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Tips for Collecting, Reviewing, and Analyzing Secondary Data (PDF TIPS FOR COLLECTING, REVIEWING, AND ANALYZING SECONDARY DATA WHAT TYPES OF DATA AND/OR INFORMATION ARE NEEDED? WHAT IS SECONDARY DATA REVIEW The specific types of information and/or data AND ANALYSIS? needed to conduct a secondary analysis will Secondary data analysis can be literally defined depend, obviously, on the focus of your study. as “second-hand” analysis. It is the analysis of For CARE purposes, secondary data analysis is data or information that was either gathered by usually conducted to gain a more in-depth someone else (e.g., researchers, institutions, understanding of the causes of poverty in the other NGOs, etc.) or for some other purpose than various countries and/or regions where CARE the one currently being considered, or often a works. Secondary data review and analysis combination of the two (Cnossen 1997). involves collecting information, statistics, and other relevant data at various levels of If secondary research and data analysis is aggregation in order to conduct a situational undertaken with care and diligence, it can analysis of the area (see Data & Indicator List in provide a cost-effective way of gaining a broad Appendix 1; refer to the LRSP Guidelines, understanding of research questions. Annex 5, July 1997). The following is a sampling of the types of secondary data and Secondary data are also helpful in designing information commonly associated with poverty subsequent primary research and, as well, can analysis: provide a baseline with which to compare your • Demographic (population, population primary data collection results. Therefore, it is growth rate, rural/urban, gender, ethnic always wise to begin any research activity with a groups, migration trends, etc.), review of the secondary data (Novak 1996). • Discrimination (by gender, ethinicity, age, etc) • Gender equality (by age, ethnicity, etc) RESEARCH DESIGN AND PURPOSE • Policy environment Secondary data analysis and review involves • Economic environment (growth, debt collecting and analyzing a vast array of ratio, terms of trade) information. To help you stay focused, your first • Poverty levels (poverty and absolute), step should be to develop a statement of purpose • Employment and wages (formal and – a detailed definition of the purpose of your informal; access variables), research – and a research design. • Livelihood systems (rural, urban, on- farm, off-farm, informal, etc), Statement of Purpose: Having a well-defined Agricultural variables and practices purpose – a clear understanding of why you are • (rainfall, crops, soil types, and uses, collecting the data and of what kind of data you irrigation, etc.), want to collect, analyze, and better understand – will help you remain focused and prevent you • Health (malnutrition, infant mortality, from becoming overwhelmed with the volume of immunization rate, fertility rate, data. contraceptive prevalence rate, etc.), • Health services (#/level, services by Research Design: A research design is a step- level, facility-to-population ratio; access by-step plan that guides data collection and by gender, ethnicity. etc.), analysis. In the case of secondary data reviews it • Education (adult literacy rate, school might simply be an outline of what you want the enrollment, drop-out rates, male-to- final report to look like, a list of the types of data female ratio, ethnic ratio, etc), that you need to collect, and a preliminary list of • Schools (#/level, school-to-population data sources. ratio, access by gender, ethnicity, etc.), • Infrastructure (roads, electricity, communication, water, sanitation, etc.), • Environmental status and problems • Harmful cultural practices M. Katherine McCaston, HLS Advisor June 2005 Updated from M.Katherine McCaston (1998) -Partnership & Household Livelihood Security Unit 1 Special attention should be given to collecting emanate from completed research or on-going disaggregated data. That is, data that is broken research projects. down in the following ways: gender, age, ethnicity, location, etc.. Scholarly Journals: Scholarly journals generally contain reports of original research or Even when highly disaggregated; however, these experimentation written by experts in specific “raw” data points alone are often only static or fields. Articles in scholarly journals usually indirect measures of the situation or problems undergo a peer review where other experts in the that exist in countries and regions – partial or same field review the content of the article for imperfect reflections of reality (UNDP 1997). It accuracy, originality, and relevance. is through reviewing, interpreting, and cross- analyzing the secondary that these pieces of Literature Review Articles: Literature review information allow us to gain a better articles assemble and review original research understanding of a specific situation, population, dealing with a specific topic. Reviews are sector, etc. Analysis of data gives you the usually written by experts in the field and may information that you need to make judgements, be the first written overview of a topic area. recommend areas of intervention, and/or design Review articles discuss and list all the relevant follow-up studies. Cross-analyzing data will also publications from which the information is help you understand not only what is happing in derived. a particular area but also WHY it is happening. Trade Journals: Trade journals contain articles that discuss practical information concerning SOURCES OF SECONDARY DATA various fields. These journals provide people in Official Statistics: Official statistics are these fields with information pertaining to that statistics collected by governments and their field or trade. various agencies, bureaus, and departments. These statistics can be useful to researchers Reference Books: Reference books provide because they are an easily obtainable and secondary source material. In many cases, comprehensive source of information that specific facts or a summary of a topic is all that usually covers long periods of time. is included. Handbooks, manuals, encyclopedias, and dictionaries are considered However, because official statistics are often reference books (University of Cincinnati “characterized by unreliability, data gaps, over- Library 1996; Pritchard and Scott 1996). aggregation, inaccuracies, mutual inconsistencies, and lack of timely reporting” (Gill 1993), it is important to critically analyze WHERE TO FIND SECONDARY DATA official statistics for accuracy and validity. There There are numerous sources of secondary data are several reasons why these problems exist: and information. The first step in collecting secondary data is to determine which institutions 1. The scale of official surveys generally conduct research on the topic area or country in requires large numbers of enumerators question. (interviewers) and, in order to reach those numbers enumerators contracted are often Large surveys and country-wide studies are under-skilled; expensive and time-consuming to conduct; 2. The size of the survey area and research therefore, they are usually done by governments team usually prohibits adequate supervision or large institutions with a research orientation. of enumerators and the research process; and Thus, government documents and official 3. Resource limitations (human and technical) statistics are a good starting place for gathering often prevent timely and accurate reporting secondary data; however, as previously stated, of results. the quality of the documents will vary depending on the country of study and the amount of Technical Reports: Technical reports are resources dedicated to data collection. accounts of work done on research projects. They are written to provide research results to colleagues, research institutions, governments, and other interested researchers. A report may M. Katherine McCaston, HLS Advisor June 2005 Updated from M.Katherine McCaston (1998) -Partnership & Household Livelihood Security Unit 2 Secondary Data Sources Make Use of Local Experts Government Documents When searching for secondary data or Official Statistics questioning the quality of a source that you Technical Reports have already collected, seek advice from Scholarly Journals sector specialists and other experts in your Trade Journals country office. Your colleagues are valuaBle Review Articles sources of information and expertise. Reference Books Research Institutions Universities Other major sources of international LiBraries, LiBrary Search Engines development data are the World Bank, the Computerized Databases United States Agency for International The World Wide WeB Development (USAID), the United Nations (Shell 1997) Development Programme (UNDP), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the World Health EVALUATING THE QUALITY OF YOUR Organization (WHO), International Center for INFORMATION SOURCES Research on Women (ICRW), the Chronic One of the advantages of secondary data review Poverty Research Center (CPRC), the Center for and analysis is that individuals with limited Research on Poverty (CROP), Overseas research training or technical expertise can be Development Institute (ODI), and Institute of trained to conduct this type of analysis. Key to Development Studies (IDS) to name a few. the process, however, is the ability to judge the quality of the data or information that has been International development institutes commonly gathered. The following tips will help you share information
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