Elite Research Statistical Consulting - Qualitative Secondary Data

At the heart of your research is the data or information that you need to answer your research questions and achieve your research goals. You may require direct interaction with people, tangible experiences, or indirect information found in a museum. Each type of data collected has unique procedures in which we can provide expert advice.

Qualitative Secondary Data

What is it? Qualitative secondary data is data that has already been collected for a different purpose by someone other than the researcher of a study. The existing data may be collected for internal records, research, or legal purposes. Secondary data usually comes from activities that have been completed for other reasons than the research questions, aims, and goals for your current project.

Qualitative secondary data can be found in a variety of locations, such as colleges and universities, businesses, government agencies, and non-profit organizations. Data can be found in various formats, including electronic and physical sources, like photographs, social media, and paper files. In other cases, secondary data may be stored online where permission is needed for access.

Utilizing secondary data can potentially save a researcher the time and cost of collecting firsthand data and can supply a large volume of data that you may not be able to collect on your own. The data may be already organized and/or transcribed, which could also save some time in the preparation of the data for qualitative analysis.

In some cases, secondary data may not help you answer your research questions. This is because you do not have control over how and what data was collected. Additionally, utilizing secondary data often separates the researcher from the research context and from developing a relationship with respondents, which can impact the way in which data are interpreted.

It is not always clear when it is appropriate to use secondary data because of the uniqueness of each research project. However, our consultants can explore with you the benefits and drawbacks to using qualitative secondary data for your project goals.

How can we help you?

Evaluate the relevance of secondary data to your project
Narrow or widen the scope of the secondary data that you are planning to use to align with your project