible to
conduct a new survey that can adequately capture past change and/or
developments.

Sources of secondary data

As is the case in primary research, secondary data can be obtained from two
different research strands:

 Quantitative: Census, housing, social security as well as electoral


statistics and other related databases.

 Qualitative: Semi-structured and structured interviews, focus groups


transcripts, field notes, observation records and other personal,
research-related documents.

A clear benefit of using secondary data is that much of the background work
needed has been already been carried out, for example: literature reviews,
case studies might have been carried out, published texts and statistic could
have been already used elsewhere, media promotion and personal contacts
have also been utilized.

This wealth of background work means that secondary data generally have a
pre-established degree of validity and reliability which need not be re-
examined by the researcher who is re-using such data.

Furthermore, secondary data can also be helpful in the research design of


subsequent primary research and can provide a baseline with which the
collected primary data results can be compared to. Therefore, it is always
wise to begin any research activity with a review of the secondary data.

Secondary analysis or re-use of qualitative data

Qualitative data re-use provides a unique opportunity to study the raw


materials of the recent or more distant past to gain insights for both
methodological and theoretical purposes.

In the secondary analysis of qualitative data, good documentation can not


be underestimated as it provides necessary background and much needed
context both of which make re-use a more worthwhile and systematic
[1]
endeavour . Actually one could go as far as claim that qualitative
secondary data analysis “can be understood, not so much as the analysis of
pre-existing data; rather as involving a process of re-contextualising, and
re-constructing, data”[2].

Overall challenges of secondary data analysis


There are several things to take into consideration when using pre-existing
data. Secondary data does not permit the progression from formulating a
research question to designing methods to answer that question. It is also
not feasible for a secondary data analyst to engage in the habitual process of
making observations and developing concepts. These limitations hinder the
ability of the researcher to focus on the original research question.

Data quality is always a concern because its source may not be trusted.
Even data from official records may be unreliable because the data is only as
good as the records themselves, in terms of methodological validity and
reliability.

Furthermore, in the case of qualitative material, primary researchers are


often reluctant to share “their less-than-polished early and intermediary
materials, not wanting to expose false starts, mistakes, etc.”

So overall, there are six questions that a secondary analyst should be able
to answer about the data they wish to analyze.

1. What were the agency's or researcher's goals when collecting the data?

2. What data was collected and what is it supposed to measure?

3. When was the data collected?

4. What methods were used? Who was responsible and are they available for
questions?

5. How is the data organized?

6. What information is known about the success of that data collection? How
consistent is the data with data from other sources?

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