Secondary data means data that: are already available i.e., they refer to the data which have already been collected and analyzed by someone else. When the researcher utilizes secondary data, then he has to look into various sources from where he can obtain them.
Secondary data may either be published data or unpublished data. Usually published data are available in .
- (a) various publication of the Central, State and Local governments;
- (b) various publications of foreign governments or of international bodies and their subsidiary organisations,
- (c) journals
- (d) books, magazines and newspapers;
- e) reports prepared by research scholars, universities, economists etc,, in different fields.
Research must be very careful in using secondary data.
Features of secondary sources: they have certain common characteristics.
- First , they are readymade and readily available, and do not require the trouble of construction tools and administering them.
- Second, they consist of data over which a researcher has no original control over collection and classification. Both the form and the content of secondary sources are shaped by others.
- Finally, secondary sources are not limited in time and space. That is, the researcher using them need not have been present when and where they were gathered.
Uses of secondary data
The secondary data may be used in three ways by a researcher.
- First, some specific information from secondary sources may be used for reference purposes.
- Second, secondary data may be used as bench marks against which the findings of a – research may be tested.
- Finally, Secondary data may be used as the sole source of information for a research project.
Second Answer
Secondary Source
Secondary source of data involves all reminiscences in the form of written documents, published or unpublished manuscripts or statements, they could be archeaological implements (or artifacts like coins, pottery, jewelry), inscriptions (as may be found in temples), paintings or any other evidence. One has to take into account the documents that belong to several categories – they could be official in the sense that they are found in the institutions and kept in their records. One of the greatest contributions of the British period in India was to set up the record rooms where these documents could be kept for knowing about the past practices and also for undertaking a study. These documents are often called the ‘official documents’. Such documents are available in the National Archives. Census data, population registers, sample survey data, gazetteers, handbooks, articles, journals, books etc., that all fall into the realm of written documents. In addition, there are private documents. They are with the people, such as their diaries, account books, their description of the events, etc. Documents can also be prepared at the behest of the investigator, when s/he requests the respondents to write up the accounts of their lives (or certain aspects of their lives) for the purpose of research. Manuscripts which are basically handwritten documents comprises of scrolls or parchment, diagrams, maps, pictorial representations like murals and paintings, figures etc. Researchers collect both these types of documents for their analysis. Movies, photographs are sources of data for researchers working with media, performing arts, visual arts etc. There are video libraries and archives where such documents are available. Anthropologists today regard the virtual world as a space for both primary and secondary source of data collection. Google search is coming up in a big way as a source of secondary data however, as a researcher one has to be cautious while using internet sources. One needs to validate the authenticity of such data before reporting it.