Secondary data

Business Research Methods

By: SANJANA G.B.

Contents:IntroductionSources of secondary data 1.Internal sources 2.External sources a. Published sources b. Unpublished sourcesSelection of appropriate method for selection of data 1.Measurement scales 2.Selecting a measurement scale 3.Rating scale 4.Scaling techniquePros and cons of secondary dataPrecautionsconclusion

Introduction: Secondary data is the data that have been already collected and recorded by someone else and readily available . Data, which were collected earlier for purposes other than the present investigation, are known as secondary data. The data collected for the first time is primary data and that primary data in the hand of others become second hand which is secondary data. Example: xyz co’s balance sheet is the primary data for that co. and it becomes secondary data for others.

Sources Of Secondary Data:-

1.INTERNAL

SOURCES2.EXTERNAL SOURCES

1.Internal sources: include data that exists and is stored inside your organizationthe data may be like

sales dataFinancial dataHuman resources dataResearch and development data

2.External sources: include data that exists and is stored outside your organization

External Sources

Of Second

ary Data

1.PUBLISHED SOURCES

2.UNPUBLISHED SOURCES

Published sources

Printed sources

Electronic sources

Published Printed Sources: There are varieties of published printed sources. Their reliability depends on many factors. For example, on the writer, publishing company and time and date when published. New sources are preferred and old sources should be avoided as new technology and researches bring new facts into light.

• Published printed source : Books

Journals/ periodicals

Magazines/ Newspapers

Books: Books are available today on any topic that you want to research. After selection of topics books provide insight view on the topic. Books are secondary source but most authentic one in secondary sources.

Journals/periodicals: Journals and periodicals are becoming more important as far as data collection is concerned. The reason is that journals provide up-to-date information which at times books cannot and secondly, journals can give information on the very specific topic on which you are researching rather talking about more general topics.

Magazines/Newspapers: Magazines are also effective but not very reliable. Newspaper on the other hand is more reliable and in some cases the information can only be obtained from newspapers as in the case of some political studies.

Published Electronic Sources: As internet is becoming more advance, fast and reachable to the masses; it has been seen that much information that is not available in printed form is available on internet. In the past the reliability of internet was questionable but today it is not. The reason is that in the past journals and books were rarely published on internet but today almost every journal and book is available online.

• Published Electronic Sourcese-journals

General websites

Weblogs

E-journals: e -journals are more commonly available than printed journals. Latest journals are difficult to retrieve without subscription but if we has an e-library you can view any journal, print it and those that are not available you can make an order for them.

General Websites: Generally websites do contain a very vast information and some times it might not be very reliable information so their content should be checked for the reliability before quoting from them.Weblogs: A weblog, sometimes written as web log or Weblog, is a website that consists of a series of entries arranged in reverse chronological order, often updated on with new information about particular topics. The information can be written by the site owner, gleaned from other Web sites or other sources, or contributed by users.

Unpublished Sources: The statistical data needn’t always be published. There are various sources of unpublished statistical material such as the records maintained by private firms, business enterprises, scholars, research workers, etc. They may not like to release their data to any outside agency.

Unpublished sources

Personal sources

Government sources

Government Records: are available in the form of government surveys,tax records,census data and other statistical reports. They are easily available and widely used in research studies.

Personnel records: can also be very useful in research if data is unavailable in published from. Some personal sources like letters and diaries are invaluable assets. Letters and diaries can have a lot of information which printed and published will not be having we can use these info as reference for research after checking their reliability.

•Unpublished Government RecordsCensus Data/population statistics:Health recordsEducational institutes records

•Unpublished Personal RecordsDiariesLetters

MEASUREMENT SCALEs

Nominal Scales are used for labeling variables, without any quantitative value. “Nominal” scales could simply be called “labels.”

Ordinal Scales, it is the order of the values is what’s important and significant, but the differences between each one is not really known.

Interval Scales are numeric scales in which we know not only the order, but also the exact differences between the values.

Ratio Scales are the ultimate nirvana when it comes to measurement scales because they tell us about the order, they tell us the exact value between units

Rating is the assessment of a person by another person. Rating is a term applied to expression of opinion or judgement regarding some situation, object or character. Opinions are usually expressed on a scale or value. Rating techniques are devices by which such judgments may be quantified.

RATING SCALE

oComparative scaling, the respondent is asked to compare one object with another

oNon-comparative scaling respondents need only evaluate a single object. Their evaluation is independent of the other object which the researcher is studying.

SCALING TECHNIQUE:

Pros:• Faster • Less activities(Field trip, Survey, etc)• Less Expensive

PROS AND CONS OF SECONDARY DATA:

Cons:• Not easily available • Not adequate• May not meet the needs of researcher • Outdated information • Variation in definition• Inaccurate.

Because of the above mentioned disadvantages of secondary data, we will lead to evaluation of secondary data. Evaluation means the following requirements must be satisfied:-

Data is Suitable (exact)Data is Adequate(complete)Data is Reliable(belive)

•Secondary data are information previously gathered for a different purpose that may be relevant to the problem at hand.•Secondary data can come from sources internal to the organization or external.•Secondary data are generally useful, low-cost, rapidly available sources of information.

Conclusion: