Secondary Data

Source 1: http://brent.tvu.ac.uk/dissguide/hm1u3/hm1u3text2.htm

SECONDARY DATA COLLECTION

All methods of data collection can supply quantitative data (numbers, statistics or financial) or qualitative data (usually words or text). Quantitative data may often be presented in tabular or graphical form. Secondary data is data that has already been collected by someone else for a different purpose to yours. For example, this could mean using:

• data collected by a hotel on its customers through its guest history system
  
  
• data supplied by a marketing organisation
  
  
• annual company reports
  
  
• government statistics.

Secondary data can be used in different ways:

• You can simply report the data in its original format. If so, then it is most likely that the place for this data will be in your main introduction or literature review as support or evidence for your argument.
  
  
• You can do something with the data. If you use it (analyse it or re-interpret it) for a different purpose to the original then the most likely place would be in the ‘Analysis of findings’ section of your dissertation. A good example of this usage was the work on suicide carried out by Durkheim. He took the official suicide statistics of different countries (recorded by coroners or their equivalent) and analysed them to see if he could identify variables that would mean that some people are more likely to commit suicide than others. He found, for example, that Catholics were less likely to commit suicide than Protestants. In this way, he took data that had been collected for quite a different purpose and used it in his own study – but he had to do a lot of comparisons and statistical correlations himself in order to analyse the data. (See Haralambos, 1995, for details of Durkheim’s work).

Most research requires the collection of primary data (data that you collect at first hand), and this is what students concentrate on. Unfortunately, many dissertations do not include secondary data in their findings section although it is perfectly acceptable to do so, providing you have analysed it. It is always a good idea to use data collected by someone else if it exists – it may be on a much larger scale than you could hope to collect and could contribute to your findings considerably.

As secondary data has been collected for a different purpose to yours, you should treat it with care. The basic questions you should ask are:

• Where has the data come from?
  
  
• Does it cover the correct geographical location?
  
  
• Is it current (not too out of date)?
  
  
• If you are going to combine with other data are the data the same (for example, units, time, etc.)?
  
  
• If you are going to compare with other data are you comparing like with like?

Thus you should make a detailed examination of the following:

• Title (for example, the time period that the data refers to and the geographical coverage).
  
  
• Units of the data.
  
  
• Source (some secondary data is already secondary data).
  
  
• Column and row headings, if presented in tabular form.
  
  
• Definitions and abbreviations, for example, what does SIC stand for? For example, how is ‘small’ defined in the phrase ‘small hotel’? Is ‘small’ based on the number of rooms, value of sales, number of employees, profit, turnover, square metres of space, etc., and do different sources use the word ‘small’ in different ways? Even if the same unit of measurement is used, there still could be problems. For example, in Norway, firms with 200-499 employees are defined as ‘medium’, whereas in the USA firms with less than 500 employees are defined as ‘small’.

There are many sources of data and most people tend to underestimate the number of sources and the amount of data within each of these sources.

Sources can be classified as:

• paper-based sources – books, journals, periodicals, abstracts, indexes, directories, research reports, conference papers, market reports, annual reports, internal records of organisations, newspapers and magazines
  
  
• electronic sources– CD-ROMs, on-line databases, Internet, videos and broadcasts.

The main sources of qualitative and quantitative secondary data include the follwing:

• Official or government sources.
  
  
• Unofficial or general business sources.

The output of all publishers of non-official sources is included in the most comprehensive directory available:

Mort D. (1997) Sources of Unofficial UK Statistics 3rd Edition Aldershot: Gower

The guide lists 1,059 statistical titles and series published by 635 different organisations. It excludes one-off surveys or market reports.

The arrangement is alphabetical by organisation with details of titles produced and contacts for further information. It lists references to the following types of sources:

• trade associations
  
  
• trade and other journals
  
  
• private research publishers
  
  
• stockbroking firms
  
  
• large company market reports
  
  
• local authorities
  
  
• professional bodies
  
  
• academic institutions.

• European Union (Community) sources.
  
  
• International sources.
  
  
  • Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
    
    
  • United Nations and related organisations.

Sources for the last two categories are many and varied. If your dissertation requires these sources you need to conduct a more thorough search of your library and perhaps seek the assistance of the librarian.

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Source 2: http://oassis.gcal.ac.uk/rms/irm/sd.html

SOURCES & USES OF SECONDARY DATA

• 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 (eg. 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
• Search Engines - Infoseek, Alta Vista, Webcrawler etc.