Secondary Data\'s Reliability and Validity

Secondary Data's Reliability And Validity

The majority of research projects begin with a thorough overview of all previously published research on the topic of interest. What researchers, both academic and commercial find, is that secondary data's reliability and validity is only as solid and applicable to the specific needs of a project if the original methodology was well planned and executed. Further, the methodologies to originally create the secondary data need to be clearly described and critically reviewed if the resulting data is to be of the greatest value. Secondary data without a reference to how it was created is often not as viable as data which has sourcing noted, and if primary research was involved and analyzing, a description of those methodologies as well.

The ability to be critically evaluative of the source of secondary data is also a valuable skill that researchers develop over time. This specifically refers to questioning why the secondary data was created in the first place; answering in essence what need the data was collected to fulfill in the first. The most important aspect of being critically evaluative is to understand how the original need for the information may have influenced the development of the initial research. The critical task then is to evaluate through critical judgment how closely aligned or far removed the original goal that the secondary data was originally created to respond to. There is also the need to evaluate the credibility and biases of the authors and publishers of the secondary data. Answering this question is also critical to keep the correct context of the secondary data as well. Above all, when working with secondary data, the underlying unmet need that lead to its development in the first place, the methodologies that primary data integrated into the secondary data relied on, and any biases of the writers and publishers need to be taken into account. The bottom line is that secondary data, to have been created, was precisely aligned with an unmet information need. It is up to the researcher to ascertain how closely aligned or how far removed their specific objectives are from the secondary data's original catalyst for its creation.