Which of the following is a limitation of secondary data not found in primary data?

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Secondary data is the data that have been already collected by and readily available from other sources. Such data are cheaper and more quickly obtainable than the primary data and also may be available when primary data can not be obtained at all.

Advantages of Secondary data

1. It is economical. It saves efforts and expenses.
2. It is time saving.
3. It helps to make primary data collection more specific since with the help of secondary data, we are able to make out what are the gaps and deficiencies and what additional information needs to be collected.
4. It helps to improve the understanding of the problem.
5. It provides a basis for comparison for the data that is collected by the researcher.

Disadvantages of Secondary Data

1. Secondary data is something that seldom fits in the framework of the marketing research factors. Reasons for its non-fitting are:-
   1. Unit of secondary data collection-Suppose you want information on disposable income, but the data is available on gross income. The information may not be same as we require.
   2. Class Boundaries may be different when units are same.
      

      Before 5 Years	After 5 Years
      2500-5000	5000-6000
      5001-7500	6001-7000
      7500-10000	7001-10000

      Thus the data collected earlier is of no use to you.
2. Accuracy of secondary data is not known.
3. Data may be outdated.

Evaluation of Secondary Data

Because of the above mentioned disadvantages of secondary data, we will lead to evaluation of secondary data. Evaluation means the following four requirements must be satisfied:-

1. Availability- It has to be seen that the kind of data you want is available or not. If it is not available then you have to go for primary data.
2. Relevance- It should be meeting the requirements of the problem. For this we have two criterion:-
   1. Units of measurement should be the same.
   2. Concepts used must be same and currency of data should not be outdated.
3. Accuracy- In order to find how accurate the data is, the following points must be considered: -
   1. Specification and methodology used;
   2. Margin of error should be examined;
   3. The dependability of the source must be seen.
4. Sufficiency- Adequate data should be available.

Robert W Joselyn has classified the above discussion into eight steps. These eight steps are sub classified into three categories. He has given a detailed procedure for evaluating secondary data.

1. Applicability of research objective.
2. Cost of acquisition.
3. Accuracy of data.

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Authorship/Referencing - About the Author(s)

The article is Written By “Prachi Juneja” and Reviewed By Management Study Guide Content Team. MSG Content Team comprises experienced Faculty Member, Professionals and Subject Matter Experts. We are a ISO 2001:2015 Certified Education Provider. To Know more, click on About Us. The use of this material is free for learning and education purpose. Please reference authorship of content used, including link(s) to ManagementStudyGuide.com and the content page url.

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Answer the following questions and then press 'Submit' to get your score.

Question 1

The term "secondary analysis" refers to the technique of:

a) Conducting a study of seconds, minutes and other measures of time

b) Analysing your own data in two different ways

c) Analysing existing data that has been collected by another person or organization

d) Working part time on a project alongside other responsibilities

Question 2

Why might secondary analysis be a particularly useful method for students?

a) It is relatively easy to do

b) It saves time and money

c) It does not require any knowledge of statistics

d) It only requires a half-hearted effort

Question 3

Which of the following is not an advantage of secondary analysis?

a) It immerses the researcher in the field they are studying

b) It tends to be based on high quality data

c) It provides an opportunity for longitudinal analysis

d) It allows you to study patterns and social trends over time

Question 4

The large samples used in national social surveys enable new researchers to:

a) Avoid using probability sampling

b) Identify any bias in the question wording

c) Evaluate the inter-coder reliability of the data

d) Conduct subgroup analysis

Question 5

Which of the following is not a disadvantage of using secondary analysis?

a) The researcher's lack of familiarity with the data

b) It is a relatively expensive and time consuming process

c) Hierarchical datasets can be very confusing

d) The researcher has no control over the quality of the data

Question 6

Which of the following provides official statistics that could be analysed as secondary data?

a) Local Government Survey (LGS)

b) Expenditure and Food Survey (EFS)

c) Dwelling and Furnishings Survey (DFS)

d) Rowing and Oars Survey (ROS)

Question 7

What is one of the advantages that official statistics have over structured interview data?

a) The researcher can conduct natural experiments in the field

b) They are completely objective and reliable

c) They have greater measurement validity

d) They allow the researcher to identify social trends over time

Question 8

Studying the official crime rate may provide unreliable data because:

a) Categories of criminal behaviour change over time

b) There is a "dark figure" of unreported and unrecorded crime

c) Police use their discretion to investigate some crimes and not others

d) All of the above

Question 9

What is the "ecological fallacy"?

a) The assumption that secondary data analysis can be carried out at home

b) The mistake of observing people in their natural setting

c) The error of making inferences about individual behaviour from aggregate data

d) The myth that it is easy to research environmentalist action groups

Question 10

Why has the secondary analysis of official statistics been seen as an "unobtrusive" method?

a) It increases the risk of "reactive effects" from participants

b) The researcher is removed from the social settings that they are investigating

c) The data were originally collected for the same purposes as those of the current researcher

d) They do not intrude too much into the researcher's spare time

Which of the following is a limitation of secondary data?

Which of the following is not a limitations of secondary data?

Which of the following is not a secondary data source?

Which of the following is not characteristics of secondary data?