[Year 12 Its] Primary vs Secondary Data Sources

[Robert Timmer-Arends]

From: "Mike Brookes"
> Don't you love it when older definitions are stretched to cover "new
> technology"?

I agree Mike - and sometimes I think we just have to recognise that
definitions are useful but can only go so far (remember 'procedures' versus
'techniques').

But I wouldn't say the debate occurs just because of "new technology". My
daughter came home one night last year and told us that in History that day
they had spent the entire lesson debating whether a newspaper article from
the 1700's was primary or secondary data. The conclusion they came to was
that it all depended on what you used it for (to make conclusions about what
was in the article or to make conclusions about the time from which it
came).

Seems to me we do get quite hung up about definitions at times without
thinking about context (remember the CD-ROM Storeage versus Input discussion
some time ago?)

Regards
Robert T-A