Primary & Secondary Data Definitions - Public Health Research Guide - Research Guides at Benedictine University Library
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           Guide: Primary & Secondary Data
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 Primary & Secondary Data Definitions - Public Health Research Guide - Research Guides at Benedictine University Library
         Guide Author
         Sulbha Wagh
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         Primary & Secondary Data Definitions
         Primary Data: Data that has been generated by the researcher himself/herself, surveys, interviews,
         experiments, specially designed for understanding and solving the research problem at hand.
         Secondary Data: Using existing data generated by large government Institutions, healthcare facilities etc. as
         part of organizational record keeping. The data is then extracted from more varied datafiles. 
         Supplementary Data: A few years ago the Obama Administration judged that any research that is done using
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 Primary & Secondary Data Definitions - Public Health Research Guide - Research Guides at Benedictine University Library
          Federal Public funds should be available for free to the public. Moreover Data Management Plans should be in
          place to store and preserve the data for almost eternity. These data sets are published as Supplementary
          Materials in the journal lliterature, and data sets can downloaded and manipulated for research. 
          NOTE: Even though the research is Primary source, the supplemental files downloaded by others becomes
          Secondary Source.
           
           Pros and Cons for each. 
          Comparison Chart
             BASIS FOR             PRIMARY DATA                  SECONDARY DATA
           COMPARISON
           Meaning           Primary data refers to the     Secondary data means data
                             first hand data gathered by    collected by someone else
                             the researcher himself.        earlier.
           Data              Real time data                 Past data
           Process           Very involved                  Quick and easy
           Source            Surveys, observations,         Government publications,
                             experiments, questionnaire,    websites, books, journal
                             personal interview, etc.       articles, internal records etc.
           Cost              Expensive                      Economical
           effectiveness
           Collection time   Long                           Short
           Specific          Always specific to the         May or may not be specific to
                             researcher's needs.            the researcher's need.
           Available in      Crude form                     Refined form
           Accuracy and      More                           Relatively less
           Reliability                                       
          Quantitative & Qualitative Research Methods
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  Primary & Secondary Data Definitions - Public Health Research Guide - Research Guides at Benedictine University Library
             Quantitative Research Definition:  Data that can be measured, quantified. Basically Descriptive Statistics.
             Read: Introduction to Quantitative Methods
             Qualitative Research Definition: Data collected that is not numerical, hence cannot be quantified. It measures
             other characteristics through interviews, observation and focused groups among a few methods. It can also be
             termed as  "Categorical Statistics". 
             Read: Qualitative methods in public health
             Mixed methods research. When quantitative and qualitative research methods are used.
             Qualitative Research Methods:
              Method           Overall Purpose                          Advantages                      Challenges
              Surveys                Quickly and/or easily gets lots           can complete                    might not get
                                     of  information from people in            anonymously                     careful
                                     a non threatening way                     inexpensive to                  feedback
                                                                               administer                      wording can
                                                                               easy to compare and             bias client's
                                                                               analyze                         responses
                                                                               administer to many              impersonal
                                                                               people                          may need
                                                                               can get lots of data            sampling
                                                                               many sample                     expert
                                                                               questionnaires                  doesn't get full
                                                                               already exist                   story
              Interviews             Understand someone's                      get full range and              can take ime
                                     impressions or experiences                depth of information            can be hard to
                                     Learn more about answers to               develops relationship           analyze and
                                     questionnaires                            with client                     compare
                                                                               can be flexible with            can be costly
                                                                               client                          interviewer
                                                                                                               can bias
                                                                                                               client's
                                                                                                               responses
              Observation            Gather firsthand information              view operations of a            can be difficult
                                     about people, events, or                  program as they are             to interpret
                                     programs                                  actually occurring              seen
                                                                               can adapt to events             behaviors
                                                                               as they occur                   can be
                                                                                                               complex to
                                                                                                               categorize
                                                                                                               observations
                                                                                                               can influence
                                                                                                               behaviors of
                                                                                                               program
                                                                                                               participants
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