[Informatics] Secondary data

[McCleary Scott]

Hi guys,

I’ve simply been explaining to my kids in terms of, if anything has been done with the data, manipulated or interpreted in any way, then it should be secondary data.

Primary data needs to be “unprocessed”.  It should just be facts and figures and no agenda, position or opinions put on it.  I don’t see whether this is collected personally or by someone else as an issue as long as it’s not been manipulated.

I guess for example, if you were collecting data on students’ sleep habits and just had a bunch of raw data in regard to individuals and the hours they sleep then this is primary data.  There has been no manipulation of interpretation of the data.  However, if someone has already sorted this and maybe calculated an average for the data in terms of hours of sleep per night for a particular age group, then the data has been manipulated and is starting to be used as information and not just facts and figures.

That’s my simplistic view anyway.  Seems to get the kids thinking about the data and whether anyone else has already “got their hands on it” and done anything with it.

Please correct me if you think I’m off track with this.

Cheers,


[Description: Description: Description: Description: cid:315320004 at 31012008-0F05]


Scott McCleary
John Paul College
McMahons Road
Frankston VIC 3199
Ph 9784 0310
mccs at jpc.vic.edu.au<mailto:mccs at jpc.vic.edu.au>






From: informatics-bounces at edulists.com.au [mailto:informatics-bounces at edulists.com.au] On Behalf Of Mark
Sent: Friday, 20 May 2016 12:27 PM
To: Year 12 VCE Informatics Teachers' Mailing List
Subject: Re: [Informatics] Secondary data

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<mailto: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
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