secondary data

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  • secondary data.
    • secondary data is data collected by other people, both qualitative and quantitative.
      • researchers make good use of it.
      • it has equal status to primary data.
    • it includes:
      • life/ personal documents
      • official documents
      • other documents from organisational sources
      • the contents of the mass media
      • previous sociological research
      • trace measures
    • approaches to secondary data
      • extraction- taking statistics or examples
      • content analysis- qualitative to look for meanings and themes. quantitative usually uses computer programmes to analyse for key word frequency.
      • semiotics- the study of signs and symbols via life documents especially
    • advantages
      • all sociological research starts with a literature search of all previous research
      • official letters and documents can reconstruct something historical
      • sometimes primary research is impossible
    • disadvantages
      • sources are created for a reason which can cause bias
      • private organisations are self-interested. life documents are often one sided. historical sources are effected by the culture od the writer and the context in which the were

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