 

(tel:+442

 (/blog)  MORE
STUDY SKILLS (HTTPS://WWW.OXBRIDGEESSAYS.COM/BLOG/CATEGORY/STUDY-SKILLS/)

UNIVERSITY LIFE (HTTPS://WWW.OXBRIDGEESSAYS.COM/BLOG/CATEGORY/UNIVERSITY-LIFE/)

ESSAY WRITING (HTTPS://WWW.OXBRIDGEESSAYS.COM/BLOG/CATEGORY/ESSAY-WRITING-2/)

DISSERTATION WRITING (HTTPS://WWW.OXBRIDGEESSAYS.COM/BLOG/CATEGORY/DISSERTATION-WRITING/)

ACADEMIC NEWS (HTTPS://WWW.OXBRIDGEESSAYS.COM/BLOG/CATEGORY/ACADEMIC-NEWS/)

UNIVERSITY APPLICATIONS (HTTPS://WWW.OXBRIDGEESSAYS.COM/BLOG/CATEGORY/UNIVERSITY-APPLICATIONS/)

OXBRIDGE ESSAYS UPDATES (HTTPS://WWW.OXBRIDGEESSAYS.COM/BLOG/CATEGORY/OXBRIDGE-ESSAYS-UPDATES/)

 The Ultimate Guide to Writing a Dissertation (/blog/dissertation-ultimate-guide/)

 14 January 2020

How to do your dissertation secondary

research in 4 steps
(Last updated: 21 January 2020)

    
(https://facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?
(https://twitter.com/intent/tweet/?
(https://plus.google.com/share?
(whatsapp://send?
(mailto:?
u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.oxbridgeessays.com%2Fblog%2Fhow-
text=How%20to%20do%20your%20dissertation%20secondary%20research%20in
url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.oxbridgeessays.com%2Fblog%2Fhow-
text=How%20to%20do%20your%20dissertation%20secondary%20res
subject=How%20to%20do%20your%20dissertation%20seconda
to- to- to- to- to-
dissertation-
dissertation-
dissertation-
dissertation-
dissertation-
secondary-
secondary-
secondary-
secondary-
secondary-
research-
research-
research-
research-
research-
4- 4- 4- 4- 4-
steps%2F)
steps%2F)
steps%2F)
steps%2F)
steps%2F)

If you are reading this guide, it's very likely you may be doing secondary research for your dissertation, rather than primary. If this is indeed
you, then here's the good news: secondary research is the easiest type of research! Congratulations!

In a nutshell, secondary research is far more simple. So simple, in fact, that we have been able to explain how to do it completely in just 4
steps (see below). If nothing else, secondary research avoids the all-so-tiring efforts usually involved with primary research. Like recruiting
your participants, choosing and preparing your measures, and spending days (or months) collecting your data.

That said, you do still need to know how to do secondary research. Which is what you're here for. So, go make a decent-sized mug of your
favourite hot beverage (consider a glass of water (/blog/simple-way-better-university-drink-water-increased-concentration/), too) then come
back and get comfy.

Here's what we'll cover in this guide:

The basics: What's secondary research all about?

COVID-19 UPDATE: we are fully operational, with our team and academics working More info (/faq/oxbridge-essays-still-operating-despite-covid-

safely. 19/) /
 Understanding secondary research
 
Advantages of secondary research (tel:+442
Disadvantages of secondary research

Methods and purposes of secondary research

Types of secondary data

Sources of secondary data

Secondary research process in 4 steps

Step 1: Develop your research question(s)

Step 2: Identify a secondary data set

Step 3: Evaluate a secondary data set

Step 4: Prepare and analyse secondary data

Summary

The basics: What's secondary research all about?

Understanding secondary research

So, what exactly do we mean when we say “secondary research”?

To answer this question, let’s rst recall what we mean by primary research (/blog/ultimate-guide-dissertation-primary-research/). As you
probably already know, primary research is when the researcher collects the data himself or herself. The researcher uses so-called “real-
time” data, which means that the data is collected during the course of a speci c research project and is under the researcher’s direct
control.

In contrast, secondary research involves data that has been collected by somebody else previously. This type of data is called “past data”
and is usually accessible via past researchers, government records, and various online and o ine resources.

So to recap, secondary research involves re-analysing, interpreting, or reviewing past data. The role of the researcher is always to specify
how this past data informs his or her current research.

In contrast to primary research, secondary research is easier, particularly because the researcher is less involved with the actual process of
collecting the data. Furthermore, secondary research requires less time and less money (i.e., you don’t need to provide your participants
with compensation for participating or pay for any other costs of the research).

TABLE 1 outlines the differences between primary and secondary research:

Comparison basis PRIMARY RESEARCH SECONDARY RESEARCH

Involves collecting factual, Involves the use of data that

De nition rst-hand data at the time was collected by somebody else
of the research project in the past

Type of data Real-time data Past data

Conducted by The researcher himself/herself Somebody else

Addresses speci c needs May not directly address

Needs
of the researcher the researcher’s needs

Involvement Researcher is very involved Researcher is less involved

COVID-19 UPDATE: we are fully operational, with our team and academics working More info (/faq/oxbridge-essays-still-operating-despite-covid-

safely. 19/) /
 Comparison basis PRIMARY RESEARCH SECONDARY RESEARCH
 
Completion time Long Short (tel:+442

Cost High Low

Advantages of secondary research

Whatever type of research you are conducting, always be aware of its strengths and limitations. If you look at the table above, you should
already be able to discern some advantages of secondary research.

One of the most obvious advantages is that, compared to primary research, secondary research is inexpensive. Primary research usually
requires spending a lot of money. For instance, members of the research team should be paid salaries. There are often travel and
transportation costs. You may need to pay for o ce space and equipment, and compensate your participants for taking part. There may be
other overhead costs too.

These costs do not exist when doing secondary research. Although researchers may need to purchase secondary data sets, this is always
less costly than if the research were to be conducted from scratch.

As an undergraduate or graduate student, your dissertation project won't need to be an expensive endeavour. Thus, it is useful to know that
you can further reduce costs, by using freely available secondary data sets.

But this is far from the only consideration.

Most students value another important advantage of secondary research, which is that secondary research saves you time. Primary
research usually requires months spent recruiting participants, providing them with questionnaires, interviews, or other measures, cleaning
the data set, and analysing the results. With secondary research, you can skip most of these daunting tasks; instead, you merely need to
select, prepare, and analyse an existing data set.

Moreover, you probably won’t need a lot of time to obtain your secondary data set, because secondary data is usually easily accessible. In
the past, students needed to go to libraries and spend hours trying to nd a suitable data set. New technologies make this process much
less time-consuming. In most cases, you can nd your secondary data through online search engines or by contacting previous researchers
via email.

A third important advantage of secondary research is that you can base your project on a large scope of data. If you wanted to obtain a
large data set yourself, you would need to dedicate an immense amount of effort. What's more, if you were doing primary research, you
would never be able to use longitudinal data in your graduate or undergraduate project, since it would take you years to complete. This is
because longitudinal data involves assessing and re-assessing a group of participants over long periods of time.

When using secondary data, however, you have an opportunity to work with immensely large data sets that somebody else has already
collected. Thus, you can also deal with longitudinal data, which may allow you to explore trends and changes of phenomena over time.

With secondary research, you are relying not only on a large scope of data, but also on professionally collected data. This is yet another
advantage of secondary research. For instance, data that you will use for your secondary research project has been collected by
researchers who are likely to have had years of experience in recruiting representative participant samples, designing studies, and using
speci c measurement tools.

If you had collected this data yourself, your own data set would probably have more aws, simply because of your lower level of expertise
when compared to these professional researchers.

Disadvantages of secondary research

By now you may have concluded that using secondary data is a perfect option for your graduate or undergraduate dissertation. However,
let’s not underestimate the disadvantages of doing secondary research.
COVID-19 UPDATE: we are fully operational, with our team and academics working More info (/faq/oxbridge-essays-still-operating-despite-covid-

safely. 19/) /
 The rst such disadvantage is that your secondary data may be, to a greater or lesser extent, inappropriate for your own research
 
purposes. This is simply because you have not collected the data yourself.
(tel:+442
When you collect your data personally, you do so with a speci c research question in mind. This makes it easy to obtain the relevant
information. However, secondary data was always collected for the purposes of ful lling other researchers’ goals and objectives.

Thus, although secondary data may provide you with a large scope of professionally collected data, this data is unlikely to be fully
appropriate to your own research question. There are several reasons for this. For instance, you may be interested in the data of a particular
population, in a speci c geographic region, and collected during a speci c time frame. However, your secondary data may have focused on
a slightly different population, may have been collected in a different geographical region, or may have been collected a long time ago.

Apart from being potentially inappropriate for your own research purposes, secondary data could have a different format than you require.
For instance, you might have preferred participants’ age to be in the form of a continuous variable (i.e., you want your participants to have
indicated their speci c age). But the secondary data set may contain a categorical age variable; for example, participants might have
indicated an age group they belong to (e.g., 20-29, 30-39, 40-49, etc.). Or another example: A secondary data set may contain too few ethnic
categories (e.g., “White” and “Other”), while you would ideally want a wider range of racial categories (e.g., “White”, “Black or African
American”, “American Indian”, and “Asian”). Differences such as these mean that secondary data may not be perfectly appropriate for your
research.

The above two disadvantages may lead to yet another one: the existing data set may not answer your own research question(s) in an ideal
way. As noted above, secondary data was collected with a different research question in mind, and this may limit its application to your own
research purpose.

Unfortunately, the list of disadvantages does not end here. An additional weakness of secondary data is that you have a lack of control over
the quality of data. All researchers need to establish that their data is reliable and valid. But if the original researchers did not establish the
reliability and validity of their data, this may limit its reliability and validity for your research as well. To establish reliability and validity, you
are usually advised to critically evaluate how the data was gathered, analysed, and presented.

But here lies the nal disadvantage of doing secondary research: original researchers may fail to provide su cient information on how
their research was conducted. You might be faced with a lack of information on recruitment procedures, sample representativeness, data
collection methods, employed measurement tools and statistical analyses, and the like. This may require you to take extra steps to obtain
such information, if that is possible at all.

TABLE 2 provides a full summary of advantages and disadvantages of secondary research:

ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES

Inexpensive: Conducting secondary research is much cheaper than doing Inappropriateness: Secondary data may not be fully appropriate for your research
primary research purposes

Saves time: Secondary research takes much less time than primary research Wrong format: Secondary data may have a different format than you require

May not answer your research question: Secondary data was collected with a different
Accessibility: Secondary data is usually easily accessible from online sources.
research question in mind

Large scope of data: You can rely on immensely large data sets that somebody Lack of control over the quality of data: Secondary data may lack reliability and validity,
else has collected which is beyond your control

Professionally collected data: Secondary data has been collected by Lack of su cient information: Original authors may not have provided su cient
researchers with years of experience information on various research aspects

COVID-19 UPDATE: we are fully operational, with our team and academics working More info (/faq/oxbridge-essays-still-operating-despite-covid-

safely. 19/) /
  
(tel:+442

Methods and purposes of secondary research

So far, we have de ned secondary research and outlined its advantages and disadvantages.

At this point, we should ask: “What are the methods of secondary research?” and “When do we use each of these methods?” Here, we can
differentiate between three methods of secondary research: using a secondary data set in isolation, combining two secondary data sets,
and combining secondary and primary data sets. Let’s outline each of these separately, and also explain when to use each of these
methods.

Initially, you can use a secondary data set in isolation – that is, without combining it with other data sets. You dig and nd a data set that is
useful for your research purposes and then base your entire research on that set of data. You do this when you want to re-assess a data set
with a different research question in mind.

Let’s illustrate this with a simple example. Suppose that, in your research, you want to investigate whether pregnant women of different
nationalities experience different levels of anxiety during different pregnancy stages. Based on the literature, you have formed an idea that
nationality may matter in this relationship between pregnancy and anxiety.

If you wanted to test this relationship by collecting the data yourself, you would need to recruit many pregnant women of different
nationalities and assess their anxiety levels throughout their pregnancy. It would take you at least a year to complete this research project.

Instead of undertaking this long endeavour, you thus decide to nd a secondary data set – one that investigated (for instance) a range of
di culties experienced by pregnant women in a nationwide sample. The original research question that guided this research could have
been: “to what extent do pregnant women experience a range of mental health di culties, including stress, anxiety, mood disorders, and
paranoid thoughts?” The original researchers might have outlined women’s nationality, but weren’t particularly interested in investigating the
link between women’s nationality and anxiety at different pregnancy stages. You are, therefore, re-assessing their data set with your own
research question in mind.

Your research may, however, require you to combine two secondary data sets. You will use this kind of methodology when you want to
investigate the relationship between certain variables in two data sets or when you want to compare ndings from two past studies.

To take an example: One of your secondary data sets may focus on a target population’s tendency to smoke cigarettes, while the other data
set focuses on the same population’s tendency to drink alcohol. In your own research, you may thus be looking at whether there is a
correlation between smoking and drinking among this population.

Here is a second example: Your two secondary data sets may focus on the same outcome variable, such as the degree to which people go
to Greece for a summer vacation. However, one data set could have been collected in Britain and the other in Germany. By comparing these
two data sets, you can investigate which nation tends to visit Greece more.

Finally, your research project may involve combining primary and secondary data. You may decide to do this when you want to obtain
existing information that would inform your primary research.
COVID-19 UPDATE: we are fully operational, with our team and academics working More info (/faq/oxbridge-essays-still-operating-despite-covid-

safely. 19/) /
 Let’s use another simple example and say that your research project focuses on American versus British people’s attitudes towards racial
 
discrimination. Let’s say that you were able to nd a recent study that investigated Americans’ attitudes of these kind, which were assessed
(tel:+442
with a certain set of measures. However, your search nds no recent studies on Britons’ attitudes. Let’s also say that you live in London and
that it would be di cult for you to assess Americans’ attitudes on the topic, but clearly much more straightforward to conduct primary
research on British attitudes.

In this case, you can simply reuse the data from the American study and adopt exactly the same measures with your British participants.
Your secondary data is being combined with your primary data. Alternatively, you may combine these types of data when the role of your
secondary data is to outline descriptive information that supports your research. For instance, if your project is focusing on attitudes
towards McDonald’s food, you may want to support your primary research with secondary data that outlines how many people eat
McDonald’s in your country of choice.

TABLE 3 summarises particular methods and purposes of secondary research:

METHOD PURPOSE

Using secondary data set in isolation Re-assessing a data set with a different research question in mind

Combining two secondary data sets Investigating the relationship between variables in two data sets or comparing ndings from two past studies

Combining secondary and primary data sets Obtaining existing information that informs your primary research

Types of secondary data

The two most common types of secondary research are, as with all types of data, quantitative and qualitative. Secondary research can,
therefore, be conducted by using either quantitative or qualitative data sets.

We have already provided above several examples of using quantitative secondary data. This type of data is used when the original study
has investigated a population’s tendency to smoke or drink alcohol, the degree to which people from different nationalities go to Greece for
their summer vacation, or the degree to which pregnant women experience anxiety.

In all these examples, outcome variables were assessed by questionnaires, and thus the obtained data was numerical.

Quantitative secondary research is much more common than qualitative secondary research. However, this is not to say that you cannot
use qualitative secondary data in your research project. This type of secondary data is used when you want the previously-collected
information to inform your current research. More speci cally, it is used when you want to test the information obtained through qualitative
research by implementing a quantitative methodology.

For instance, a past qualitative study might have focused on the reasons why people choose to live on boats. This study might have
interviewed some 30 participants and noted the four most important reasons people live on boats: (1) they can lead a transient lifestyle, (2)
they have an increased sense of freedom, (3) they feel that they are “world citizens”, and (4) they can more easily visit their family members
who live in different locations. In your own research, you can therefore reuse this qualitative data to form a questionnaire, which you then
give to a larger population of people who live on boats. This will help you to generalise the previously-obtained qualitative results to a
broader population.

Importantly, you can also re-assess a qualitative data set in your research, rather than using it as a basis for your quantitative research. Let’s
say that your research focuses on the kind of language that people who live on boats use when describing their transient lifestyles. The
original research did not focus on this research question per se – however, you can reuse the information from interviews to “extract” the
types of descriptions of a transient lifestyle that were given by participants.

TABLE 4 highlights the two main types of secondary data and their associated purposes:

COVID-19
TYPES UPDATE: we are fully operational, with our team and academics working
PURPOSES More info (/faq/oxbridge-essays-still-operating-despite-covid-

safely. 19/) /
 TYPES PURPOSES
 
Quantitative Both can be used when you want to (a) inform your current research with past data, and (b) re-assess a past data set (tel:+442

Qualitative Both can be used when you want to (a) inform your current research with past data, and (b) re-assess a past data set

Sources of secondary data

The two most common types of secondary data sources are labelled as internal and external.

Internal sources of data are those that are internal to the organisation in question. For instance, if you are doing a research project for an
organisation (or research institution) where you are an intern, and you want to reuse some of their past data, you would be using internal
data sources.

The bene t of using these sources is that they are easily accessible and there is no associated nancial cost of obtaining them.

External sources of data, on the other hand, are those that are external to an organisation or a research institution. This type of data has
been collected by “somebody else”, in the literal sense of the term. The bene t of external sources of data is that they provide
comprehensive data – however, you may sometimes need more effort (or money) to obtain it.

Let’s now focus on different types of internal and external secondary data sources.

There are several types of internal sources. For instance, if your research focuses on an organisation’s pro tability, you might use their sales
data. Each organisation keeps a track of its sales records, and thus your data may provide information on sales by geographical area, types
of customer, product prices, types of product packaging, time of the year, and the like.

Alternatively, you may use an organisation’s nancial data. The purpose of using this data could be to conduct a cost-bene t analysis and
understand the economic opportunities or outcomes of hiring more people, buying more vehicles, investing in new products, and so on.

Another type of internal data is transport data. Here, you may focus on outlining the safest and most effective transportation routes or
vehicles used by an organisation.

Alternatively, you may rely on marketing data, where your goal would be to assess the bene ts and outcomes of different marketing
operations and strategies.

Some other ideas would be to use customer data to ascertain the ideal type of customer, or to use safety data to explore the degree to
which employees comply with an organisation’s safety regulations.

The list of the types of internal sources of secondary data can be extensive; the most important thing to remember is that this data comes
from a particular organisation itself, in which you do your research in an internal manner.

The list of external secondary data sources can be just as extensive. One example is the data obtained through government sources. These
can include social surveys, health data, agricultural statistics, energy expenditure statistics, population censuses, import/export data,
production statistics, and the like. Government agencies tend to conduct a lot of research, therefore covering almost any kind of topic you
can think of.

Another external source of secondary data are national and international institutions, including banks, trade unions, universities, health
organisations, etc. As with government, such institutions dedicate a lot of effort to conducting up-to-date research, so you simply need to
nd an organisation that has collected the data on your own topic of interest.

Alternatively, you may obtain your secondary data from trade, business, and professional associations. These usually have data sets on
business-related topics and are likely to be willing to provide you with secondary data if they understand the importance of your research. If
your research is built on past academic studies, you may also rely on scienti c journals as an external data source.
COVID-19 UPDATE: we are fully operational, with our team and academics working More info (/faq/oxbridge-essays-still-operating-despite-covid-

safely. 19/) /
 Once you have speci ed what kind of secondary data you need, you can contact the authors of the original study.
 
As a nal example of a secondary data source, you can rely on data from commercial research organisations. These usually focus their
(tel:+442
research on media statistics and consumer information, which may be relevant if, for example, your research is within media studies or you
are investigating consumer behaviour.

TABLE 5 summarises the two sources of secondary data and associated examples:

INTERNAL SOURCES EXTERNAL SOURCES

De nition: Internal to the organisation or research institution where you conduct your De nition: External to the organisation or research institution where you conduct your
research research

Examples:
Examples:
• Government sources
• Sales data
• Financial data • National and international institutions
• Transport data
• Marketing data • Trade, business, and professional associations
• Customer data
• Scienti c journals
• Safety data
• Commercial research organisations

Secondary research process in 4 steps

In previous sections of this guide, we have covered some basic aspects of doing secondary research. We have de ned secondary data,
outlined its advantages and disadvantages, introduced the methods and purposes of secondary research, and outlined the types and
sources of secondary data.

At this point, you should have a clearer understanding of secondary research in general terms.

Now it may be useful to focus on the actual process of doing secondary research. This next section is organised to introduce you to each
step of this process, so that you can rely on this guide while planning your study. At the end of this blog post, in Table 6, you will nd a
summary of all the steps of doing secondary research.

Step 1: Develop your research question(s)

Secondary research begins exactly like any type of research: by developing your research question(s).

For an undergraduate thesis, you are often provided with a speci c research question by your supervisor. But for most other types of
research, and especially if you are doing your graduate thesis, you need to arrive at a research question yourself.

The rst step here is to specify the general research area in which your research will fall. For example, you may be interested in the topic of
anxiety during pregnancy, or tourism in Greece, or transient lifestyles. Since we have used these examples previously, it may be useful to rely
on them again to illustrate our discussion.

Once you have identi ed your general topic, your next step consists of reading through existing papers to see whether there is a gap in the
literature (/blog/write-dissertation-literature-review-depth-guide#literaturegap) that your research can ll. At this point, you may discover that
previous research has not investigated national differences in the experiences of anxiety during pregnancy, or national differences in a
tendency to go to Greece for a summer vacation, or that there is no literature generalising the ndings on people’s choice to live on boats.

Having found your topic of interest and identi ed a gap in the literature, you need to specify your research question. In our three examples,
research questions would be speci ed in the following manner: (1) “Do women of different nationalities experience different levels of anxiety
during different stages of pregnancy?”, (2) “Are there any differences in an interest in Greek tourism between Germans and Britons?”, and (3)
“Why do people choose to live on boats?”.

Step 2: Identify a secondary data set

COVID-19 UPDATE: we are fully operational, with our team and academics working More info (/faq/oxbridge-essays-still-operating-despite-covid-

safely. 19/) /
 As we mentioned above, most research begins by specifying what is already known on the topic and what knowledge seems to be missing.
This process involves considering the kind of data previously collected on the topic.  
(tel:+442
It is at this point, after reviewing the literature and specifying your research questions, that you may decide to rely on secondary data. You
will do this if you discover that there is past data that would be perfectly reusable in your own research, therefore helping you to answer your
research question more thoroughly (and easily).

But how do you discover if there is past data that could be useful for your research? You do this through reviewing the literature on your
topic of interest. During this process, you will identify other researchers, organisations, agencies, or research centres that have explored your
research topic.

Somewhere there, you may discover a useful secondary data set. You then need to contact the original authors and ask for a permission to
use their data. (Note, however, that this happens only if you are relying on external sources of secondary data. If you are doing your research
internally (i.e., within a particular organisation), you don’t need to search through the literature for a secondary data set – you can just reuse
some past data that was collected within the organisation itself.)

In any case, you need to ensure that a secondary data set is a good t for your own research question. Once you have established that it is,
you need to specify the reasons why you have decided to rely on secondary data.

For instance, your choice to rely on secondary data in the above examples might be as follows: (1) A recent study has focused on a range of
mental di culties experienced by women in a multinational sample and this data can be reused; (2) There is existing data on Germans’ and
Britons’ interest in Greek tourism and these data sets can be compared; and (3) There is existing qualitative research on the reasons for
choosing to live on boats, and this data can be relied upon to conduct a further quantitative investigation.

Step 3: Evaluate a secondary data set

If you recall our previous discussion on the disadvantages of secondary data, you will remember us specifying that: (1) secondary data may
not be fully appropriate for your research purposes, (2) secondary data may have a different format than you require, (3) secondary data
may lack reliability and validity, (4) secondary data may not answer your research question, and (5) original authors may have failed to
provide su cient information about their research.

Because such disadvantages of secondary data can limit the effectiveness of your research, it is crucial that you evaluate a secondary data
set. To ease this process, we outline here a re ective approach that will allow you to evaluate secondary data in a stepwise fashion.

Step 3(a): What was the aim of the original study?

When evaluating secondary data, you rst need to identify the aim of the original study. This is important because the original authors’ goals
will have impacted several important aspects of their research, including their population of choice, sample, employed measurement tools,
and the overall context of the research.

During this step, you also need to pay close attention to any differences in research purposes and research questions between the original
study and your own investigation. As we have discussed previously, you will often discover that the original study had a different research
question in mind, and it is important for you to specify this difference.

Let’s put this step of identifying the aim of the original study in practice, by referring to our three research examples. The aim of the rst
research example was to investigate mental di culties (e.g., stress, anxiety, mood disorders, and paranoid thoughts) in a multinational
sample of pregnant women.

How does this aim differ from your research aim? Well, you are seeking to reuse this data set to investigate national differences in anxiety
experienced by women during different pregnancy stages. When it comes to the second research example, you are basing your research on
two secondary data sets – one that aimed to investigate Germans’ interest in Greek tourism and the other that aimed to investigate Britons’
interest in Greek tourism.

While these two studies focused on particular national populations, the aim of your research is to compare Germans’ and Britons’ tendency
to visit Greece for summer vacation. Finally, in our third example, the original research was a qualitative investigation into the reasons for
COVID-19 UPDATE: we are fully operational, with our team and academics working More info (/faq/oxbridge-essays-still-operating-despite-covid-
 living on boats. Your research question is different, because, although you are seeking to do the same investigation, you wish to do so by /
safely. 19/)
 using a quantitative methodology.
 
(tel:+442
Importantly, in all three examples, you conclude that secondary data may in fact answer your research question. If you conclude otherwise,
it may be wise to nd a different secondary data set or to opt for primary research.

Step 3(b): Who has collected the data?

A further step in evaluating a secondary data set is to ask yourself who has collected the data. To what institution were the authors
a liated? Were the original authors professional enough to trust their research? Usually, you will be able to obtain this information through
quick online searches.

Let’s say that, in our example of research on pregnancy, data was collected by the UK government; that in our example of research on Greek
tourism, the data was collected by a travel agency; and that in our example of research on the reasons for choosing to live on boats, the
data was collected by researchers from a UK university.

Let’s also say that you have checked the background of these organisations and researchers, and that you have concluded that they all have
a su ciently professional background, except for the travel agency. Given that this agency’s research did not lead to a publication (for
instance), and given that not much can be found about the authors of the research, you conclude that the professionalism of this data
source remains unclear.

Step 3(c): Which measures were employed?

If the study on which you are basing your research was conducted in a professional manner, you can expect to have access to all the
essential information regarding this research.

Original authors should have documented all their sample characteristics, measures, procedures, and protocols. This information can be
obtained either in their nal research report or through contacting the authors directly.

It is important for you to know what type of data was collected, which measures were used, and whether such measures were reliable and
valid (if they were quantitative measures). You also need to make a clear outline of the type of data collected – and especially the data
relevant for your research.

Let’s say that, in our rst example, researchers have (among other assessed variables) used a demographic measure to note women’s
nationalities and have used the State Anxiety Inventory to assess women’s anxiety levels during different pregnancy stages, both of which
you conclude are valid and reliable tools. In our second example, the authors might have crafted their own measure to assess interest in
Greek tourism, but there may be no established validity and reliability for this measure. And in our third example, the authors have employed
semi-structured interviews, which cover the most important reasons for wanting to live on boats.

Step 3(d): When was the data collected?

When evaluating secondary data, you should also note when the data was collected. The reason for this is simple: if the data was collected
a long time ago, you may conclude that it is outdated. And if the data is outdated, then what’s the point of reusing it?

Ideally, you want your secondary data to have been collected within the last ve years. For the sake of our examples, let’s say that all three
original studies were conducted within this time-range.

Step 3(e): What methodology was used to collect the data?

When evaluating the quality of a secondary data set, the evaluation of the employed methodology may be the most crucial step.

We have already noted that you need to evaluate the reliability and validity of employed measures. In addition to this, you need to evaluate
how the sample was obtained, whether the sample was large enough, if the sample was representative of the population, if there were any
missing responses on employed measures, whether confounders were controlled for, and whether the employed statistical analyses were
appropriate. Any drawbacks in the original methodology may limit your own research as well.

COVID-19 UPDATE: we are fully operational, with our team and academics working More info (/faq/oxbridge-essays-still-operating-despite-covid-

safely. 19/) /
 For the sake of our examples, let’s say that the study on mental di culties in pregnant women recruited a representative sample of
 
pregnant women (i.e., they had different nationalities, different economic backgrounds, different education levels, etc.) in maternity wards of
(tel:+442
seven hospitals; that the sample was large enough (N = 945); that the number of missing values was low; that many confounders were
controlled for (e.g., education level, age, presence of partnership, etc.); and that statistical analyses were appropriate (e.g., regression
analyses were used).

Let’s further say that our second research example had slightly less su cient methodology. Although the number of participants in the two
samples was high enough (N1 = 453; N2 = 488), the number of missing values was low, and statistical analyses were appropriate
(descriptive statistics), the authors failed to report how they recruited their participants and whether they controlled for any confounders.

Let’s say that these authors also failed to provide you with more information via email. Finally, let’s assume that our third research example
also had su cient methodology, with a su ciently large sample size for a qualitative investigation (N = 30), high sample representativeness
(participants with different backgrounds, coming from different boat communities), and su cient analyses (thematic analysis).

Note that, since this was a qualitative investigation, there is no need to evaluate the number of missing values and the use of confounders.

Step 3(f): Making a nal evaluation

Having considered all the things outlined in the steps above, what can you conclude regarding the quality of your secondary data set? Again,
let’s consider our three examples.

We would conclude that the secondary data from our rst research example has a high quality. Data was recently collected by
professionals, the employed measures were both reliable and valid, and the methodology was more than su cient. We can be con dent
that our new research question can be su ciently answered with the existing data. Thus, the data set for our rst example is ideal.

The two secondary data sets from our second research example seem, however, less than ideal. Although we can answer our research
questions on the basis of these recent data sets, the data was collected by an unprofessional source, the reliability and validity of the
employed measure is uncertain, and the employed methodology has a few notable drawbacks.

Finally, the data from our third example seems su cient both for answering our research question and in terms of the speci c evaluations
(data was collected recently by a professional source, semi-structured interviews were well made, and the employed methodology was
su cient).

The nal question to ask is: “what can be done if our evaluation reveals the lack of appropriateness of secondary data?”. The answer,
unfortunately, is “nothing”. In this instance, you can only note the drawbacks of the original data set, present its limitations, and conclude
that your own research may not be su ciently well grounded.

Step 4: Prepare and analyse secondary data

During the secondary data evaluation process, you will familiarise yourself with the original research. Having done so, your next step is to
prepare a secondary data set.
COVID-19 UPDATE: we are fully operational, with our team and academics working More info (/faq/oxbridge-essays-still-operating-despite-covid-

safely. 19/) /
 Your rst sub-step here (if you are doing quantitative research) is to outline all variables of interest that you will use in your study. In our
 
rst example, you could have at least ve variables of interest: (1) women’s nationality, (2) anxiety levels at the beginning of pregnancy, (3)
anxiety levels at three months of pregnancy, (4) anxiety levels at six months of pregnancy, and (5) anxiety levels at nine months of (tel:+442
pregnancy. In our second example, you will have two variables of interest: (1) participants’ nationality, and (2) the degree of interest in going
to Greece for a summer vacation. Once your variables of interest are identi ed, you need to transfer this data into a new SPSS or Excel le.
Remember simply to copy this data into the new le – it is vital that you do not alter it!

Once this is done, you should address missing data (identify and label them) and recode variables if necessary (e.g., giving a value of 1 to
German participants and a value of 2 to British participants). You may also need to reverse-score some items, so that higher scores on all
items indicate a higher degree of what is being assessed.

Most of the time, you will also need to create new variables – that is, to compute nal scores. For instance, in our example of research on
anxiety during pregnancy, your data will consist of scores on each item of the State Anxiety Inventory, completed at various times during
pregnancy. You will need to calculate nal anxiety scores for each time the measure was completed.

Your nal step consists of analysing the data. You will always need to decide on the most suitable analysis technique for your secondary
data set. In our rst research example, you would rely on MANOVA (to see if women of different nationalities experience different stress
levels at the beginning, at three months, at six months, and at nine months of pregnancy); and in our second example, you would use an
independent samples t-test (to see if interest in Greek tourism differs between Germans and Britons).

The process of preparing and analysing a secondary data set is slightly different if your secondary data is qualitative. In our example on the
reasons for living on boats, you would rst need to outline all reasons for living on boats, as recognised by the original qualitative research.
Then you would need to craft a questionnaire that assesses these reasons in a broader population.

Finally, you would need to analyse the data by employing statistical analyses.

Note that this example combines qualitative and quantitative data. But what if you are reusing qualitative data, as in our previous example
of re-coding the interviews from our study to discover the language used when describing transient lifestyles? Here, you would simply need
to recode the interviews and conduct a thematic analysis.

TABLE 6:

STEPS FOR Outline all variables of interest; Transfer

DOING EXAMPLE 2: COMBINING TWO SECONDARY data to a new le; Address missing data;
EXAMPLE 1: USING SECONDARY DATA IN ISOLATION
SECONDARY DATA SETS Recode variables; Calculate nal scores;
RESEARCH Analyse the data

1. Develop
your Do women of different nationalities experience different Are there differences in an interest in Greek
Why do people choose to live on boats?
research levels of anxiety during different stages of pregnancy? tourism between Germans and Britons?
question

There is existing qualitative research on

2. Identify a A recent study has focused on a range of mental There is existing data on Germans’ and Britons’ the reasons for choosing to live on boats,
secondary di culties experienced by women in a multinational interest in Greek tourism and these data sets and this data can be relied upon to
data set sample and this data can be reused can be compared conduct a further quantitative
investigation

3. Evaluate a
secondary
data set

(a) What was

To investigate mental di culties (e.g., stress, anxiety, Study 1: To investigate Germans’ interest in
the aim of To conduct a qualitative investigation on
mood disorders, and paranoid thoughts) in a Greek tourism; Study 2: To investigate Britons’
the original reasons for choosing to live on boats
multinational sample of pregnant women interest in Greek tourism
study?

(b) Who has

collected the UK government (professional source) Travel agency (uncertain professionalism) UK university (professional source)
data?

COVID-19 UPDATE: we are fully operational, with our team and academics working More info (/faq/oxbridge-essays-still-operating-despite-covid-

safely. 19/) /
 STEPS FOR Outline all variables of interest; Transfer
DOING EXAMPLE 2: COMBINING TWO SECONDARY data to a new le; Address missing data; 
EXAMPLE 1: USING SECONDARY DATA IN ISOLATION
SECONDARY DATA SETS Recode variables; Calculate nal scores;
RESEARCH Analyse the data
(tel:+442

(c) Which
Self-crafted measure to assess interest in
measures Demographic characteristics (nationality) and State Semi-structured interviews (well-
Greek tourism (reliability and validity not
were Anxiety Inventory (reliable and valid) constructed)
established)
employed?

(d) When
was the data 2015 (not outdated) 2013 (not outdated) 2014 (not outdated)
collected?

(e) What Sample was representative (women from different Sample representativeness not reported; Sample was representative (participants
methodology backgrounds); large sample size (N = 975); low number su cient sample sizes (N1 = 453, N2 = 488); of different backgrounds, from different
was used to of missing values; confounders controlled for (e.g., age, low number of missing values; confounders not boat communities); su cient sample size
collect the education, partnership status); analyses appropriate controlled for; analyses appropriate (descriptive (N = 30); analyses appropriate (thematic
data? (regression) statistics) analysis)

(f) Making a
nal Su ciently developed data set Insu ciently developed data set Su ciently developed data set
evaluation

Outline all reasons for living on boats;

4. Prepare Outline all variables of interest; Transfer data to
Outline all variables of interest; Transfer data to a new Craft a questionnaire that assesses these
and analyse a new le; Address missing data; Recode
le; Address missing data; Recode variables; Calculate
secondary variables; Calculate nal scores; Analyse the reasons in a broader population; Analyse
nal scores; Analyse the data
data data
the data

In summary…

This might have been a long read to accompany your cup of coffee or tea, but you should, by now, know how to do your secondary research.
Hopefully you will have concluded that doing secondary research is not that hard. Just follow the guidelines summarised in Table 6 and you
are all set.

^ Jump to top

The Ultimate Guide to Writing a

Dissertation
See all articles in the series  (/blog/dissertation-ultimate-guide/)

(https://www.oxbridgeessays.com/blog/dissertation-
(https://www.oxbridgeessays.com/blog/dissertation-
(https://www.oxbridgeessays.com/blog/disse
ultimate-guide/how-to-dissertation- ultimate-guide/everything-need-know- ultimate-guide/how-to-write-dissertation-
secondary-research-4-steps/) dissertation-primary-research/) proposal/)

How to do your dissertation A complete guide to dissertation How to write a dissertation

secondary research in 4 steps primary research proposal
(https://www.oxbridgeessays.com/blog/dissertation-
(https://www.oxbridgeessays.com/blog/dissertation-
(https://www.oxbridgeessays.com/blo
ultimate-guide/how-to- ultimate-guide/everything-need- ultimate-guide/how-to-write-
dissertation-secondary-research- know-dissertation-primary- dissertation-proposal/)
4-steps/) research/)

COVID-19 UPDATE: we are fully operational, with our team and academics working More info (/faq/oxbridge-essays-still-operating-despite-covid-

safely. 19/) /
 dissertation help (https://www.oxbridgeessays.com/blog/tag/dissertation-help/)
 
dissertation primary research (https://www.oxbridgeessays.com/blog/tag/dissertation-primary-research/)
(tel:+442
dissertation research (https://www.oxbridgeessays.com/blog/tag/dissertation-research/)

dissertation tips (https://www.oxbridgeessays.com/blog/tag/dissertation-tips/) study skills (https://www.oxbridgeessays.com/blog/tag/study-skills/)

study tips (https://www.oxbridgeessays.com/blog/tag/study-tips/)

(/)

Writing Services

Essay Writing Services (https://www.oxbridgeessays.com/essay-writing-services/)

Dissertation writing services (https://www.oxbridgeessays.com/dissertation-writing-services/)
Essay Plans (https://www.oxbridgeessays.com/essay-writing-services/essay-plan/)
Coursework (https://www.oxbridgeessays.com/essay-writing-services/coursework/)
Model Exam Answers (https://www.oxbridgeessays.com/essay-writing-services/model-exam-answer/)
PhD Proposals (https://www.oxbridgeessays.com/phd-writing-services/phd-proposal/)

Editing Services

Proofreading Service (https://www.oxbridgeessays.com/proofreading-service/)

Editing Service (https://www.oxbridgeessays.com/editing-service/)
Academic Editing Service (https://www.oxbridgeessays.com/academic-editing-service/)

Additional Services

Marking Services (https://www.oxbridgeessays.com/marking-services/)

Consultation Calls (https://www.oxbridgeessays.com/additional-services/consultation-calls/)
Personal Statements (https://www.oxbridgeessays.com/additional-services/personal-statements/)

About (https://www.oxbridgeessays.com/about/)

Contact (/contact-us)

Visit our London o ce (/visit-us)

Frequently Asked Questions (https://www.oxbridgeessays.com/faq/)

Fair Use Policy (https://www.oxbridgeessays.com/fair-use-policy/)

Become a Writer (https://www.oxbridgeessays.com/become-a-writer/)

Privacy Policy (https://www.oxbridgeessays.com/privacy-policy/)

Terms & Conditions (https://www.oxbridgeessays.com/terms-conditions/)

Follow Us

(https://www.facebook.com/OxbridgeEssays)
(https://twitter.com/#!/oxbridgeessays)

Payment Methods

© 2020 The Oxbridge Research Group Ltd.

Company Registration No. 06381412. VAT Registration No. 924038244.
73 Chalton Street, London NW1 1HY, United Kingdom.
/
/