Primary and Secondary Data

Primary and Secondary Data

1. PRIMARY DATA

   • primary data is collected first hand by sociologists, usually employing sociological concepts and theories.
     • Can be QUANTITATIVE material through: postal questionnaires, structured interviews, longitudinal studies and experiments.
       • can be QUALITATIVE material, the result of unstructured interviews, participant observation etc.
   • ADVANTAGES: there is a clear focus on the research purpose as well as a choice over which methods to use. It can create data specifically relevant to the research aims.
   • DISADVANTAGES: it is time consuming, meaning limited material collected. There may be a problem with gaining enough funding to carry out the research, in addition to this, the source of funding exerts an influence over the methods used and what is researched

2. SECONDARY DATA

   • material which is already in existence prior to the research programme and which may be of use to the sociologist.
     • it can be QUALITATIVE in the form of personal documents, historical material or media reports
       • it can be QUANTITATIVE, usually in official statistics.
   • ADVANTAGES: it is already in existence and often comprehensive. it is readily available, easy to access and cheap. It is often based on a very large sample making it more representative
   • DISADVANTAGES: qualitative documents vary greatly in coverage and are unlikely to be representative. The focus of study and choice of methods lie outside the control of the researcher. Also, the concepts employed are beyond the sociologists control