Problems of Secondary Data- Notes PDF

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Concept of Secondary Data Secondary data refers to data that was collected by someone other than the user.[1] Common sources of secondary data for social science include censuses, information collected by government departments, organisational records and data that was originally collected for other research purposes. Secondary data analysis can save time that would otherwise be spent collecting data and, particularly in the case of quantitative data, can provide larger and higher-quality databases that would be unfeasible for any individual researcher to collect on their own. In addition, analysts of social and economic change consider secondary data essential, since it is impossible to conduct a new survey that can adequately capture past change and/or developments. However, secondary data analysis can be less useful in marketing research, as data may be outdated or inaccurate. Secondary data is one type of quantitative data that has already been collected by someone else for a different purpose to yours. For example, this could mean using:data collected by a hotel on its customers through its guest history system. Advantages of Secondary data 1. It is economical. It saves efforts and expenses. 2. It is time saving. 3. 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. 4. It helps to improve the understanding of the problem. 5. It provides a basis for comparison for the data that is collected by the researcher. Evaluation of Secondary Data Because of the above mentioned disadvantages of secondary data, we will lead to evaluation of secondary data. Evaluation means the following four requirements must be satisfied:1. Availability- It has to be seen that the kind of data you want is available or not. If it is not available then you have to go for primary data. 2. Relevance- It should be meeting the requirements of the problem. For this we have two criterion:a. Units of measurement should be the same. b. Concepts used must be same and currency of data should not be outdated. 3. Accuracy- In order to find how accurate the data is, the following points must be considered: a. Specification and methodology used; b. Margin of error should be examined; c. The dependability of the source must be seen. 4. Sufficiency- Adequate data should be available.

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Sources of Secondary Data Secondary sources of information may be divided into two categories: internal sources and external sources. Internal sources of secondary information Sales data : All organisations collect information in the course of their everyday operations. Orders are received and delivered, costs are recorded, sales personnel submit visit reports, invoices are sent out, returned goods are recorded and so on. Much of this information is of potential use in marketing research but a surprising amount of it is actually used. Organisations frequently overlook this valuable resource by not beginning their search of secondary sources with an internal audit of sales invoices, orders, inquiries about products not stocked, returns from customers and sales force customer calling sheets. For example, consider how much information can be obtained from sales orders and invoices: · · · · · ·

Sales by territory Sales by customer type Prices and discounts Average size of order by customer, customer type, geographical area Average sales by sales person and Sales by pack size and pack type, etc.

This type of data is useful for identifying an organisation's most profitable product and customers. It can also serve to track trends within the enterprise's existing customer group. Financial data: An organisation has a great deal of data within its files on the cost of producing, storing, transporting and marketing each of its products and product lines. Such data has many uses in marketing research including allowing measurement of the efficiency of marketing operations. It can also be used to estimate the costs attached to new products under consideration, of particular utilisation (in production, storage and transportation) at which an organisation's unit costs begin to fall. Transport data: Companies that keep good records relating to their transport operations are well placed to establish which are the most profitable routes, and loads, as well as the most cost effective routing patterns. Good data on transport operations enables the enterprise to perform trade-off analysis and thereby establish whether it makes economic sense to own or hire vehicles, or the point at which a balance of the two gives the best financial outcome. Storage data: The rate of stockturn, stockhandling costs, assessing the efficiency of certain marketing operations and the efficiency of the marketing system as a whole. More sophisticated accounting systems assign costs to the cubic space occupied by individual products and the time period over which the product occupies the space. These systems can be further refined so that the profitability per unit, and rate of sale, are added. In this way, the direct product profitability can be calculated.

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External sources of secondary information The marketing researcher who seriously seeks after useful secondary data is more often surprised by its abundance than by its scarcity. Too often, the researcher has secretly (sometimes subconsciously) concluded from the outset that his/her topic of study is so unique or specialised that a research of secondary sources is futile. Consequently, only a specified search is made with no real expectation of sources. Cursory researches become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Dillon et. al3 give the following advice: "You should never begin a half-hearted search with the assumption that what is being sought is so unique that no one else has ever bothered to collect it and publish it. On the contrary, assume there are scrolling secondary data that should help provide definition and scope for the primary research effort." The same authors support their advice by citing the large numbers of organisations that provide marketing information including national and local government agencies, quasi-government agencies, trade associations, universities, research institutes, financial institutions, specialist suppliers of secondary marketing data and professional marketing research enterprises. Dillon et al further advise that searches of printed sources of secondary data begin with referral texts such as directories, indexes, handbooks and guides. These sorts of publications rarely provide the data in which the researcher is interested but serve in helping him/her locate potentially useful data sources. The main sources of external secondary sources are (1) government (federal, state and local) (2) trade associations (3) commercial services (4) national and international institutions. Government statistics

These may include all or some of the following: · Population censuses · Social surveys, family expenditure surveys · Import/export statistics · Production statistics · Agricultural statistics.

Trade associations

Trade associations differ widely in the extent of their data collection and information dissemination activities. However, it is worth checking with them to determine what they do publish. At the very least one would normally expect that they would produce a trade directory and, perhaps, a yearbook.

Commercial services

Published market research reports and other publications are available from a wide range of organisations which charge for their information. Typically, marketing people are interested in media statistics and consumer information which has been obtained from large scale consumer or farmer panels. The commercial organisation funds the collection of the data, which is wide ranging in its content, and hopes to make its money from selling this data to interested parties.

National and Bank economic reviews, university research reports, journals and articles are all useful international sources to contact. International agencies such as World Bank, IMF, IFAD, UNDP, institutions ITC, FAO and ILO produce a plethora of se

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Some key business Information Sources 1. GlobalData is a leading source of actionable insight into the consumer goods, technology, and healthcare sectors. GlobalData publishes different types of company profiles; some provide a concise strategic SWOT analysis and financial review, while others are more extensive and outline specific pipeline products in development and ongoing clinical trials. 2. ICD Research publishes thousands of company profiles across a broad range of verticals including packaging, construction, defense, retail, mining, travel and tourism, and consumer products. Company profiles by ICD Research contain in-depth information and data about the company and its operations, such as major products and services, financial ratios, and key employees. 3. MarketLine is one of the most prolific publishers of business information today. Its reports are designed to provide a 360-degree view of the company and may include a detailed SWOT analysis, strategy case studies, and merger and acquisition deals. MarketLine presents information in an easy-toread format, so you can absorb key information in minutes, not hours. 4. PrivCo provides private company financial information, researching 900,000 private companies worldwide. PrivCo aggregates information from regulatory filings, news sources, and industry resource. It refines the information using algorithms, and the results are later reviewed and checked by analysts. 5. SGA ExecutiveTracker produces executive lists that are telephone verified for accuracy every three months. In addition to executive contacts, SGA Executive Tracker reports list key decision makers, headquarter locations, ticker symbol, report revenues, and number of employees for each company profiled. 6. Timetric researches a variety of sectors including construction, mining, infrastructure, payments, insurance, and wealth. Its company profile and SWOT analysis reports are designed to give you insight into the internal and external factors that could impact the industry and help you recognize potential partnerships and suppliers. 7. World Market Intelligence covers more than 75,000 of the world’s leading companies and organizations and provides SWOT analyses for the top 10,000. It also reports quarterly and annual company financials.

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Problems of Secondary Data In research secondary sources of data collection and information are as important as primary sources. There are several reasons for that, in many cases primary data is not available and therefore the researcher uses secondary sources. In other researches the researcher knows that the secondary sources are as much reliable as primary sources and therefore he uses secondary sources. Secondary sources are very helpful in conducting research but there are some problems associated with the use of these sources. The actual and the most basic issue is always with the validity and reliability of the source from which the data is taken. Primary sources like experiments are very reliable and valid as compared to the secondary sources. These problems can be eliminated to some extent where possible.

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Validity and reliability Validity and reliability are very important concerns in research and they cannot be taken for granted. Some secondary sources are as much reliable as primary sources like census as it covers the whole population. Other sources might not be as much reliable and they should only be used when no other data is available. Valid means that the data represents original and true findings and it has been collected using scientific methods. While using secondary sources of information it should be well-researched that the content is genuine and authentic.

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Personal bias In secondary sources the chances of bias are higher as compared to that in primary sources. Some secondary sources like personal records can be highly biased and they may be not. Personal diaries and other records like newspapers, mass media products can be biased. Newspapers, magazines and websites do not use rigorous and well-controlled methods in documentation. Most of the time such writings are opinion-based and they are far from facts. In these publications writers can distort the facts to make the situation look better or worse.

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Availability of data Availability of data is another issue in using secondary sources. To obtain highly rigorous, scientific and valid data from secondary sources you need to work hard as such data is hardly available in secondary sources. Secondary sources are usually preferred in the research because of their ease of availability, in case it is hard to collect data using secondary sources the researcher should not use it.

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Format of data In secondary sources the format of the data should also be seen before using it in the research. The format of the data can be totally different and the researcher cannot use it in his research. Using another format in data collection that is not related to your research format can give biased and invalid results.

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Quality of data Quality of the data is related to its accuracy and accuracy comes with rigorousness in collecting the data. It depends on the source that you are using in your research; books and journals can provide you quality data. There might be some secondary sources that cannot provide high quality data. Again newspapers and magazines cannot provide good data for research, they should be avoided.

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Obsolete data Sometimes secondary sources are available to be used in the research but they are very old. Old data is of no use to be used in the research. You cannot use a book that has been written 20 years back, the data present in that book will be valid and reliable at the time when it was written but taking the current circumstances it is obsolete. Libraries are flooded with books that contain data related to your research but you have to check the date of publication to know whether you can use it or not. As a university scholar you should know how old data your university allows you to use in the research. In most of the cases data no more than 5 years can be used in the research. Only historical data can be used forever because it represents history that cannot be researched in other ways.

Definitions

The researcher has to be careful, when making use of secondary data, of the definitions used by those responsible for its preparation. Suppose, for example, researchers are 7

interested in rural communities and their average family size. If published statistics are consulted then a check must be done on how terms such as "family size" have been defined. They may refer only to the nucleus family or include the extended family. Even apparently simple terms such as 'farm size' need careful handling. Such figures may refer to any one of the following: the land an individual owns, the land an individual owns plus any additional land he/she rents, the land an individual owns minus any land he/she rents out, all of his land or only that part of it which he actually cultivates. It should be noted that definitions may change over time and where this is not recognised erroneous conclusions may be drawn. Geographical areas may have their boundaries redefined, units of measurement and grades may change and imported goods can be reclassified from time to time for purposes of levying customs and excise duties. Measurement When a researcher conducts fieldwork she/he is possibly able to estimate inaccuracies in error measurement through the standard deviation and standard error, but these are sometimes not published in secondary sources. The only solution is to try to speak to the individuals involved in the collection of the data to obtain some guidance on the level of accuracy of the data. The problem is sometimes not so much 'error' but differences in levels of accuracy required by decision makers. When the research has to do with large investments in, say, food manufacturing, management will want to set very tight margins of error in making market demand estimates. In other cases, having a high level of accuracy is not so critical. For instance, if a food manufacturer is merely assessing the prospects for one more flavour for a snack food already produced by the company then there is no need for highly accurate estimates in order to make the investment decision. Source bias Researchers have to be aware of vested interests when they consult secondary sources. Those responsible for their compilation may have reasons for wishing to present a more optimistic or pessimistic set of results for their organisation. It is not unknown, for example, for officials responsible for estimating food shortages to exaggerate figures before sending aid requests to potential donors. Similarly, and with equal frequency, commercial organisations have been known to inflate estimates of their market shares. Reliability

The reliability of published statistics may vary over time. It is not uncommon, for example, for the systems of collecting data to have changed over time but without any indication of this to the reader of published statistics. Geographical or administrative boundaries may be changed by government, or the basis for stratifying a sample may have altered. Other aspects of research methodology that affect the reliability of secondary data is the sample size, response rate, questionnaire design and modes of analysis.

Time scale

Most censuses take place at 10 year intervals, so data from this and other published sources may be out-of-date at the time the researcher wants to make use of the statistics. The time period during which secondary data was first compiled may have a substantial effect upon the nature of the data. For instance, the significant increase in the price obtained for Ugandan coffee in the mid-90's could be interpreted as evidence of the effectiveness of the rehabilitation programme that set out to restore coffee estates which had fallen into a state of disrepair. However, more knowledgeable coffee market experts would interpret the rise in Ugandan coffee prices in the context of large scale destruction of the Brazilian coffee crop, due to heavy frosts, in 1994, Brazil being the largest coffee producer in the world.

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Secondary Data and Social Networking Social media has become a great tool for conducting research, and it is only growing.  Why?  Researchers do not need to spend large amounts of money to gather information from focus groups or smaller samples as everything is right in front of them on a screen, and it is in the public domain.  With over 1.5 billion people combined using two of the world’s largest social networks, Facebook and Twitter, it is becoming easier to monitor, gather and analyze information. Pros & Cons of Social Media Data  Low cost-essential zero  + Niche Market  + Direct insight from the users  - Not everyone is online, and online all the time => not possible to rely on data from social media as a sole way of conducting marketing research; it must be done in addition to other tactics to reach a proper sample.

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Evaluating potential secondary data sources Source: Saunders et al. (2009)

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