primary and secondary data Flashcards
(5 cards)
A01
Primary data is gathered by the researcher, directly from a group of participants. Production of primary data can give information that is unique to the aim of the research. Primary data might be gathered from clinical interviews with mentally ill patients regarding their symptoms and experiences.
Secondary data relies on evidence gathered by other researchers. For example, assessing other peer-reviewed articles or public access statistics. This could also be from hospital records considering doctor notes on a patient during a hospital stay.
primary data strengths
Primary data is high in validity as the researcher decides on the research question and carefully plans how to operationalize and measure behaviour. This should ensure that it is an accurate measure and meets the specific aims of the study.
Primary data is collected at the time of the study and so is more valid that secondary data which may have been collected some time ago. Clinical psychology is a fast paced area of research, the DSM is constantly being updated and so are views on mental illness.
Primary data can be easily tested for reliability by the current researcher as they have planned the standardised procedure and operationalised the variables. This means that can be sure to repeat it exactly.
primary data weaknesses
Primary data can be time consuming and expensive because the researcher has to start at the beginning of a study and follow the whole thing through (from finding ppts, designing/ gathering equipment for the study, analysing findings.
Ethical issues need to be carefully considered when gathering primary data as researchers are working directly with participants and need to stick to the guidelines
secondary strengths
Secondary data should be quick to obtain and relatively inexpensive, perhaps even free, as the researcher uses data that is always available, perhaps from previous studies. In clinical this may involve using hospital records to gather information about previous schizophrenic episodes for example.
when using secondary data the current researcher is not actually using any participants and therefore no ethical guidelines need to be considered. It can be presumed that the ethical guidelines where followed initially –
secondary weaknesses
Secondary data however may be less valid as it has been gathered previously for a different purpose, which could be quite different to the purpose of the current study. Therefore the findings may not actually be valid. Furthermore, the current researcher is unaware of any potential bias that originally occurred.
Secondary data can be difficult to replicate exactly as the current researcher may not be fully aware of the controls and exact standardised procedure that was used
Primary data is collected at the time of the study and so is more valid that secondary data which may have been collected some time ago. Clinical psychology is a fast paced area of research, the DSM is constantly being updated and so are views on mental illness.
