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 already been carried out, for example: literature reviews, case studies might have been carried out, published texts and statistics 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.
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