[Informatics] Secondary data

[Mark]

Hi Michael. Your question seems to be also lurking in several minds, but
people are suspiciously quiet on the issue.
I really wish someone else would chip in!

I recently wrote about my suspicion that some teachers and students are
confusing the *creation* of primary data with the *discovery* of
pre-existing (secondary) data.

I think of it a bit like finding a pair of shoes in a shop and claiming you
made them because you found them all by yourself.
Or finding a funny joke online and claiming it's yours because you found it.

Infographics are heavily-processed interpretations of data. They often
contain an agenda, position or opinion. Primary data should be unprocessed
by other people, and collected for a specific purpose.

Findings from other people's research is again other people's opinion or
interpretation of other people's data.
(Having said that, it could also be primary if used in the context of a
metastudy.)

Sometimes the difference between primary and secondary data is in the way
it's used. Dividing lines can get murky there.

e.g. Quotable Quotes *could* be primary, if you use them in an original
manner: not using the *opinions* in the quotes, but somehow extracting new
and original information from them.
Examples:
- proving that texting is not a language-destroying monster by proving that
the abbreviation "OMG" is not a recent invention by finding historical
quotes that also use the expression*.
- processing a pile of famous quotes to discover that to be truly quotable,
quotes should be no longer than 15 words.**

To be safe, I would argue that a SAT's primary data should come from
original student-generated questionnaires, surveys, interviews and
observation. Students can't go wrong if they do that.

Further reading:

http://www.iwh.on.ca/wrmb/primary-data-and-secondary-data - "Researchers
collect the [primary] data themselves, using surveys, interviews and direct
observations."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secondary_data - "Secondary data refers to
data that was collected by someone other than the user. 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. Primary data, by
contrast, are collected by the investigator conducting the research."

http://www.mymarketresearchmethods.com/primary-secondary-market-research-difference
- "In a nutshell, primary research is original research conducted by you
(or someone you hire) to collect data specifically for your current
objective.  You might conduct a survey, run an interview or a focus group,
observe behavior, or do an experiment.
You are going to be the person who obtains this raw data directly and it
will be collected specifically for your current research need.
Conversely, secondary research involves searching for existing data that
was originally collected by someone else.  You might look in journals,
libraries, or go to online sources like the US census.  You will apply what
you find to your personal research problem, but the data you are finding
was not originally collected by you, nor was it obtained for the purpose
you are using it for."

* It's actually true.
** I just made that up.


On 20 May 2016 at 09:27, Poke, Michael C <poke.michael.c at edumail.vic.gov.au>
wrote:

> Hi all,
> Forgive me if this has already been discussed, but just wanting to check,
> can secondary data include information from websites such as infographics,
> findings from other research, quotable quotes, or does it have to be
> entirely made up of raw, unprocessed data?  Sorry for posting what seems
> like a amateurish question.
>
> Cheers,
> Michael
>
>
> *Michael Poke*
> Senior Years ICT Teacher
> Senior Years Digital Learning Leader
> *Manor Lakes P-12 College*
> *2-50 Minindee Road*
> *Wyndham Vale Victoria 3024*
> *poke.michael.c at edumail.vic.gov.au <poke.michael.c at edumail.vic.gov.au>*
> *P.(03)97414202  F.(03)97411420*
>
> *Google+: **bit.ly/PokeGoogle* <http://bit.ly/PokeGoogle>
> *YouTube:* *bit.ly/MichaelPokeYouTube* <http://bit.ly/MichaelPokeYouTube>
> *Twitter: **@michaelpoke <http://bit.ly/MichaelPokeTwitter>*
>

-- 

Mark Kelly

mark at vceit.com
http://vceit.com
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