Data sources Flashcards
What are primary data sources?
Gathered first and from source, directly by the researcher (E.G. questionnaires, observations, content analyses and experiments are all ways to collect PD).
Strengths and weaknesses of primary data?
+ More valid/credible than secondary data as research purpose/methods are known and has been gathered following scientific methods.
+ More relevant than secondary data as the data is collected for a specific purpose.
- More expensive than SD and more time consuming
- Issues of researcher bias are more likely as the data us collected by the researchers themselves.
What are secondary data sources?
Have already been gathered by someone and are used by the researcher for further research (E.G. government statistics from a census).
Strengths and weaknesses of secondary data?
+ Wide ranging, can collect data from around the world cheaply compared to PD
+Already collected- cheaper than PD.
+ Can access data on groups that would be difficult to study with PD.
- May not be current, unlike PD which is collected at the time. Evaluations may not be externally valid currently.
- Not in control of how the studies used were carried out (subjectivity/biases).
- May not have been collected scientifically (less credible).
