MET 08 - Primary and secondary data Flashcards
(17 cards)
What is primary data?
- Information that has been obtained first-hand by a researcher for the purposes of a research project
- In psychology, such data is often gathered directly from participants as part of an experiment, self-report or observation
What is secondary data?
- Information that has already been collected by someone else and so pre-dates the current research project
- In psychology, such data might include the work of other psychologists or government statistics
What is meta analysis?
- The process of combining the findings from a number of studies on a particular topic
- The aim is to produce an overall statistical conclusion (the effect size) based on a range of studies
- A meta-analysis should not be confused with a review where a number of studies are compared and discussed
What are some examples of primary data?
- Surveys
- Observations
- Experiments
- Questionnaire
- Personal interview
What are some examples of secondary data?
- Government publications
- Websites
- Books
- Journal articles
- Internal records
At what point in time is primary and secondary data collected?
Primary data => Real time data
Secondary data => Past data which could more less accurate and outdated. It would be difficult to apply the data to the current time.
What is the collection process of primary and secondary data?
Primary data => Very involved the collection process
Secondary data => It can be easily accessed requiring minimal effort
How cost effective is primary and secondary data?
Primary data => It is more expensive because you are paying for all the equipment involved in collecting the data
Secondary data => It is more inexpensive
What is the collection time of primary and secondary data?
Primary data => It is very long
Secondary data => Takes a shorter amount of time
How specific is the primary and secondary data, being collected to the aim and hypothesis?
Primary data => The information will be very specific and tailored to the hypothesis as you control what you collect
Secondary data => May not be specific to the researcher’s needs
How accuracte and reliable is primary and secondary data?
Primary data => More accurate and reliable
Secondary data => Less accurate and reliable
What are the strengths of primary data?
- It fits the required job
- Primary data is authentic data obtained from the participants themselves for the purpose of a particular investigation
- Questionnaires and interviews can be designed in such a way that they specifically target the information that the researcher requires
What are the weaknesses of primary data?
- It requires time and effort from the researcher
- Conducting an experiment requires considerable planning, preparation and resources and this is a limitation when compared with secondary data, which may be accessed within a matter of minutes
What are the strengths of secondary data?
- Secondary data can be inexpensive and easily accessed requiring minimal effort
- When examining secondary data, the researcher may find that the desired information already exists and so there is no need to conduct primary data collection
What are the weaknesses of secondary data?
- There may be a substantial variation in the quality and accuracy of secondary data
- Information might at first appear to be valuable and promising but, on further investigation, may be outdated or incomplete
- This content of the data may not quite match the researcher’s needs or objectives
- This may challenge the validity of any conclusion
What are the strengths of meta analysis?
- Allows us to create a larger, more valued sample and results can then be generalised across much larger populations, increasing validity
- This method is relatively cheap, as the studies have already been conducted, and the results are already available
- Meta-analyses draw conclusions based on evidence from multiple empirical sources. Therefore, there is an increased
likelihood that meta-analysis findings will be more valid than independent experimental research that forms a conclusion based on a single study’s findings - Meta-analysis in research has many practical applications in psychology. For example, it can provide a reliable, precise summary of whether an intervention is effective as a treatment method
What are the weaknesses of meta analysis?
- It is prone to publication bias, sometimes referred to as the file drawer problem. The researcher may not select all relevant studies, choosing to leave out those studies with negative or non-significant results. Therefore the conclusions from the meta-analysis will be biased because they only represent some of the relevant data
- Researchers need to ensure the research studies they are
combining into their meta-analysis are reliable and valid, as this can affect the reliability and validity of the meta-analysis - The studies included in the meta-analysis will likely use
different research designs, raising the question of whether the data is comparable - Although the researcher does not collect the data, the meta-analysis methodology can still be time-consuming. It will take time for researchers to identify all of the relevant research. In
addition, they will need to determine if the studies are of acceptable standards regarding reliability and validity - Suppose the researcher is investigating a new area of
research or a phenomenon many researchers have not
investigated before. In that case, it may not be appropriate to use a meta-analysis - Esterhuizen and Thabane (2016) emphasised that meta-analyses are often criticised for including poor-quality research, comparing heterogeneous research and not addressing publication bias
- The criterion used may not be appropriate for the hypothesis and may incorrectly exclude or include studies in the meta-analysis, affecting the results. Thus, carefully considering what to include or exclude needs to be done, and it is not always perfect
