secondary data

"Secondary analysis involves the re-use of pre-existing qualitative data derived from previous research studies. These data include material such as semi-structured interviews, responses to open-ended questions in questionnaires, field notes and research diaries." (Heaton 2004:1) Thus, secondary data is that which the researcher hasn’t collected themselves, but has been previously gathered, and is ready for analysis. Heaton (2004) suggests two main purposes for secondary data; the first to investigate new research ventures, and the second to verify or contrast with findings concluded from previous research. A common example of secondary data includes the census.

For Ghauri (2005) the first advantage of using secondary data is that it is time saving, thus, the researcher is able to spend more time analyzing the data as opposed to collecting it. Ghauri (2005) draws upon new media technologies such as the Internet, in highlighting the accessibility of secondary data, stating that data sets can be obtained with ease via online searchers. Further, secondary data is often free which saves those conducting the research money; one is able to analyze data sets such as that collected from government surveys, at no extra cost. 

            However, there are disadvantages when using secondary data. Denscombe (2007) highlights the inappropriateness of data; whilst secondary data sources may provide vast information, it may not be relevant to the question in which the researcher is attempting to answer. Thus, the researcher has a lack of control over the quality of the data. Secondary data also poses an ethical threat; the researcher may be unaware if the participants, whose data has been collected, have given consent for the data to be used further. The secondary data available may also be outdated, thus may no longer be relevant to the researcher, which means that contemporary issues may be ignored when research is being undertaken (Gillies and Edwards (2005).

            When taking part in our own study of child abuse, our group was to rely on secondary data, as the sensitive nature of our topic meant that it was unethical to collect primary data. Though it was useful throughout our study, the disadvantage highlighted by Denscombe (2007)  caused us significant problems. Since we did not collect the data ourselves, we had limited control over what information was included in the data set. For example: though we had chosen to specifically focus on child abuse with the exclusion of sexual abuse, it has proven difficult to find official statistics from the Department of Education which focused on domestic child abuse exclusively. Further, many of the official statistics that were published by the Department of Education focused on those who were killed by child abuse, those who were on the child protection register or those who were subject to a child protection plan, which again, left gaps in our data set.

References

Denscombe, M. (2010). The good research guide: for small-scale social research projects, Open University Press.

Ghauri, P. N. (2005). Research methods in business studies: A practical guide, Pearson Education.

Gillies and Edwards (2005) Secondary analysis in exploring family and social change:addressing the issue of context Vol. 6, no1. Art 44

Heaton, J (2004) Secondary analysis of Qualitative data: an overview Historical social research, Vol 33-2008- No. 3, 33-45