Secondary data: It refers to the data collected by someone other than the user i.e. the data is already available and analysed by someone else. Common sources of secondary data include various published or unpublished data, books, magazines, newspaper, trade journals etc.

Pros. Secondary data is easily accessible compared to primary data. Secondary data is available on different platforms that can be accessed by the researcher.

Most research uses both primary and secondary sources. They complement each other to help you build a convincing argument. Primary sources are more credible as evidence, but secondary sources show how your work relates to existing research.

Primary data is information collected through original or first-hand research. For example, surveys and focus group discussions. On the other hand, secondary data is information which has been collected in the past by someone else.

Primary data are those that are collected for the first time. Secondary data refer to those data that have already been collected by some other person. These are original because these are collected by the investigator for the first time.

Secondary research is worthwhile because it is generally more cost-effective than primary research and it provides a foundation for any project. Evaluating the current landscape of available information before moving on to primary research methods can save time and money that may be better spent elsewhere.

Advantages: Secondary sources provide a variety of expert perspectives and insights. Also, peer review usually ensures the quality of sources such as scholarly articles. Finally, researching secondary sources is more efficient than planning, conducting, and analyzing certain primary forms of research.

Advantages of Secondary data It is economical. It saves efforts and expenses. It is time saving. 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.

Using secondary data might not seem as exciting as collecting original survey data or scraping the internet to understand online behaviors, but it should form the core of any research. Secondary data lets you build on existing research, which leads to better results, and saves time and money.

Disadvantages of Secondary Data Analysis A major disadvantage of using secondary data is that it may not answer the researcher’s specific research questions or contain specific information that the researcher would like to have.

Limitations of using secondary data Official statistics may reflect the biases of those in power – limiting what you can find out. Official statistics – the way things are measured may change over time, making historical comparisons difficult (As with crime statistics, the definition of crime keeps changing.)