Course Name: Dissertation (UU-MBA-711-ZM )
Name:
Student ID Number:
Title: Evaluation of Secondary Data
Tutor’s Name: Kinga Lowrie
Date: 2022, 07 August
, Evaluating secondary data sources
Secondary data is a systematic method via procedural and various evaluating steps
(Johnston, 2014), based on data collected by someone else with primary purposes. In contrast by
involving the primary data, researchers conduct their studies by analyzing the existing dataset
and empower their work by spending less time and resources (Smith et. al., 2011) to seek an
answer to the research question and how to meet the study objectives. Noteworthy, the history of
using secondary analysis as a research strategy goes back to the last centenary before Second
World War, when the survey data were employed and followed later in the national population
census (Smith et. al., 2011). Potentially, secondary data is important for qualitative research,
since it can deliver two key aims; addressing a sensitive area and reaching access to research
factors with a barrier or elusive research population (Long-Sutehall, 2010), for instance, official
statistics collected by governments and government agencies.
In other words, researchers used resources provided by secondary data to analyze new
hypotheses (Sherif,2018), considering the research question and objectives apart from the data
collection and finding out a new and/or additional interpretation that was excluded in
existing/past research findings. However, the researcher delivers a proper assessment between
primary datasets and research questions after providing transparent and detailed explanations to
interpret and discuss the logical and ethical reasons behind missing data, utilization of sampling
weights, or statistical consequences. Moreover, researchers are benefited by using the qualitative
datasets available for secondary analysis to obtain their data collection and also, deal with
epistemological and ontological questions generated in the study.
Advantages and disadvantages of Secondary Data
Sheriff (2018), argued that the main concern in applying secondary data will be “Are pre-
existing data suitable, sufficient, and of a high enough quality” to provide empirical and
theoretical findings. Further, both advantages and disadvantages of using secondary data will be
briefly discussed.
Advantages
Secondary data can change the researchers’ fortune by saving time and money on
resources. Nowadays, collecting data mostly can be downloaded as a file, already
