Okuzeka
Sociology vocabulary · Research Methods

Secondary data

Meaning in sociology, with examples

nounCommon term

In sociology, secondary data means: Data collected by someone else, such as official statistics, earlier surveys, archives or media texts, that a researcher reuses for a new purpose.

In Turkish: ikincil veri

How it is used

Contrasted with primary data, which researchers collect themselves. Secondary analysis is cheap and can cover large populations and long periods, but the data may not fit the new research question exactly.

Example sentences

  1. The project relies on secondary data from national household surveys.

  2. Using secondary data saved time, but some variables we needed were missing.

Common collocations

  • secondary data analysis
  • primary and secondary data
  • official statistics
  • existing datasets
  • quantitative researchResearch that collects numerical data, usually from large samples, and uses statistics to measure patterns and test relationships between variables.
  • surveyA research method that asks a group of people the same set of questions, through a questionnaire or a structured interview, to collect comparable data.
  • variableA characteristic that can take different values from case to case, such as age, income, education level or attitude, and that researchers measure and compare.
  • validityThe extent to which a research method or measure actually captures what it claims to measure and gives a true picture of the social reality being studied.

More terms: Research Methods

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