Video Transcript
Which of the following is not a
source of secondary data? Option (A) research journals and
newspapers, option (B) Internet, option (C) teaching and research organizations,
option (D) questionnaires, or option (E) government organizations.
Let’s begin by recalling that
secondary data is public or existing information that’s collected and organized by
others. The other type of data is primary
data, which is new information collected and organized by the researcher. One way of thinking through this
problem is by considering different scenarios of data collection. Here we have a researcher who’s
collecting information from a group of people that they want to study. This could be through interviews,
questionnaires, or even focus groups. At this point, what this researcher
has is primary data.
When they analyze their data, they
may produce some sort of report or journal, for example, including it in a newspaper
or a website. Another researcher, who may well be
researching something else, who’s looking at these different reports would be
looking at secondary data. So, when we consider the data types
in statements (A), (B), (C), and (E), these are all types of secondary data. In other words, we’re getting our
information from this type of information, the reports and papers and things, and
not from the people who were originally asked.
If we look at statement (D),
however, questionnaires are used by researchers to collect the data directly. Since the use of questionnaires
leads to new information collected and organized by the researcher, then they are a
source of primary data. Therefore, the sources in (A), (B),
(C), and (E) are all sources of secondary data. So the one which is not a source of
secondary data is (D), questionnaires. This is a source of primary
data.
