What is the secondary data in statistic?

Secondary data is the data that have been already collected by and readily available from other sources. Such data are cheaper and more quickly obtainable than the primary data and also may be available when primary data can not be obtained at all.

Advantages of Secondary data

1. It is economical. It saves efforts and expenses.
2. It is time saving.
3. It helps to make primary data collection more specific since with the help of secondary data, we are able to make out what are the gaps and deficiencies and what additional information needs to be collected.
4. It helps to improve the understanding of the problem.
5. It provides a basis for comparison for the data that is collected by the researcher.

Disadvantages of Secondary Data

1. Secondary data is something that seldom fits in the framework of the marketing research factors. Reasons for its non-fitting are:-
   1. Unit of secondary data collection-Suppose you want information on disposable income, but the data is available on gross income. The information may not be same as we require.
   2. Class Boundaries may be different when units are same.
      Before 5 YearsAfter 5 Years2500-50005000-60005001-75006001-70007500-100007001-10000Thus the data collected earlier is of no use to you.
2. Accuracy of secondary data is not known.
3. Data may be outdated.

Evaluation of Secondary Data

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

1. Availability- It has to be seen that the kind of data you want is available or not. If it is not available then you have to go for primary data.
2. Relevance- It should be meeting the requirements of the problem. For this we have two criterion:-
   1. Units of measurement should be the same.
   2. Concepts used must be same and currency of data should not be outdated.
3. Accuracy- In order to find how accurate the data is, the following points must be considered: -
   1. Specification and methodology used;
   2. Margin of error should be examined;
   3. The dependability of the source must be seen.
4. Sufficiency- Adequate data should be available.

Robert W Joselyn has classified the above discussion into eight steps. These eight steps are sub classified into three categories. He has given a detailed procedure for evaluating secondary data.

1. Applicability of research objective.
2. Cost of acquisition.
3. Accuracy of data.

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The facts and figures which can be numerically measured are studied in statistics. Numerical measures of the same characteristics are known as observation and collection of observations is termed as data. Data are collected by individual research workers or by organizations through sample surveys or experiments, keeping in view the objectives of the study. The data collected may be:

The difference between primary and secondary data in Statistics is that Primary data is collected firsthand by a researcher (organization, person, authority, agency or party, etc.) through experiments, surveys, questionnaires, focus groups, conducting interviews, and taking (required) measurements, while the secondary data is readily available (collected by someone else) and is available to the public through publications, journals, and newspapers.

Primary Data

Primary data means the raw data (data without fabrication or not tailored data) which has just been collected from the source and has not gone through any kind of statistical treatment like sorting and tabulation. The term primary data may sometimes be used to refer to first-hand information.

Sources of Primary Data

The sources of primary data are primary units such as basic experimental units, individuals, households. Following methods are used to collect data from primary units usually and these methods depend on the nature of the primary unit. Published data and the data collected in the past is called secondary data.

• Personal Investigation
  The researcher conducts the experiment or survey himself/herself and collected data from it. The collected data is generally accurate and reliable. This method of collecting primary data is feasible only in case of small scale laboratory, field experiments or pilot surveys and is not practicable for large scale experiments and surveys because it take too much time.
• Through Investigators
  The trained (experienced) investigators are employed to collect the required data. In case of surveys, they contact the individuals and fill in the questionnaires after asking the required information, where a questionnaire is an inquiry form having a number of questions designed to obtain information from the respondents. This method of collecting data is usually employed by most of the organizations and its gives reasonably accurate information but it is very costly and may be time taking too.
• Through Questionnaire
  The required information (data) is obtained by sending a questionnaire (printed or soft form) to the selected individuals (respondents) (by mail) who fill in the questionnaire and return it to the investigator. This method is relatively cheap as compared to “through investigator” method but non-response rate is very high as most of the respondents don’t bother to fill in the questionnaire and send it back to investigator.
• Through Local Sources
  The local representatives or agents are asked to send requisite information who provide the information based upon their own experience. This method is quick but it gives rough estimates only.
• Through Telephone
  The information may be obtained by contacting the individuals on telephone. Its a Quick and provide accurate required information.
• Through Internet
  With the introduction of information technology, the people may be contacted through internet and the individuals may be asked to provide the pertinent information. Google survey is widely used as online method for data collection now a day. There are many paid online survey services too.

It is important to go through the primary data and locate any inconsistent observations before it is given a statistical treatment.

Secondary Data

Data that has already been collected by someone, may be sorted, tabulated, and has undergone a statistical treatment. It is fabricated or tailored data.

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