Types of Data Flashcards
What is primary data?
Results collected directly for a specific research purpose, arrives first hand from the participants.
What is secondary data?
Using results that were gathered previously by someone else, often for a different purpose.
What are 2 ways of gathering secondary data?
Systematic review and Meta-analysis.
What is a systematic review?
A review of research involves identifying an aim, then researching for studies that have addressed similar aims/hypothesis.
What is meta analysis?
Process of combining results from a number of studies on a topic to provide an overall conclusion. On quantitative data it is called an effect size.
A strength is that primary data is collected by the researcher and therefore they are in control of what information is collected. How can this be explained?
Likely to establish cause and effect.
We can justify the research easier as the outcome is more likely to be valid.
A weakness is that primary data is a costly process as designing a study and getting ethical approval takes time, so does collecting, analysing the data. How can this be explained?
May have scientific implications.
People may be less likely to understand particular behaviours as those who would be fund it are not interested in the outcome.
Problem for understanding human behaviour.
A strength is that it is cheaper than primary methods as it doesn’t involve collecting the data yourself, only searching for others data to use. How can this be explained?
May mean more people are encouraged to do this research and therefore we can draw more global conclusions on the behaviour.
A weakness is that the data may not exactly fit your aim or criteria for inclusion as the data may vary in terms of procedure or aim. How can this be explained?
This matters as may be more difficult to establish cause and effect and so be careful when drawing conclusions from this data as data selected may be skewed by secondary research aims.
