MARK5811 AMR3
Secondary Data Analysis
T1-2024
Secondary data (1)
• Whether sources are considered primary or secondary depends
on the relationship of the researcher to them. If the data were
collected by the researcher, they may be considered primary
data. If collected by one researcher but used by another, the
latter considers them secondary data.
• The distinction between primary and secondary data analysis is
not always clear cut.
Secondary data (2)
• Secondary sources can provide a rich insight into the history of
an institution, its mission, its presentation of self and how
others perceive it.
• Secondary sources may be analysed in conjunction with
primary data sources (such as surveys, interviews,
observations).
• Potential sources of secondary data: census returns, government
records at national and local level, business organizations
(including financial records, annual reports, minutes of board
meetings, policy documents), human resource records,
newspaper articles, websites or social media.
1. Personal documents
• Personal records include letters, diaries, biographies and oral
histories.
• Making generalizations from such documents can be
problematic, especially if they are personal documents about
one individual. There may be more possibility of
generalizations if the documents can be shown to be
representative or typical of a group.
• The contents of personal documents should also be evaluated
for distortion, misrepresentation, exaggeration and omission.
2. Organizational documents
• Minutes of general meetings
• Corporate annual reports
• Emails
• Staff records
• Financial statements
• Press releases
• Advertisements
3. Professional reports
• Commissioned by professional associations, governments or
large corporations.
• Often completed by consultants, academic research institutions
or government departments.
• Include feasibility studies.
4. Political records
• Opinion polls
• Political speeches
• Evidence from public inquiries: e.g. governments set up
special commissions to investigate large-scale disasters (such
as rail crashes) or public inquiries into the siting of a new
airport. It is not so much the subject focus of these inquiries
that is of interest, but what the debate and dialogue reveals
about the roles of businesses, institutions and pressure groups
that attempt to influence the state.
5. Visual and mass media records
• Advertisements
• Newspaper and magazines photographs
• Product packaging
Researching company websites and social media
presence
• Company website providing details not just of their products
and services, but their chosen image of themselves, their
values and their ‘brand’.
• Company websites and social media (Facebook, Twitter or
LinkedIn ) can be used in research:
ØAs data sources for information about the company itself –
its history, purpose, organizational structure, vision,
business strategies, products and services.
ØTo evaluate company website functionality, e.g. usability
and interactivity.
6. Academic sources
• Academic journals
• Theses/Dissertations
Journal Quality
• Journal quality ranking: Australian Business Dean Council
(ABDC): https://abdc.edu.au/abdc-journal-quality-list/
vHighest -> Lowest: A* to C, e.g. Journal of Service
Research is A*, Journal of Service Management is
A.
vThe 2022 List endorses 2,680 journal entries with
the following classifications: A*: 7.4%; A: 24.4%;
B: 31.9%; and C: 36.2%.



Purpose of literature review
• Providing an up-to-date understanding of the subject, its
significance and structure.
• Guiding the development of research topics and questions.

The literature search process
7. Official statistics
• Official statistics are collected by governments through their
various agencies and departments and can provide a rich
source of specialized data for the researcher.
• A number of drawbacks to using official statistics:
ØThe scale of government surveys requires large numbers of
interviewers who may not receive sufficient training; this
may lead to a lack of standardization and interviewer bias.
ØResource limitation may inhibit the timely and accurate
reporting of results.
Criteria for selecting the data set
• Does the design of the study fit the research questions?
• Are the sample sizes large enough?
• Are the methods and research tools used in the study
appropriate?
• Can missing data be explained and adjusted?
• Does the data set have the measures needed?
Secondary data analysis (1)
Involves the use of existing data, collected for the purpose of a
prior study, in order to pursue a research interest which is
distinct from the original work. This may comprise a new
research question or an alternative perspective on the original
question.
Secondary data analysis (2)
• Re-analysis. Data from a previous study are re-examined to
confirm and validate the original findings.
• Supplementary analysis. A more in-depth look is taken of
emergent issues or elements of the data that were not explored
in the original study.
• Amplified analysis. Two or more existing qualitative data sets
are compared and contrasted.
• Assorted analysis. Re-use of existing qualitative data
alongside the collection and analysis of primary data for the
same study.
A systems approach to using secondary data (1)
1. Define the focus of the research.
2. Specify the population that is to be studied.
3. Specify the variables that are to be included in the analysis.
4. Decide on what kind of records are appropriate to the study.
5. Create a data list of the sources that are most appropriate to the
research focus.

A systems approach to using secondary data (2)
6. Evaluate the data set to identify problems such as missing data,
or out of range values. In doing this, it will be necessary to ask
the following questions:
Ø What was the original purpose for which the data were collected?
Ø What kind of data are they, and how were they collected? Who
collected the data (e.g., were they professional researchers?)?
Ø What kind of questions were used and how rigorous were piloting
procedures?
Ø What were the sampling strategies and the response rates? What
groups, if any, were excluded from the data and does this matter?
Ø When were the data collected – are they timely?
Ø What kind of cleaning or recoding procedures have been applied to the
data?
Secondary data methodology
• There are a number of alternative approaches to the analysis of
secondary data that will depend partly on the nature of the
secondary sources themselves, and also on the aims of the
research project. Meta-Analysis is one common approaches.
• Meta-Analysis: Researchers summarize prior studies on a
particular theme through literature reviews.
ØA quantitative statistical analysis of several separate but
similar experiments or studies in order to test the pooled data
for statistical significance. It may be used to critically evaluate
the results and claims made by previous studies.


Secondary data in mixed methodologies
• Secondary data analysis can be conducted before, in addition
to, or after other research approaches.
• Secondary analysis can identify themes and help to generate
hypotheses that are then tested through a survey; conversely,
empirical testing done through a survey can be followed up by
post hoc secondary data analysis that offers additional insights
into the original research questions. This is particularly useful
when the empirical research has unexpected findings.
Potential advantages and disadvantages of using
secondary data (1)
• Potential advantages
ØCost saving
ØTime saving
ØBreadth and scale of data sets available., e.g. national
surveys and data that have been collected on a longitudinal
basis.
ØExplaining change and evolution. Since data often cover
long periods of time, they can be useful in generating
developmental explanations about a phenomenon and the
changes to it that have occurred.
Potential advantages and disadvantages of using
secondary data (2)
• Potential advantages (cont.)
ØDetachment. Secondary analysis may allow for the viewing
of a data set with more objectivity that might be difficult to
achieve for the original researcher.
ØProfessionalism. Data often come from sources developed
by teams of professional researchers who have many years
of experience in research design and data collection.
Ø Social benefits. Sensitive, vulnerable or hard to reach
populations do not have to be contacted again.
Potential advantages and disadvantages of using
secondary data (3)
• Potential disadvantages
ØData might be incomplete, inaccurate or biased.
ØMismatched objectives/questions
ØData quality: The researcher does not know how or how
well the data were collected.
ØThe cost of learning a new data set
Ethical considerations
• Ethical considerations for using secondary data include
researchers being able to defend their judgement as to the
scope of the original consent:
Ø does posing new questions of previously collected data
violate the consent obtained when the original study was
conducted?
ØResearchers should familiarise themselves with the actual
and potential privacy needs of individuals and populations
in the databases they employ.