advantages of using books for secondary research

Secondary Research Advantages, Limitations, and Sources

Summary: secondary research should be a prerequisite to the collection of primary data, but it rarely provides all the answers you need. a thorough evaluation of the secondary data is needed to assess its relevance and accuracy..

5 minutes to read. By author Michaela Mora on January 25, 2022 Topics: Relevant Methods & Tips , Business Strategy , Market Research

Secondary research is based on data already collected for purposes other than the specific problem you have. Secondary research is usually part of exploratory market research designs.

The connection between the specific purpose that originates the research is what differentiates secondary research from primary research. Primary research is designed to address specific problems. However, analysis of available secondary data should be a prerequisite to the collection of primary data.

Advantages of Secondary Research

Secondary data can be faster and cheaper to obtain, depending on the sources you use.

Secondary research can help to:

Answer certain research questions and test some hypotheses.
Formulate an appropriate research design (e.g., identify key variables).
Interpret data from primary research as it can provide some insights into general trends in an industry or product category.
Understand the competitive landscape.

Limitations of Secondary Research

The usefulness of secondary research tends to be limited often for two main reasons:

Lack of relevance

Secondary research rarely provides all the answers you need. The objectives and methodology used to collect the secondary data may not be appropriate for the problem at hand.

Given that it was designed to find answers to a different problem than yours, you will likely find gaps in answers to your problem. Furthermore, the data collection methods used may not provide the data type needed to support the business decisions you have to make (e.g., qualitative research methods are not appropriate for go/no-go decisions).

Lack of Accuracy

Secondary data may be incomplete and lack accuracy depending on;

The research design (exploratory, descriptive, causal, primary vs. repackaged secondary data, the analytical plan, etc.)
Sampling design and sources (target audiences, recruitment methods)
Data collection method (qualitative and quantitative techniques)
Analysis point of view (focus and omissions)
Reporting stages (preliminary, final, peer-reviewed)
Rate of change in the studied topic (slowly vs. rapidly evolving phenomenon, e.g., adoption of specific technologies).
Lack of agreement between data sources.

Criteria for Evaluating Secondary Research Data

Before taking the information at face value, you should conduct a thorough evaluation of the secondary data you find using the following criteria:

Purpose : Understanding why the data was collected and what questions it was trying to answer will tell us how relevant and useful it is since it may or may not be appropriate for your objectives.
Methodology used to collect the data : Important to understand sources of bias.
Accuracy of data: Sources of errors may include research design, sampling, data collection, analysis, and reporting.
When the data was collected : Secondary data may not be current or updated frequently enough for the purpose that you need.
Content of the data : Understanding the key variables, units of measurement, categories used and analyzed relationships may reveal how useful and relevant it is for your purposes.
Source reputation : In the era of purposeful misinformation on the Internet, it is important to check the expertise, credibility, reputation, and trustworthiness of the data source.

Secondary Research Data Sources

Compared to primary research, the collection of secondary data can be faster and cheaper to obtain, depending on the sources you use.

Secondary data can come from internal or external sources.

Internal sources of secondary data include ready-to-use data or data that requires further processing available in internal management support systems your company may be using (e.g., invoices, sales transactions, Google Analytics for your website, etc.).

Prior primary qualitative and quantitative research conducted by the company are also common sources of secondary data. They often generate more questions and help formulate new primary research needed.

However, if there are no internal data collection systems yet or prior research, you probably won’t have much usable secondary data at your disposal.

External sources of secondary data include:

Published materials
External databases
Syndicated services.

Published Materials

Published materials can be classified as:

General business sources: Guides, directories, indexes, and statistical data.
Government sources: Census data and other government publications.

External Databases

In many industries across a variety of topics, there are private and public databases that can bed accessed online or by downloading data for free, a fixed fee, or a subscription.

These databases can include bibliographic, numeric, full-text, directory, and special-purpose databases. Some public institutions make data collected through various methods, including surveys, available for others to analyze.

Syndicated Services

These services are offered by companies that collect and sell pools of data that have a commercial value and meet shared needs by a number of clients, even if the data is not collected for specific purposes those clients may have.

Syndicated services can be classified based on specific units of measurements (e.g., consumers, households, organizations, etc.).

The data collection methods for these data may include:

Surveys (Psychographic and Lifestyle, advertising evaluations, general topics)
Household panels (Purchase and media use)
Electronic scanner services (volume tracking data, scanner panels, scanner panels with Cable TV)
Audits (retailers, wholesalers)
Direct inquiries to institutions
Clipping services tracking PR for institutions
Corporate reports

You can spend hours doing research on Google in search of external sources, but this is likely to yield limited insights. Books, articles journals, reports, blogs posts, and videos you may find online are usually analyses and summaries of data from a particular perspective. They may be useful and give you an indication of the type of data used, but they are not the actual data. Whenever possible, you should look at the actual raw data used to draw your own conclusion on its value for your research objectives. You should check professionally gathered secondary research.

Here are some external secondary data sources often used in market research that you may find useful as starting points in your research. Some are free, while others require payment.

Pew Research Center : Reports about the issues, attitudes, and trends shaping the world. It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis, and other empirical social science research.
Data.Census.gov : Data dissemination platform to access demographic and economic data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
Data.gov : The US. government’s open data source with almost 200,00 datasets ranges in topics from health, agriculture, climate, ecosystems, public safety, finance, energy, manufacturing, education, and business.
Google Scholar : A web search engine that indexes the full text or metadata of scholarly literature across an array of publishing formats and disciplines.
Google Public Data Explorer : Makes large, public-interest datasets easy to explore, visualize and communicate.
Google News Archive : Allows users to search historical newspapers and retrieve scanned images of their pages.
Mckinsey & Company : Articles based on analyses of various industries.
Statista : Business data platform with data across 170+ industries and 150+ countries.
Claritas : Syndicated reports on various market segments.
Mintel : Consumer reports combining exclusive consumer research with other market data and expert analysis.
MarketResearch.com : Data aggregator with over 350 publishers covering every sector of the economy as well as emerging industries.
Packaged Facts : Reports based on market research on consumer goods and services industries.
Dun & Bradstreet : Company directory with business information.

What Is Market Research?
Step by Step Guide to the Market Research Process
How to Leverage UX and Market Research To Understand Your Customers
Why Your Business Needs Discovery Research
Your Market Research Plan to Succeed As a Startup
Top Reason Why Businesses Fail & What To Do About It
What To Value In A Market Research Vendor
Don’t Let The Budget Dictate Your Market Research Approach
How To Use Research To Find High-Order Brand Benefits
How To Prioritize What To Research
Don’t Just Trust Your Gut — Do Research
Understanding the Pros and Cons of Mixed-Mode Research

Subscribe to our newsletter to get notified about future articles

Subscribe and don’t miss anything!

Advantages of Secondary Research – A Definitive Guide

Published by Jamie Walker at October 19th, 2021 , Revised On August 29, 2023

An intuitive approach is to thoroughly evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of primary and secondary research before selecting the most suitable method for your research. This article presents the key advantages of secondary research so you can select the most appropriate research approach for your academic study.

Also read about the disadvantages of secondary research

Also read about the advantages of primary research

Also, read about the disadvantages of primary research

Under secondary data collection, a researcher fetches the data from the previous studies and uses it for his own research work. Researchers usually use secondary data to address new research objectives or to explore a different aspect of the original research topic of a previous study.

Points to Consider Before Undertaking Secondary Research

Before choosing secondary research, a researcher needs to assess a number of factors. Since the researcher has not collected the data they are going to work on, it is important that they acquaint themselves with it. The researcher should consider;

What was the method used to collect the data?
The population of the study
The aim of the study
Determine the response categories for each question that was displayed to respondents
Assessing whether or not to apply weights when analysing the data

Types of Secondary Data

Secondary research, like primary research, can be qualitative, quantitative, or a combination of both . Interviews or focus groups are examples of secondary qualitative data that can be used to glean a deeper understanding of a research problem or topic.

On the other hand, quantitative data is the statistical or numerical information that was obtained through surveys or questionnaires in previous studies.

Advantages of Secondary Research

The key advantage of secondary research is that data is readily available in most cases, especially from internet sources.
Secondary research sources such as online libraries, academic databases, journals, e-books, online articles, and government repositories can be accessed to collect data on any given topic . It saves time for the researcher and enables them to collect a relatively large dataset.
Many researchers appreciate the fact that secondary research is inexpensive as no direct data is being gathered from a real population.
Secondary research is beneficial in many ways, one of which is that it enables the researchers to anticipate the gaps in research on a specific topic . In other words, it can serve to generate preliminary ideas before a more in-depth study and the collection of primary data commences.
The implementation of secondary research at the beginning of an investigation will not only uncover gaps in existing data but can also shed light on whether the proposed research has already been completed and whether the information it seeks is available. As a result, this may alleviate the necessity for time-consuming and costly primary research.
Another distinct feature of secondary research is that the data is often publicly accessible and therefore does not require permission or consent from the study participants to be used. Moreover, handling secondary data appropriately can reduce the concerns about potential ethical violations during the research process.

Hire an Expert Researcher

Orders completed by our expert writers are

Formally drafted in academic style
100% Plagiarism free & 100% Confidential
Never resold
Include unlimited free revisions
Completed to match exact client requirements

When to Use Secondary Research

When the goal of the proposed project is to discover knowledge gaps.
When the research project is based on previous work and is meant to explore new patterns and correlations in current data sets rather than producing fresh results.
When a researcher has a preconceived concept of what they want to accomplish and is aware that genuine data (for example, business or government reports) is already available.
There has been a recent data collection of information that is relevant to the study’s objectives, and collecting fresh data would not be cost-effective or feasible.

Sources for Secondary Research Data Collection

By the time you understand that secondary research entails a process of assimilation and integration of data from a diverse range of sources, you will begin to see how this new data repository can yield a number of new findings. The most common sources of secondary data collection include;

Online Sources: An online data collection is a common approach for secondary research since it offers researchers access to a large number of both free and commercial sources that may be readily obtained. Indeed, it might be argued that internet sources bring everything together with other relevant secondary research data sources at one click.
Library sources: Libraries, both public and private, are extremely significant sources of knowledge. Many of them, in particular, have copies of dissertations that have been contributed by academics and students. Libraries are also a great place to go for commercial research and business reports. Educational institutions, including libraries, typically contain copies of a variety of primary research that they are ready to offer in order to further knowledge and understanding in a certain field.
Government Reports: Government websites have the potential to reveal valuable research data, as they are audited and credible, and can therefore be used to draw findings in a wide range of study settings. However, caution should be exercised when attempting to access sensitive material.
Peer review journals
Textbooks and newspaper

The use of existing data to address your research questions/objectives or solve research problems is called secondary research. There are many circumstances in which secondary research can be beneficial. In this article, we have highlighted some of the most important aspects and forms of secondary research and explain why it is preferable to acquiring your own data.

Regardless of your research topic or problem, there is always a huge pool of information and potential data sets that can be collected and used for initial response. So if you are looking for data that is easy to obtain for your research, secondary research could be the right option for you.

Need Help with Secondary Data Collection?

If you are a student, a researcher, or a business looking to collect secondary research for a report, a dissertation, an essay, or another type of project, feel free to get in touch with us. You can also read about our secondary data collection service here . Our experts include highly qualified academicians, doctors, and researchers who are sure to collect authentic, reliable, up to date and relevant sources for your research study.

Frequently Asked Questions

How to perform secondary research.

To perform secondary research:

Define research objectives.
Collect existing data and sources.
Analyze scholarly articles, books, reports.
Extract relevant information.
Compare and synthesize findings.
Properly cite sources used.

Try Qualtrics for free

Secondary research: definition, methods, & examples.

19 min read This ultimate guide to secondary research helps you understand changes in market trends, customers buying patterns and your competition using existing data sources.

In situations where you’re not involved in the data gathering process ( primary research ), you have to rely on existing information and data to arrive at specific research conclusions or outcomes. This approach is known as secondary research.

In this article, we’re going to explain what secondary research is, how it works, and share some examples of it in practice.

Free eBook: The ultimate guide to conducting market research

What is secondary research?

Secondary research, also known as desk research, is a research method that involves compiling existing data sourced from a variety of channels . This includes internal sources (e.g.in-house research) or, more commonly, external sources (such as government statistics, organizational bodies, and the internet).

Secondary research comes in several formats, such as published datasets, reports, and survey responses , and can also be sourced from websites, libraries, and museums.

The information is usually free — or available at a limited access cost — and gathered using surveys , telephone interviews, observation, face-to-face interviews, and more.

When using secondary research, researchers collect, verify, analyze and incorporate it to help them confirm research goals for the research period.

As well as the above, it can be used to review previous research into an area of interest. Researchers can look for patterns across data spanning several years and identify trends — or use it to verify early hypothesis statements and establish whether it’s worth continuing research into a prospective area.

How to conduct secondary research

There are five key steps to conducting secondary research effectively and efficiently:

1. Identify and define the research topic

First, understand what you will be researching and define the topic by thinking about the research questions you want to be answered.

Ask yourself: What is the point of conducting this research? Then, ask: What do we want to achieve?

This may indicate an exploratory reason (why something happened) or confirm a hypothesis. The answers may indicate ideas that need primary or secondary research (or a combination) to investigate them.

2. Find research and existing data sources

If secondary research is needed, think about where you might find the information. This helps you narrow down your secondary sources to those that help you answer your questions. What keywords do you need to use?

Which organizations are closely working on this topic already? Are there any competitors that you need to be aware of?

Create a list of the data sources, information, and people that could help you with your work.

3. Begin searching and collecting the existing data

Now that you have the list of data sources, start accessing the data and collect the information into an organized system. This may mean you start setting up research journal accounts or making telephone calls to book meetings with third-party research teams to verify the details around data results.

As you search and access information, remember to check the data’s date, the credibility of the source, the relevance of the material to your research topic, and the methodology used by the third-party researchers. Start small and as you gain results, investigate further in the areas that help your research’s aims.

4. Combine the data and compare the results

When you have your data in one place, you need to understand, filter, order, and combine it intelligently. Data may come in different formats where some data could be unusable, while other information may need to be deleted.

After this, you can start to look at different data sets to see what they tell you. You may find that you need to compare the same datasets over different periods for changes over time or compare different datasets to notice overlaps or trends. Ask yourself: What does this data mean to my research? Does it help or hinder my research?

5. Analyze your data and explore further

In this last stage of the process, look at the information you have and ask yourself if this answers your original questions for your research. Are there any gaps? Do you understand the information you’ve found? If you feel there is more to cover, repeat the steps and delve deeper into the topic so that you can get all the information you need.

If secondary research can’t provide these answers, consider supplementing your results with data gained from primary research. As you explore further, add to your knowledge and update your findings. This will help you present clear, credible information.

Primary vs secondary research

Unlike secondary research, primary research involves creating data first-hand by directly working with interviewees, target users, or a target market. Primary research focuses on the method for carrying out research, asking questions, and collecting data using approaches such as:

Interviews (panel, face-to-face or over the phone)
Questionnaires or surveys
Focus groups

Using these methods, researchers can get in-depth, targeted responses to questions, making results more accurate and specific to their research goals. However, it does take time to do and administer.

Unlike primary research, secondary research uses existing data, which also includes published results from primary research. Researchers summarize the existing research and use the results to support their research goals.

Both primary and secondary research have their places. Primary research can support the findings found through secondary research (and fill knowledge gaps), while secondary research can be a starting point for further primary research. Because of this, these research methods are often combined for optimal research results that are accurate at both the micro and macro level.

Sources of Secondary Research

There are two types of secondary research sources: internal and external. Internal data refers to in-house data that can be gathered from the researcher’s organization. External data refers to data published outside of and not owned by the researcher’s organization.

Internal data

Internal data is a good first port of call for insights and knowledge, as you may already have relevant information stored in your systems. Because you own this information — and it won’t be available to other researchers — it can give you a competitive edge . Examples of internal data include:

Database information on sales history and business goal conversions
Information from website applications and mobile site data
Customer-generated data on product and service efficiency and use
Previous research results or supplemental research areas
Previous campaign results

External data

External data is useful when you: 1) need information on a new topic, 2) want to fill in gaps in your knowledge, or 3) want data that breaks down a population or market for trend and pattern analysis. Examples of external data include:

Government, non-government agencies, and trade body statistics
Company reports and research
Competitor research
Public library collections
Textbooks and research journals
Media stories in newspapers
Online journals and research sites

Three examples of secondary research methods in action

How and why might you conduct secondary research? Let’s look at a few examples:

1. Collecting factual information from the internet on a specific topic or market

There are plenty of sites that hold data for people to view and use in their research. For example, Google Scholar, ResearchGate, or Wiley Online Library all provide previous research on a particular topic. Researchers can create free accounts and use the search facilities to look into a topic by keyword, before following the instructions to download or export results for further analysis.

This can be useful for exploring a new market that your organization wants to consider entering. For instance, by viewing the U.S Census Bureau demographic data for that area, you can see what the demographics of your target audience are , and create compelling marketing campaigns accordingly.

2. Finding out the views of your target audience on a particular topic

If you’re interested in seeing the historical views on a particular topic, for example, attitudes to women’s rights in the US, you can turn to secondary sources.

Textbooks, news articles, reviews, and journal entries can all provide qualitative reports and interviews covering how people discussed women’s rights. There may be multimedia elements like video or documented posters of propaganda showing biased language usage.

By gathering this information, synthesizing it, and evaluating the language, who created it and when it was shared, you can create a timeline of how a topic was discussed over time.

3. When you want to know the latest thinking on a topic

Educational institutions, such as schools and colleges, create a lot of research-based reports on younger audiences or their academic specialisms. Dissertations from students also can be submitted to research journals, making these places useful places to see the latest insights from a new generation of academics.

Information can be requested — and sometimes academic institutions may want to collaborate and conduct research on your behalf. This can provide key primary data in areas that you want to research, as well as secondary data sources for your research.

Advantages of secondary research

There are several benefits of using secondary research, which we’ve outlined below:

Easily and readily available data – There is an abundance of readily accessible data sources that have been pre-collected for use, in person at local libraries and online using the internet. This data is usually sorted by filters or can be exported into spreadsheet format, meaning that little technical expertise is needed to access and use the data.
Faster research speeds – Since the data is already published and in the public arena, you don’t need to collect this information through primary research. This can make the research easier to do and faster, as you can get started with the data quickly.
Low financial and time costs – Most secondary data sources can be accessed for free or at a small cost to the researcher, so the overall research costs are kept low. In addition, by saving on preliminary research, the time costs for the researcher are kept down as well.
Secondary data can drive additional research actions – The insights gained can support future research activities (like conducting a follow-up survey or specifying future detailed research topics) or help add value to these activities.
Secondary data can be useful pre-research insights – Secondary source data can provide pre-research insights and information on effects that can help resolve whether research should be conducted. It can also help highlight knowledge gaps, so subsequent research can consider this.
Ability to scale up results – Secondary sources can include large datasets (like Census data results across several states) so research results can be scaled up quickly using large secondary data sources.

Disadvantages of secondary research

The disadvantages of secondary research are worth considering in advance of conducting research :

Secondary research data can be out of date – Secondary sources can be updated regularly, but if you’re exploring the data between two updates, the data can be out of date. Researchers will need to consider whether the data available provides the right research coverage dates, so that insights are accurate and timely, or if the data needs to be updated. Also, fast-moving markets may find secondary data expires very quickly.
Secondary research needs to be verified and interpreted – Where there’s a lot of data from one source, a researcher needs to review and analyze it. The data may need to be verified against other data sets or your hypotheses for accuracy and to ensure you’re using the right data for your research.
The researcher has had no control over the secondary research – As the researcher has not been involved in the secondary research, invalid data can affect the results. It’s therefore vital that the methodology and controls are closely reviewed so that the data is collected in a systematic and error-free way.
Secondary research data is not exclusive – As data sets are commonly available, there is no exclusivity and many researchers can use the same data. This can be problematic where researchers want to have exclusive rights over the research results and risk duplication of research in the future.

When do we conduct secondary research?

Now that you know the basics of secondary research, when do researchers normally conduct secondary research?

It’s often used at the beginning of research, when the researcher is trying to understand the current landscape . In addition, if the research area is new to the researcher, it can form crucial background context to help them understand what information exists already. This can plug knowledge gaps, supplement the researcher’s own learning or add to the research.

Secondary research can also be used in conjunction with primary research. Secondary research can become the formative research that helps pinpoint where further primary research is needed to find out specific information. It can also support or verify the findings from primary research.

You can use secondary research where high levels of control aren’t needed by the researcher, but a lot of knowledge on a topic is required from different angles.

Secondary research should not be used in place of primary research as both are very different and are used for various circumstances.

Questions to ask before conducting secondary research

Before you start your secondary research, ask yourself these questions:

Is there similar internal data that we have created for a similar area in the past?

If your organization has past research, it’s best to review this work before starting a new project. The older work may provide you with the answers, and give you a starting dataset and context of how your organization approached the research before. However, be mindful that the work is probably out of date and view it with that note in mind. Read through and look for where this helps your research goals or where more work is needed.

What am I trying to achieve with this research?

When you have clear goals, and understand what you need to achieve, you can look for the perfect type of secondary or primary research to support the aims. Different secondary research data will provide you with different information – for example, looking at news stories to tell you a breakdown of your market’s buying patterns won’t be as useful as internal or external data e-commerce and sales data sources.

How credible will my research be?

If you are looking for credibility, you want to consider how accurate the research results will need to be, and if you can sacrifice credibility for speed by using secondary sources to get you started. Bear in mind which sources you choose — low-credibility data sites, like political party websites that are highly biased to favor their own party, would skew your results.

What is the date of the secondary research?

When you’re looking to conduct research, you want the results to be as useful as possible , so using data that is 10 years old won’t be as accurate as using data that was created a year ago. Since a lot can change in a few years, note the date of your research and look for earlier data sets that can tell you a more recent picture of results. One caveat to this is using data collected over a long-term period for comparisons with earlier periods, which can tell you about the rate and direction of change.

Can the data sources be verified? Does the information you have check out?

If you can’t verify the data by looking at the research methodology, speaking to the original team or cross-checking the facts with other research, it could be hard to be sure that the data is accurate. Think about whether you can use another source, or if it’s worth doing some supplementary primary research to replicate and verify results to help with this issue.

We created a front-to-back guide on conducting market research, The ultimate guide to conducting market research , so you can understand the research journey with confidence.

In it, you’ll learn more about:

What effective market research looks like
The use cases for market research
The most important steps to conducting market research
And how to take action on your research findings

Download the free guide for a clearer view on secondary research and other key research types for your business.

Related resources

Market intelligence 10 min read, marketing insights 11 min read, ethnographic research 11 min read, qualitative vs quantitative research 13 min read, qualitative research questions 11 min read, qualitative research design 12 min read, primary vs secondary research 14 min read, request demo.

Ready to learn more about Qualtrics?

Teesside University Student & Library Services
Learning Hub Group

Research Methods

Secondary research.

Primary Research

What is Secondary Research?

Advantages and disadvantages of secondary research, secondary research in literature reviews, secondary research - going beyond literature reviews, main stages of secondary research, useful resources, using material on this page.

Quantitative Research This link opens in a new window
Qualitative Research This link opens in a new window
Being Critical This link opens in a new window
Subject LibGuides This link opens in a new window

Pile of books on a desk with a person behind them

Secondary research

Secondary research uses research and data that has already been carried out. It is sometimes referred to as desk research. It is a good starting point for any type of research as it enables you to analyse what research has already been undertaken and identify any gaps.

You may only need to carry out secondary research for your assessment or you may need to use secondary research as a starting point, before undertaking your own primary research .

Searching for both primary and secondary sources can help to ensure that you are up to date with what research has already been carried out in your area of interest and to identify the key researchers in the field.

"Secondary sources are the books, articles, papers and similar materials written or produced by others that help you to form your background understanding of the subject. You would use these to ﬁnd out about experts’ ﬁndings, analyses or perspectives on the issue and decide whether to draw upon these explicitly in your research." (Cottrell, 2014, p. 123).

Examples of secondary research sources include:.

journal articles
official statistics, such as government reports or organisations which have collected and published data

Primary research involves gathering data which has not been collected before. Methods to collect it can include interviews, focus groups, controlled trials and case studies. Secondary research often comments on and analyses this primary research.

Gopalakrishnan and Ganeshkumar (2013, p. 10) explain the difference between primary and secondary research:

"Primary research is collecting data directly from patients or population, while secondary research is the analysis of data already collected through primary research. A review is an article that summarizes a number of primary studies and may draw conclusions on the topic of interest which can be traditional (unsystematic) or systematic".

Secondary Data

As secondary data has already been collected by someone else for their research purposes, it may not cover all of the areas of interest for your research topic. This research will need to be analysed alongside other research sources and data in the same subject area in order to confirm, dispute or discuss the findings in a wider context.

"Secondary source data, as the name infers, provides second-hand information. The data come ‘pre-packaged’, their form and content reflecting the fact that they have been produced by someone other than the researcher and will not have been produced specifically for the purpose of the research project. The data, none the less, will have some relevance for the research in terms of the information they contain, and the task for the researcher is to extract that information and re-use it in the context of his/her own research project." (Denscombe, 2021, p. 268)

In the video below Dr. Benedict Wheeler (Senior Research Fellow at the European Center for Environment and Human Health at the University of Exeter Medical School) discusses secondary data analysis. Secondary data was used for his research on how the environment affects health and well-being and utilising this secondary data gave access to a larger data set.

As with all research, an important part of the process is to critically evaluate any sources you use. There are tools to help with this in the Being Critical section of the guide.

Louise Corti, from the UK Data Archive, discusses using secondary data in the video below. T he importance of evaluating secondary research is discussed - this is to ensure the data is appropriate for your research and to investigate how the data was collected.

There are advantages and disadvantages to secondary research:

Advantages:

Usually low cost
Easily accessible
Provides background information to clarify / refine research areas
Increases breadth of knowledge
Shows different examples of research methods
Can highlight gaps in the research and potentially outline areas of difficulty
Can incorporate a wide range of data
Allows you to identify opposing views and supporting arguments for your research topic
Highlights the key researchers and work which is being undertaken within the subject area
Helps to put your research topic into perspective

Disadvantages

Can be out of date
Might be unreliable if it is not clear where or how the research has been collected - remember to think critically
May not be applicable to your specific research question as the aims will have had a different focus

Literature reviews

Secondary research for your major project may take the form of a literature review . this is where you will outline the main research which has already been written on your topic. this might include theories and concepts connected with your topic and it should also look to see if there are any gaps in the research., as the criteria and guidance will differ for each school, it is important that you check the guidance which you have been given for your assessment. this may be in blackboard and you can also check with your supervisor..

The videos below include some insights from academics regarding the importance of literature reviews.

Secondary research which goes beyond literature reviews

For some dissertations/major projects there might only be a literature review (discussed above ). For others there could be a literature review followed by primary research and for others the literature review might be followed by further secondary research.

You may be asked to write a literature review which will form a background chapter to give context to your project and provide the necessary history for the research topic. However, you may then also be expected to produce the rest of your project using additional secondary research methods, which will need to produce results and findings which are distinct from the background chapter t o avoid repetition .

Remember, as the criteria and guidance will differ for each School, it is important that you check the guidance which you have been given for your assessment. This may be in Blackboard and you can also check with your supervisor.

Although this type of secondary research will go beyond a literature review, it will still rely on research which has already been undertaken. And, "just as in primary research, secondary research designs can be either quantitative, qualitative, or a mixture of both strategies of inquiry" (Manu and Akotia, 2021, p. 4).

Your secondary research may use the literature review to focus on a specific theme, which is then discussed further in the main project. Or it may use an alternative approach. Some examples are included below. Remember to speak with your supervisor if you are struggling to define these areas.

Some approaches of how to conduct secondary research include:

A systematic review is a structured literature review that involves identifying all of the relevant primary research using a rigorous search strategy to answer a focused research question.
This involves comprehensive searching which is used to identify themes or concepts across a number of relevant studies.
The review will assess the q uality of the research and provide a summary and synthesis of all relevant available research on the topic.
The systematic review LibGuide goes into more detail about this process (The guide is aimed a PhD/Researcher students. However, students on other levels of study may find parts of the guide helpful too).
Scoping reviews aim to identify and assess available research on a specific topic (which can include ongoing research).
They are "particularly useful when a body of literature has not yet been comprehensively reviewed, or exhibits a complex or heterogeneous nature not amenable to a more precise systematic review of the evidence. While scoping reviews may be conducted to determine the value and probable scope of a full systematic review, they may also be undertaken as exercises in and of themselves to summarize and disseminate research findings, to identify research gaps, and to make recommendations for the future research." (Peters et al., 2015) .
This is designed to summarise the current knowledge and provide priorities for future research.
"A state-of-the-art review will often highlight new ideas or gaps in research with no official quality assessment." ( MacAdden, 2020).
"Bibliometric analysis is a popular and rigorous method for exploring and analyzing large volumes of scientific data." (Donthu et al., 2021)
Quantitative methods and statistics are used to analyse the bibliographic data of published literature. This can be used to measure the impact of authors, publications, or topics within a subject area.

The bibliometric analysis often uses the data from a citation source such as Scopus or Web of Science .

This is a technique used to combine the statistic results of prior quantitative studies in order to increase precision and validity.
"It goes beyond the parameters of a literature review, which assesses existing literature, to actually perform calculations based on the results collated, thereby coming up with new results" (Curtis and Curtis, 2011, p. 220)

(Adapted from: Grant and Booth, 2009, cited in Sarhan and Manu, 2021, p. 72)

Grounded Theory is used to create explanatory theory from data which has been collected.
"Grounded theory data analysis strategies can be used with different types of data, including secondary data." (Whiteside, Mills and McCalman, 2012)
This allows you to use a specific theory or theories which can then be applied to your chosen topic/research area.
You could focus on one case study which is analysed in depth, or you could examine more than one in order to compare and contrast the important aspects of your research question.
"Good case studies often begin with a predicament that is poorly comprehended and is inadequately explained or traditionally rationalised by numerous conflicting accounts. Therefore, the aim is to comprehend an existent problem and to use the acquired understandings to develop new theoretical outlooks or explanations." (Papachroni and Lochrie, 2015, p. 81)

Main stages of secondary research for a dissertation/major project

In general, the main stages for conducting secondary research for your dissertation or major project will include:

Click on the image below to access the reading list which includes resources used in this guide as well as some additional useful resources.

Link to online reading list of additional resources and further reading

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License .

<< Previous: Primary Research
Next: Quantitative Research >>
Last Updated: Apr 29, 2024 4:47 PM
URL: https://libguides.tees.ac.uk/researchmethods

How To Do Secondary Research or a Literature Review

Secondary Research
Literature Review
Step 1: Develop topic
Step 2: Develop your search strategy
Step 3. Document search strategy and organize results
Systematic Literature Review Tips
More Information

Search our FAQ

Make a research appointment.

Schedule a personalized one-on-one research appointment with one of Galvin Library's research specialists.

What is Secondary Research?

Secondary research, also known as a literature review , preliminary research , historical research , background research , desk research , or library research , is research that analyzes or describes prior research. Rather than generating and analyzing new data, secondary research analyzes existing research results to establish the boundaries of knowledge on a topic, to identify trends or new practices, to test mathematical models or train machine learning systems, or to verify facts and figures. Secondary research is also used to justify the need for primary research as well as to justify and support other activities. For example, secondary research may be used to support a proposal to modernize a manufacturing plant, to justify the use of newly a developed treatment for cancer, to strengthen a business proposal, or to validate points made in a speech.

Why Is Secondary Research Important?

Because secondary research is used for so many purposes in so many settings, all professionals will be required to perform it at some point in their careers. For managers and entrepreneurs, regardless of the industry or profession, secondary research is a regular part of worklife, although parts of the research, such as finding the supporting documents, are often delegated to juniors in the organization. For all these reasons, it is essential to learn how to conduct secondary research, even if you are unlikely to ever conduct primary research.

Secondary research is also essential if your main goal is primary research. Research funding is obtained only by using secondary research to show the need for the primary research you want to conduct. In fact, primary research depends on secondary research to prove that it is indeed new and original research and not just a rehash or replication of somebody else’s work.

Next: Literature Review >>
Last Updated: Dec 21, 2023 3:46 PM
URL: https://guides.library.iit.edu/litreview

Skip to main content
Skip to primary sidebar
Skip to footer
QuestionPro

Solutions Industries Gaming Automotive Sports and events Education Government Travel & Hospitality Financial Services Healthcare Cannabis Technology Use Case NPS+ Communities Audience Contactless surveys Mobile LivePolls Member Experience GDPR Positive People Science 360 Feedback Surveys
Resources Blog eBooks Survey Templates Case Studies Training Help center

Home Market Research

Secondary Research: Definition, Methods and Examples.

In the world of research, there are two main types of data sources: primary and secondary. While primary research involves collecting new data directly from individuals or sources, secondary research involves analyzing existing data already collected by someone else. Today we’ll discuss secondary research.

One common source of this research is published research reports and other documents. These materials can often be found in public libraries, on websites, or even as data extracted from previously conducted surveys. In addition, many government and non-government agencies maintain extensive data repositories that can be accessed for research purposes.

LEARN ABOUT: Research Process Steps

While secondary research may not offer the same level of control as primary research, it can be a highly valuable tool for gaining insights and identifying trends. Researchers can save time and resources by leveraging existing data sources while still uncovering important information.

What is Secondary Research: Definition

Secondary research is a research method that involves using already existing data. Existing data is summarized and collated to increase the overall effectiveness of the research.

One of the key advantages of secondary research is that it allows us to gain insights and draw conclusions without having to collect new data ourselves. This can save time and resources and also allow us to build upon existing knowledge and expertise.

When conducting secondary research, it’s important to be thorough and thoughtful in our approach. This means carefully selecting the sources and ensuring that the data we’re analyzing is reliable and relevant to the research question . It also means being critical and analytical in the analysis and recognizing any potential biases or limitations in the data.

LEARN ABOUT: Level of Analysis

Secondary research is much more cost-effective than primary research , as it uses already existing data, unlike primary research, where data is collected firsthand by organizations or businesses or they can employ a third party to collect data on their behalf.

LEARN ABOUT: Data Analytics Projects

Secondary Research Methods with Examples

Secondary research is cost-effective, one of the reasons it is a popular choice among many businesses and organizations. Not every organization is able to pay a huge sum of money to conduct research and gather data. So, rightly secondary research is also termed “ desk research ”, as data can be retrieved from sitting behind a desk.

advantages of using books for secondary research

The following are popularly used secondary research methods and examples:

1. Data Available on The Internet

One of the most popular ways to collect secondary data is the internet. Data is readily available on the internet and can be downloaded at the click of a button.

This data is practically free of cost, or one may have to pay a negligible amount to download the already existing data. Websites have a lot of information that businesses or organizations can use to suit their research needs. However, organizations need to consider only authentic and trusted website to collect information.

2. Government and Non-Government Agencies

Data for secondary research can also be collected from some government and non-government agencies. For example, US Government Printing Office, US Census Bureau, and Small Business Development Centers have valuable and relevant data that businesses or organizations can use.

There is a certain cost applicable to download or use data available with these agencies. Data obtained from these agencies are authentic and trustworthy.

3. Public Libraries

Public libraries are another good source to search for data for this research. Public libraries have copies of important research that were conducted earlier. They are a storehouse of important information and documents from which information can be extracted.

The services provided in these public libraries vary from one library to another. More often, libraries have a huge collection of government publications with market statistics, large collection of business directories and newsletters.

4. Educational Institutions

Importance of collecting data from educational institutions for secondary research is often overlooked. However, more research is conducted in colleges and universities than any other business sector.

The data that is collected by universities is mainly for primary research. However, businesses or organizations can approach educational institutions and request for data from them.

5. Commercial Information Sources

Local newspapers, journals, magazines, radio and TV stations are a great source to obtain data for secondary research. These commercial information sources have first-hand information on economic developments, political agenda, market research, demographic segmentation and similar subjects.

Businesses or organizations can request to obtain data that is most relevant to their study. Businesses not only have the opportunity to identify their prospective clients but can also know about the avenues to promote their products or services through these sources as they have a wider reach.

Key Differences between Primary Research and Secondary Research

Understanding the distinction between primary research and secondary research is essential in determining which research method is best for your project. These are the two main types of research methods, each with advantages and disadvantages. In this section, we will explore the critical differences between the two and when it is appropriate to use them.

How to Conduct Secondary Research?

We have already learned about the differences between primary and secondary research. Now, let’s take a closer look at how to conduct it.

Secondary research is an important tool for gathering information already collected and analyzed by others. It can help us save time and money and allow us to gain insights into the subject we are researching. So, in this section, we will discuss some common methods and tips for conducting it effectively.

Here are the steps involved in conducting secondary research:

1. Identify the topic of research: Before beginning secondary research, identify the topic that needs research. Once that’s done, list down the research attributes and its purpose.

2. Identify research sources: Next, narrow down on the information sources that will provide most relevant data and information applicable to your research.

3. Collect existing data: Once the data collection sources are narrowed down, check for any previous data that is available which is closely related to the topic. Data related to research can be obtained from various sources like newspapers, public libraries, government and non-government agencies etc.

4. Combine and compare: Once data is collected, combine and compare the data for any duplication and assemble data into a usable format. Make sure to collect data from authentic sources. Incorrect data can hamper research severely.

4. Analyze data: Analyze collected data and identify if all questions are answered. If not, repeat the process if there is a need to dwell further into actionable insights.

Advantages of Secondary Research

Secondary research offers a number of advantages to researchers, including efficiency, the ability to build upon existing knowledge, and the ability to conduct research in situations where primary research may not be possible or ethical. By carefully selecting their sources and being thoughtful in their approach, researchers can leverage secondary research to drive impact and advance the field. Some key advantages are the following:

1. Most information in this research is readily available. There are many sources from which relevant data can be collected and used, unlike primary research, where data needs to collect from scratch.

2. This is a less expensive and less time-consuming process as data required is easily available and doesn’t cost much if extracted from authentic sources. A minimum expenditure is associated to obtain data.

3. The data that is collected through secondary research gives organizations or businesses an idea about the effectiveness of primary research. Hence, organizations or businesses can form a hypothesis and evaluate cost of conducting primary research.

4. Secondary research is quicker to conduct because of the availability of data. It can be completed within a few weeks depending on the objective of businesses or scale of data needed.

As we can see, this research is the process of analyzing data already collected by someone else, and it can offer a number of benefits to researchers.

Disadvantages of Secondary Research

On the other hand, we have some disadvantages that come with doing secondary research. Some of the most notorious are the following:

1. Although data is readily available, credibility evaluation must be performed to understand the authenticity of the information available.

2. Not all secondary data resources offer the latest reports and statistics. Even when the data is accurate, it may not be updated enough to accommodate recent timelines.

3. Secondary research derives its conclusion from collective primary research data. The success of your research will depend, to a greater extent, on the quality of research already conducted by primary research.

LEARN ABOUT: 12 Best Tools for Researchers

In conclusion, secondary research is an important tool for researchers exploring various topics. By leveraging existing data sources, researchers can save time and resources, build upon existing knowledge, and conduct research in situations where primary research may not be feasible.

There are a variety of methods and examples of secondary research, from analyzing public data sets to reviewing previously published research papers. As students and aspiring researchers, it’s important to understand the benefits and limitations of this research and to approach it thoughtfully and critically. By doing so, we can continue to advance our understanding of the world around us and contribute to meaningful research that positively impacts society.

QuestionPro can be a useful tool for conducting secondary research in a variety of ways. You can create online surveys that target a specific population, collecting data that can be analyzed to gain insights into consumer behavior, attitudes, and preferences; analyze existing data sets that you have obtained through other means or benchmark your organization against others in your industry or against industry standards. The software provides a range of benchmarking tools that can help you compare your performance on key metrics, such as customer satisfaction, with that of your peers.

Using QuestionPro thoughtfully and strategically allows you to gain valuable insights to inform decision-making and drive business success. Start today for free! No credit card is required.

LEARN MORE FREE TRIAL

MORE LIKE THIS

15 Best Customer Experience Software of 2024

May 2, 2024

Journey Orchestration Platforms: Top 11 Platforms in 2024

Top 12 Employee Pulse Survey Tools Unlocking Insights in 2024

May 1, 2024

Want to create or adapt books like this? Learn more about how Pressbooks supports open publishing practices.

Why use Books in your Research?

Books are great sources for information.

In books, you will find:

in-depth coverage of a subject
overview of a big topic
background information
lists of additional sources, or bibliography

You don’t need to read a book cover to cover for research . You can focus on a chapter or section of a book that fits your needs, and use that instead.

Academic books are often a collection of discrete essays. You only need to read the essays that are relevant to your topic.

To determine which sections will be most useful to you, use the:

Table of contents at the front of the book. This will list the chapters or sections that are included and give you a general idea of what topics are covered in the book and how it is arranged.
Index at the back with an alphabetical list of names, events, locations, and subjects included in the book. Use the index to identify which parts will be most useful. It’s also a good idea to browse the index for helpful keywords to use for your searches.

Keep in mind, books can take a long time to go from an author’s brain to the library shelf. If you are looking for the most recent information on a very new topic, you might be better off using an article.

Portland State University Library has both print and digital (eBooks) books for you to use. Sometimes, we even have both print and digital versions of the same books!

Your Research Journey at Portland State University Library Copyright © 2020 by Amy Stanforth is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

Share This Book

Advantages of Secondary Research

Secondary research refers to the use of existing data to answer research questions or solve research problems. There are many situations where taking this approach can be of benefit, and in this article, we outline some of the key features and types of secondary research and why there are advantages to following this route rather than gathering your own data.

Secondary Research design and types

Secondary research, also known as desk research, is undertaken by collating existing data online or from journals, books and public sources such as government archives and libraries. The design of the research means that the researcher pulls together a range of different data samples and collates them in a systematic way to achieve their research conclusions. The aim is to examine and evaluate established patterns from previous (or a priori) sources and apply these to their own research context.

In most cases the secondary researchers are reliant on data that was previously gathered from primary research and can be used to evaluate and identify gaps in existing knowledge. As a result, secondary research studies are frequently the foundation for subsequent primary research works which examine these identified gaps.

Common Secondary Research Sources

Once you understand that secondary research requires the assimilation and collation of data from potentially varied sources, then you can recognise that this new pool of data can deliver potentially new insights. Common sources of secondary data include online sources, libraries, archives, commercial and organisational reports as well as peer-reviewed journals and textbooks.

Online data

Online data gathering is a highly popular method for secondary research, which gives access to a high volume of both free and paid sources that can be easily gathered by the researcher. Indeed, it can be suggested that online sources bring together, at the click of a button, all the other potential sources of data for secondary research.

Government and Other Archives

Useful research can be found in government archives which are considered verifiable and trustworthy, and as a result can be used to identify insights on a range of research contexts. Care should be taken however not to try and access classified information.

Libraries and Educational Institutions

Public and private libraries are highly valuable sources of information. In particular many hold copies of dissertations, donated by researchers and students. In addition, libraries are an excellent source for commercial research and business reports. Similar to libraries are educational institutions which frequently have copies of a range of primary research that they may be willing to share to further knowledge and understanding in particular area.

Types of Secondary Research

Similar to primary research, secondary research may also be qualitative or quantitative, or a mix of both approaches. Qualitative secondary data is generally interviews or focus groups which can be used to gain more in-depth insights into a research problem or business question. Quantitative data in contrast is focused on gathering statistical data from surveys, questionnaires and business trends.

The biggest advantage of secondary research is that in most cases the data is easy to access, particularly when gathering data from online sources. More traditional secondary research sources such as libraries or government archives are also easy to access. This saves the researcher a great deal of time and allows for a potentially wider dataset to be gathered.

Equally important to many researchers is that secondary research is cost-effective, as there is no direct data collection from a cohort.

A major value in utilising secondary research is that it allows a researcher at an early stage of investigation to identify knowledge gaps in a study area. In other words, it can be used to present initial thoughts before embarking on a longer study and the collection of primary data.

Alongside identification of knowledge gaps, undertaking secondary research at the outset of an investigation can potentially identify that the planned work has already been undertaken and the information the researcher hoped to gain is already available. This can eliminate the need for undertaking time-intensive and costly primary research. Read about the disadvantages of primary research .

An additional potential benefit of utilising secondary research is that in many cases, the data is already in the public domain and thus permission for usage or consent from participants is not required. In addition, provided the secondary data is used appropriately, there is frequently less concerns about potential ethical violations in the conduct of the research.

When should I use secondary research?

There are a number of scenarios when secondary research may be viable:

When the purpose of the proposed work is to identify gaps in knowledge.
When the study to be undertaken is building on an existing work and seeks not to find new outcomes but is designed to look at new trends and relationships in existing data sets.
When the researcher has an existing view on what their outcomes may be and is aware that there is authentic data already available (for example, industry or government reports which are viewed as credible sources).
There has been a recent data collection of information that is applicable to the study aims and it would not be economical or viable to collect new data. This is a major advantage of using secondary research, particularly in existing fields of study.

Whatever your research question or problem is, in most cases there is a wide body of knowledge and potential datasets that can be collated and used to provide initial responses. So, if you’re looking for easy-to-access data for your essay or dissertation, secondary research may be the right option for you!

HOW TO: Use Books for Research: Using Books for Research

Using Books for Research
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations
Preface/Forward/Introduction
Bibliography
Evaluation Criteria

Why Use Books?

Books are excellent sources for information such as: • in-depth coverage of a subject • history and chronology • overview of a big topic

• background information • bibliographies of additional sources.

A book doesn't need to be read cover-to-cover to be used for research. To determine how appropriate and useful the book might be, look at its parts as outlined in the box below.

All sources of information need to be evaluated before they are used in a research project. To learn more about evaluating resources, click on the tab at the top of this guide.

How to Use a Book

Look at the parts of a book when deciding how it might be used in your research. To see examples, click on each link below or follow the tabs at the top of this guide.

The Title Page gives publication information such as complete title, names of all authors or editors, edition of the book, name of the publisher, city of publication, and date of publication.

The Table of Contents appears at the front of a book and gives a list of the chapters or sections in a book, usually with the corresponding page number. The table of contents may give a general idea of the topics covered in the book as well as how the book is arranged (for example, chronologically or topically).

A List of Illustrations , which may appear at the front of a book, gives a list of photographs, drawings, tables, or other types of illustrations used to support the contents of the book, usually with corresponding page numbers.

A Preface, Forward, or Introduction may provide the reader with ideas about the author's intention or purpose for writing the book, and may give an indication of the depth of research presented.

A Bibliography is a list of materials related to a specific topic. The list may be sources that were used to create the work they accompany, or it may be a list of additional materials on the topic. Bibliographies may be located at the ends of chapters throughout the book, or at the end of the book.

The Index , which is usually located in the back of the book, is an alphabetical list of the specific subjects in the book, along with the corresponding page numbers. Indexes may provide names, dates, events, geographic locations, and other detailed terms related to the contents of the book. Browsing an index is an excellent way to identify exactly where in the book relevant information may be located. An index can also provide subject terms and keywords that might be useful for further research on a topic.

Next: Title Page >>
Last Updated: Jan 29, 2024 3:35 PM
URL: https://libguides.cayuga-cc.edu/using_books

Find My Rep

Qualitative Secondary Research A Step-By-Step Guide

Claire Largan
Theresa Morris - University College Birmingham, UK
Description

Perfect for those doing dissertations and research projects, it provides an accessible introduction to the theory of secondary research and sets out the advantages and limitations of using this kind of research. Drawing on years of teaching and research experience, the authors

· Offer step-by-step advice on how to use qualitative secondary data · Walk you through each stage of the research process · Provide practical, ethical tools to help you with your project · Show you how to avoid the potential pitfalls of using secondary data.

Clear and easy to understand, this book is a ready-made toolkit for successfully using qualitative secondary data. From beginner level and beyond, this no-nonsense guide takes the confusion and worry out of doing a secondary research project.

I recommend this book to students and more experienced researchers who want to conduct qualitative secondary research. It is a timely and accessible guide.

Overall, the authors have written a well thought out, accessible and comprehensive book, which is a welcome addition to a relatively small literature on secondary data and documentary analysis.

I will definitely be using this in my own research, to ensure that I have not forgotten important elements in my research design and analysis, and will be recommending chapter 5 (ethics in qualitative secondary research) as additional reading in the ethics chapter of my forthcoming book aimed at undergraduate student

Concise and coherent text on QSR. Have been searching for a text that is accessible for students that will allow them to reflect on their progress as researchers while also equipping them with a voice to justify their choices. This meets those parameters.

This is an excellent introductory text for a methodology that has become accepted practice and increasingly expected by research funding bodies. Making full use of collected data is an ethical principle and will prepare students well for future practice.

Very good resource for students and graduates alike. Definitely a must-read and should-work-with book :-)

The contents of the book allows students to carry out research with ease, the book has an easy flow and many useful areas for undergraduates to follow and complete any research work

This book should be an essential companion for anyone undertaking a research project. This underrepresented topic area is broken down into comprehensive chapters that provide a practical approach whilst prompting critical reflection also. Highly recommended.

a well-crafted and accessibly-written textbook which willl be very useful to students at several levels

This is an essential and accessible book for all undergraduate and postgraduate students wishing to carry out secondary research. This book offers a step-by-step guide into the processes of qualitative research, whilst allowing readers to develop their own critical thinking skills.

Miss Novlett Mitchell University College Birmingham

This book provides insights about qualititavie research and it is very useful for every dissertation module. I am so glad I had the opportunity to include it in my module

Preview this book

For instructors.

Please select a format:

Select a Purchasing Option

Electronic Order Options VitalSource Amazon Kindle Google Play eBooks.com Kobo

Related Products

SAGE Research Methods is a research methods tool created to help researchers, faculty and students with their research projects. SAGE Research Methods links over 175,000 pages of SAGE’s renowned book, journal and reference content with truly advanced search and discovery tools. Researchers can explore methods concepts to help them design research projects, understand particular methods or identify a new method, conduct their research, and write up their findings. Since SAGE Research Methods focuses on methodology rather than disciplines, it can be used across the social sciences, health sciences, and more.

With SAGE Research Methods, researchers can explore their chosen method across the depth and breadth of content, expanding or refining their search as needed; read online, print, or email full-text content; utilize suggested related methods and links to related authors from SAGE Research Methods' robust library and unique features; and even share their own collections of content through Methods Lists. SAGE Research Methods contains content from over 720 books, dictionaries, encyclopedias, and handbooks, the entire “Little Green Book,” and "Little Blue Book” series, two Major Works collating a selection of journal articles, and specially commissioned videos.

12 Pros and Cons of Secondary Research

Secondary research is the research method of collecting all the data and documents available from other sources. Some major companies or statistics written in some books or information gathered from some newspaper or thesis or individual research all these data are eligible to be secondary data.

It is a convenient and powerful tool for researchers looking to ask broad questions on a large scale. It benefits researchers as all the data are already taken down so it can be time-consuming but the area where it takes time might be if those data are ideal for the researcher’s goal or not.

A large amount of information can be gathered with a small effort and summarizing and relating it increases the effectiveness of research. Some pros and cons of secondary research are pointed out below.

Pros Of Secondary Research

1. accessibility .

A few years ago when you needed to collect some data then going to libraries or particular organizations was a must. And it was even impossible to gather such data by the public. The Internet has played a great role in accessing the data so easily in a single click.

The problem here will be your patience to search where it is, it’s accessed for free. Some market research or the poll by the organization or product or comment on some of the sites about the product or some news. Anything necessary for your analysis will be available you just need to search in the right place.

2. Low Cost

When the data already exists and is collected and summarized. The large sum of money is saved where you don’t need to pay the institution for the data or organize some workshops to know the people’s opinion, you can easily use social media platforms which saves you the manpower and its cost. Researchers are easily tempted by secondary data, which can be easily accessed and prepared in a short period of time without any investment.

3. Saves Time

The data are collected or documented already on the social platform in magazines or on the internet. Using internet large numbers of data are gathered by the researchers without their own effort.

The data are already been documented by the organization or the researchers which you can just collect directly and start analysis over it. This saves lots and lots of time for you where you can study the variables and ups and downs regarding the data.

4. May Help Clarify Research Question

Where primary research is most expensive because it requires both the effort and time. Secondary research tips lots of important questions that are needed while conducting primary research.

The data collected through secondary research gives an organization or the personnel an idea about the effectiveness and the overview of the issue without conducting the primary research. This saves lots of money and time here.

5. Government & Agencies

There are many database analysis performed by the government itself for the census, for health issue protocols and other general information about the citizens. This research are being carried out for a long period of time and covers almost the entire population.

Likewise, many NGO’s and INGO’s conduct such data collection during their campaign in some scarcity or spreading awareness. Including such information provided by the government publicly increases the authenticity and accuracy of your secondary research data.

6. Understand The Problem

The secondary researcher needs to analyze and examine the data they collect from the source. In this process, the researcher goes deep into the procedure of how and when were the data collected and the difficulties encountered while gathering the data.

Some reports of multinational companies while attempting the large market research already includes the obstacles faced like the people declining and people interested during research.

These data are useful to plan how’s your research feedback is going to be or how to conduct or what to change during the research to get the desired outcome or what area to cover to make our outcome more subtle or accurate.

7. New Conclusion Or Data

The data analyzed and collected are very vast varied and shows the perspective of lots of issues with different variables. This continuous and frequent analysis of these data may develop or give the statistical graph of the new variable.

For example, knowing how many hospitals are there and the number of aware citizens about healthcare gives us the data about how many doctors are needed to carry the campaign and how many connected district, city or province is going to need new hospitals and new technology.

This helps us come up with a new conclusion while verifying and confirming how the previous research was carried out.

Cons Of Secondary Research

1. quality of research.

As we know the secondary research is derived from the conclusion of the primary research, how hard we analyze it depends on the quality of the research conducted primarily.

If the originator is concerned about organizations or institutions those data might be false and may have been shown to attract clients or shareholders. Thus the validity of the data is necessary but reliability on other’s data prevents it.

2. May Not Fulfill Researcher’s Need

Secondary research data does not show exactly how or what the researcher was looking for. It is the collection of lots of data from lots of perspectives and people, some may be easy to ignore and some may be hard to validate and find its authenticity.

The researcher will be looking for data with some concern or with some particular question in mind but the data might not be collected regarding the particular issue or agenda. Meanwhile, all the data studied are not collected by the researcher they have no control over what the secondary data set may contain.

3. Incomplete Information

Not being able to get complete information about the data he/she wants to collect will affect the researcher’s study. As they are unable to know exactly how and when the procedure went wrong during execution.

It will not only be difficult to continue the research process but also confuses the researcher about where the issue is leading them.

4. Outdated Information

The most important thing one must consider while using secondary data is to note the date when the information was collected. They must be aware of how are those products and companies doing in the current situation.

It helps them to verify and ignore the achieved data. It is not possible to get all the updated reports or statistics of the data. One must be aware of not using the most outdated information in their research.

5. Lack Of Quality Data

The mindset of the researcher will be something else, they have to work on the data collected or data found in the research process. Since they are not able to carry out primary research, they should be depending on someone else’s data disregarding its quality.

As we know data are available in many forms and we are unable to know who performed the research we are forced to note down and analyze the data compromising its quality and validity.

10 Significant Benefits of Community College

8 Important Pros and Cons of Learning to Code

10 Benefits of Bilingual Education

10 Pros and Cons of School Uniform

10 Pros and Cons of a Community College

Advantages and Disadvantages of Electrical Engineering

Online Business
Entertainment
Home Improvement
Environment

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.

IMAGES

15 Secondary Research Examples (2024)
Secondary Research Advantages, Limitations, and Sources
12 Pros and Cons of Secondary Research
Advantages of Secondary Research
Secondary Research Advantages, Limitations, and Sources
Secondary Research- Definition, Methods and Examples.

VIDEO

Advantages of Short Books
Why You Should Read Books
The importance of Reading Books
Using Books after maxing all skills is still viable
Nina is using Books review to complete a month-end close for a client. What are 3 workflow tabs?
Benefits of Reading

COMMENTS

Secondary Research Advantages, Limitations, and Sources
Compared to primary research, the collection of secondary data can be faster and cheaper to obtain, depending on the sources you use. Secondary data can come from internal or external sources. Internal sources of secondary data include ready-to-use data or data that requires further processing available in internal management support systems ...
What is Secondary Research?
Secondary research is a research method that uses data that was collected by someone else. In other words, whenever you conduct research using data that already exists, you are conducting secondary research. On the other hand, any type of research that you undertake yourself is called primary research. Example: Secondary research.
Advantages of Secondary Research
Advantages of Secondary Research. The key advantage of secondary research is that data is readily available in most cases, especially from internet sources. Secondary research sources such as online libraries, academic databases, journals, e-books, online articles, and government repositories can be accessed to collect data on any given topic.
Secondary Qualitative Research Methodology Using Online Data within the
Qualitative research using interviews is a crucial and established inquiry method in social sciences to ensure that the study outputs represent the ... such as books, permission for further use and analysis is implied when the ownership of the original ... tThere is a growing push for re-using data due to the advantages of secondary data.
Secondary Research: an introduction
Secondary research is sometimes known as desk-based research. The authors of these sources have collected, analysed, and summarised their research and provided a summary of their findings. When you read books, articles, and other published materials these are examples of secondary research. In other words, the authors have conducted primary ...
Books as Secondary Sources
Books or Monographs[1] The book remains the standard means of written communication for historians. Secondary source books provide analysis and interpretation of primary sources and other secondary works. "The standard type of secondary book in history is the scholarly nonfiction monograph. Intended for an academic audience, it is an ...
Secondary Analysis Research
ADVANTAGES OF SECONDARY DATA ANALYSIS. The advantages of doing SDA research that are cited most often are the economic savings—in time, money, and labor—and the convenience of using existing data rather than collecting primary data, which is usually the most time-consuming and expensive aspect of research (Johnston, 2014; Rew et al., 2000 ...
Understanding Secondary Research: A Comprehensive Guide
Whether you're a student conducting a research project or a professional seeking insights for decision-making, understanding secondary research is essential. This comprehensive guide will take you through the ins and outs of secondary research, its types, steps, advantages, disadvantages, and applications in different fields.
Secondary Research: Definition, Methods & Examples
Secondary research, also known as desk research, is a research method that involves compiling existing data sourced from a variety of channels. This includes internal sources (e.g.in-house research) or, more commonly, external sources (such as government statistics, organizational bodies, and the internet).
Secondary Research
Secondary research. Secondary research uses research and data that has already been carried out. It is sometimes referred to as desk research. It is a good starting point for any type of research as it enables you to analyse what research has already been undertaken and identify any gaps. You may only need to carry out secondary research for ...
How To Do Secondary Research or a Literature Review
Secondary research is also used to justify the need for primary research as well as to justify and support other activities. For example, secondary research may be used to support a proposal to modernize a manufacturing plant, to justify the use of newly a developed treatment for cancer, to strengthen a business proposal, or to validate points ...
Secondary Research: Definition, Methods & Examples
Secondary research is a research method that involves using already existing data. Existing data is summarized and collated to increase the overall effectiveness of the research. One of the key advantages of secondary research is that it allows us to gain insights and draw conclusions without having to collect new data ourselves.
Primary vs. Secondary Sources
Primary sources provide raw information and first-hand evidence. Examples include interview transcripts, statistical data, and works of art. Primary research gives you direct access to the subject of your research. Secondary sources provide second-hand information and commentary from other researchers. Examples include journal articles, reviews ...
Why use Books in your Research?
Why use Books in your Research? Books are great sources for information. In books, you will find: in-depth coverage of a subject. overview of a big topic. background information. lists of additional sources, or bibliography. You don't need to read a book cover to cover for research . You can focus on a chapter or section of a book that fits ...
Advantages of Secondary Research
The biggest advantage of secondary research is that in most cases the data is easy to access, particularly when gathering data from online sources. More traditional secondary research sources such as libraries or government archives are also easy to access. This saves the researcher a great deal of time and allows for a potentially wider ...
Books: Their Role in Research
As research sources, books are excellent means for identifying various areas of interest within a larger subject. For example, a book that focuses on cloud computing will break down this larger subject into smaller areas, such as security, costs, and ease of use, and help a researcher discover what work has already been done and what work still ...
Conducting secondary analysis of qualitative data: Should we, can we
SDA involves investigations where data collected for a previous study is analyzed - either by the same researcher(s) or different researcher(s) - to explore new questions or use different analysis strategies that were not a part of the primary analysis (Szabo and Strang, 1997).For research involving quantitative data, SDA, and the process of sharing data for the purpose of SDA, has become ...
Secondary Data: sources, advantages and disadvantages.
Despite the many advantages associated with the use of secondary data, there are some. disadvantages: Inappropriateness of the data. Data collected by a researcher (primary data) are. collected ...
HOW TO: Use Books for Research: Using Books for Research
A book doesn't need to be read cover-to-cover to be used for research. To determine how appropriate and useful the book might be, look at its parts as outlined in the box below. All sources of information need to be evaluated before they are used in a research project. To learn more about evaluating resources, click on the tab at the top of ...
Qualitative Secondary Research
This practical book will guide you through finding, managing and analysing qualitative secondary data in an error-free way. Perfect for those doing dissertations and research projects, it provides an accessible introduction to the theory of secondary research and sets out the advantages and limitations of using this kind of research.
12 Pros and Cons of Secondary Research
Pros Of Secondary Research. 1. Accessibility. A few years ago when you needed to collect some data then going to libraries or particular organizations was a must. And it was even impossible to gather such data by the public. The Internet has played a great role in accessing the data so easily in a single click.
What is secondary research?
Secondary research is the use of existing data from a reliable source to aid in solving a problem or answering a question. It is conducted by collecting existing data online or from journals, books, government websites, or library databases and can be qualitative or quantitative in nature.
Use of secondary data analyses in research: Pros and Cons
Secondary data analysis is a practical, cost-effective scientific method and offers access to large data sets with many variables. Secondary data analysis can also provide direction for future ...

Secondary Research Advantages, Limitations, and Sources

Advantages of Secondary Research

Limitations of Secondary Research

Lack of relevance

Lack of Accuracy

Criteria for Evaluating Secondary Research Data

Secondary Research Data Sources

Published Materials

External Databases

Syndicated Services

Related Articles

Recent Articles

Popular Articles

Advantages of Secondary Research – A Definitive Guide

Points to Consider Before Undertaking Secondary Research

Types of Secondary Data

Advantages of Secondary Research

Hire an Expert Researcher

When to Use Secondary Research

Sources for Secondary Research Data Collection

Need Help with Secondary Data Collection?

Frequently Asked Questions

You May Also Like

Try Qualtrics for free

What is secondary research?

How to conduct secondary research

1. Identify and define the research topic

2. Find research and existing data sources

3. Begin searching and collecting the existing data

4. Combine the data and compare the results

5. Analyze your data and explore further

Primary vs secondary research

Sources of Secondary Research

Internal data

External data

Three examples of secondary research methods in action

1. Collecting factual information from the internet on a specific topic or market

2. Finding out the views of your target audience on a particular topic

3. When you want to know the latest thinking on a topic

Advantages of secondary research

Disadvantages of secondary research

When do we conduct secondary research?

Questions to ask before conducting secondary research

Related resources

Research Methods

What is Secondary Research?

Secondary research

Secondary Data

There are advantages and disadvantages to secondary research:

Literature reviews

Secondary research which goes beyond literature reviews

Main stages of secondary research for a dissertation/major project

How To Do Secondary Research or a Literature Review

Search our FAQ

What is Secondary Research?

Why Is Secondary Research Important?

Secondary Research: Definition, Methods and Examples.

What is Secondary Research: Definition

Secondary Research Methods with Examples

1. Data Available on The Internet

2. Government and Non-Government Agencies

3. Public Libraries

4. Educational Institutions

5. Commercial Information Sources

Key Differences between Primary Research and Secondary Research

How to Conduct Secondary Research?

Advantages of Secondary Research

Disadvantages of Secondary Research

MORE LIKE THIS

Top 20 Employee Engagement Software Solutions

15 Best Customer Experience Software of 2024

Journey Orchestration Platforms: Top 11 Platforms in 2024

Top 12 Employee Pulse Survey Tools Unlocking Insights in 2024

Other categories

Why use Books in your Research?

Share This Book

Advantages of Secondary Research

Secondary Research design and types

Common Secondary Research Sources

Online data