Primary and

Secondary Data

Primary and Secondary Data

Define secondary and primary data
Describe primary data collection
methods
Describe sampling techniques
Identify advantages disadvantages
of different data gathering
techniques
Construct a survey

Secondary Data
Data gathered by another source (e.g.
research study, survey, interview)
Secondary data is gathered BEFORE
primary data. WHY?
Because you want to find out what is
already known about a subject before
you dive into your own investigation.
WHY?
Because some of your questions can
possibly have been already answered
by other investigators or authors. Why
reinvent the wheel?

Primary Data
Data never gathered before
Advantage: find data you need to
suit your purpose
Disadvantage: usually more costly
and time consuming than
collecting secondary data
Collected after secondary data is
collected

Primary Research Methods

Focus Groups bring together
respondents with common characteristics
Observation - actually view respondents
Experiment - controlled variables and
respondent groups.
Non-personal survey on site, telephone,
mail, fax, computer, panel
Personal interview - one-on-one survey
with respondents
Company records internal document
survey research

Constructing the
Questionnaire

Select the correct types of questions:

open ended harder to score but get
richer information

closed ended, dichotomous offer

two either/or responses (true/false; yes/no;

for/against
multiple choice select one or more
than one
scaled response gather range of
values (strongly disagree, somewhat
disagree, neutral, somewhat agree,
strongly agree

1. Have you had any of the following

medical preventive tests/exams?
_____ Cholestrol
_____ Blood Sugar
_____ lung x-ray
_____ electrocardiogram
_____ stress test

2. Do you currently smoke?

_____ YES
_____ NO

3. Please evaluate the following statement:

I understand the Universitys code of
conduct as it relates to plagiarism.
____absolutely agree
____somewhat agree
____neutral
____somewhat disagree
____absolutely disagree

Important characteristics of
good questionnaires

Plan a user-friendly format

Gather demographic data age, gender,
etc., when necessary.
Guarantee anonymity
Ensure ease of tabulation Scantron forms
Ask well-phrased and unambiguous
questions that can be answered
Develop for completeness get all the data
Pilot test the instrument

purpose of the survey

Introductory Statement
The purpose of this survey is to help management identify family
issues that our employees experience that are related to job
performance. Please respond to the following survey items by
checking the appropriate response next to each question/item. Your
responses are completely anonymous and will only be used to assess
overall employee characteristics.

ensure anonymity

END