What Is Secondary Data

• Data may be described as Primary or Secondary
  
  • Primary data - collected by the researcher himself
    
  • Secondary data - collected by others to be "re-used" by the researcher
    

• What Form Does Secondary Data Take?
  

  • Qualitative Sources
    

  • Sources for Qualitative Research:
    

    • Biographies - subjective interpretation involved
      
    • Diaries - more spontaneous, less distorted by memory lapses
      
    • Memoirs - benefit/problem of hindsight
      
    • Letters - reveal interactions
      
    • Newspapers - public interest & opinion
      
    • Novels & Literature In General - eg Atkinson's tribute to usefulness of Gordon's "Dr Novels"; McLelland's study of achievement motivation in different cultures via children's stories & folktales
      
    • Handbooks, Policy Statements, Planning Documents, Reports, Historical & Official Documents (Hansard, Royal Commission reports) etc. nb Marx's use of Factory Inspectors reports in developing his theories of the labour process
      

  • Quantitative Sources
    

    • Published Statistics:
      
      • National Government Sources
        
        • Demographic (Census, Vital Statistics, Cancer Registrations)
          
        • Administrative (by-product of Government)
          
          • Collected by Govt. Depts. overseen by ONS (employment, prices, trade, finance)
            
        • Government Surveys (input to Government)
          
          • General Household Survey (GHS)
            
          • Family Expenditure Survey (FES)
            
          • Labour Force Survey (LFS)
            
          • Family Resources Survey (FRS)
            
          • Omnibus Survey
            
      • Local Government Sources
        
        • Planning Documents
          
        • Trends Documents (eg former Strathclyde Social Trends and Economic Trends)
          
      • Other Sources
        
        • Firms & Trade Associations eg Society of Motot Manufacturers & Traders (SMMT)
          
        • Market & Opinion Research eg Gallup, NOP, SCPR System 3
          
        • Trade Unions, TUC, STUC
          
        • Professional Bodies eg CIPFA (Chartered Instiute of Public Finance & Accountancy) provides a Statistical Information Service re Local Government Statistics
          
        • Political Parties
          
        • Voluntary & Charitable Bodies eg Low Pay Unit, SCF (Save the Children Fund), Rowntree Foundation
          
        • Academic & Research Institutes eg
          
          • Micro-Social Change Research Centre (MSRC) at Essex Uni
            
          • National Institute for Economic & Social Rsearch (NIESR)
            
          • Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS)
            
      • International Sources
        
        • EU, OECD, World Bank, IMF
          
    • Non-Published / Electronic Sources
      
      • Data Archives eg the Data Archive At Essex
        
        • Data Sub-Setting Service On Tape, Disk, Postal Or Via Janet
          
      • On-Line Access To National Computing Centres
        
        • MIMAS (Manchester Information & Associated Services)
          
        • EDINA (Edinburgh)
          
      • International Sources on Internet & Web
        

• Ways of Using Secondary Sources
  

  • Exploratory phase - getting ideas
    
  • Design Phase - definitions & sampling frames, question wording
    
  • Supplement to Main Research
    
    • - Re-Inforcement &/Or Comparison
      
  • Main Mode of Research
    
    • - Direct Data Collection Impossible
      
    • - Or Costly & Time Consuming
      

• Limitations of Secondary Data
  

  • Collected For A Different Purpose
    
  • Problem of Definitions
    
  • Problem of Comparability Over Time
    
  • Lack of Awareness of Sources of Error/Bias
    
  • Has the Data Been "Massaged"?
    
  • What Do The Statistics Really Mean?
    
    • Eg. Health, Crime, Unemployment
      
  • Limitations of Survey Data
    
    • Representativeness
      
    • Validity of Responses
      
  • Limitations of Documents
    
    • Documents "Construct" As Well As Report Social Reality
      

• How to Search & Use Secondary Sources?
  

  • Documents - Bibliographic Skills, Use of Keywords, Boolean Operators
    
  • Published Statistics
    
    • Guide to Official Statistics
      
    • Digests & Abstracts
      
    • Primary Publication
      
  • Electronic Sources
    
    • Biron
      
    • Gateways - SOSIG, BUBL
      

Comparison of postal, telephone and personal interview survey

	Postal survey	Telephone survey	Personal interview
Cost (assuming a good response rate)	Often lowest	Usually in-between	Usually highest
Ability to probe	No personal contact or observation	Some chance for gathering additional data through elaboration on questions, but no personal observation	Greatest opportunity for observation, building rapport, and additional probing
Respondent ability to complete at own convenience	Yes	Perhaps, but usually no	Perhaps, if interview time is prearranged with respondent
Interview bias	No chance	Some, perhaps due to voice inflection	Greatest chance
Ability to decide who actually responds to the questions	Least	Some	Greatest
Impersonality	Greatest	Some due to lack of face-to-face contact	Least
Complex questions	Least suitable	Somewhat suitable	More suitable
Visual aids	Little opportunity	No opportunity	Greatest opportunity
Potential negative respondent reaction	'Junk mail'	'Junk calls'	Invasion of privacy
Interviewer control over interview environment	Least	Some in selection of time to call	Greatest
Time lag between soliciting and receiving response	Greatest	Least	May be considerable if a large area involved
Suitable types of questions	Simple, mostly dichotomous (yes/no) and multiple choice	Some opportunity for open-ended questions especially if interview is recorded	Greatest opportunity for open-ended questions
Requirement for technical skills in conducting interview	Least	Medium	Greatest
Response rate	Low	Usually high	High