Data Analysis: Such is the complexity of secondary analysis, that it is particularly important that the study design, methods and issues involved are reported in full. Ideally this should include an outline of the original study and data collection procedures, together with a description of the processes involved in categorising and summarising the data for the secondary analysis, as well as an account of how methodological and ethical considerations were addressed.
Ethical Issues: How was consent obtained in the original study? Where sensitive data is involved, informed consent cannot be presumed. Given that it is usually not feasible to seek additional consent, a professional judgment may have to be made about whether re-use of the data violates the contract made between subjects and the primary researchers. Growing interest in reusing data make it imperative that researchers in general now consider obtaining consent which covers the possibility of secondary analysis as well as the research in hand; this is consistent with professional guidelines on ethical practice.
Developing the Approach
To see if the potential of secondary analysis can be realised in practice, developmental work still needs to be undertaken:
- First, there should be a more comprehensive review of the literature on secondary analysis and studies, which have explicitly (and perhaps implicitly) used this approach. This could include examination of the methods used, as well as the quality, value and impact of this work.
- Secondly, further work on the protocols for conducting secondary analysis of qualitative data, particularly with regard to the re-use of other researchers’ data should be carried out.
- Thirdly, there should be greater consideration of the issues involved in the secondary analysis of single, multiple and mixed data sets.
Finally, some more specific guidelines are needed for researchers about the ethical issues to be considered when undertaking qualitative work that may be re-used in the future
Advantages of Secondary Data: A major advantage in the use of secondary data is that it is far more economical, as the cost of collecting original data is saved. In the collection of primary data, a good deal of effort is required data collection forms are to be designed the printed, field staff is to be appointed and maintained until all the data have been collected, their traveling expenses are to be incurred, the sample design is to be selected, data are to be verified for their accuracy, and finally, all such data are to be tabulated. All these activities would need large funds, which can be utilized elsewhere if secondary data alone can serve the purpose.
Another advantage is that the use of secondary data saves much of the time of the researcher. This leads to prompt completion of the research project.
Search for secondary data is helpful, not only because secondary data may be useful but because familiarity with such data indicated the deficiencies and gaps. As a result, the researcher can make his primary data collection more specific and more relevant to his study.
As the researcher explores the availability of secondary data relevant to his project, he finds, in the process, that his understanding of the problem has improved. He may even have to change some of his earlier ideas in the light of the secondary data. Finally, secondary data cab be used as a basis for comparison with the primary data that the researcher has just collected,
Disadvantages of Secondary Data: In practice, one finds that secondary data seldom fit perfectly into the framework of marketing research. This is on account of a number of factors.
The unit in which secondary data are expressed may not be the same as is required in the research project, for example, the size of firm can be expressed as (i) number of employees, (ii) paid – up capital employed, (iii) gross sales, (iv) gross or net profit, etc. it is just possible that the unit of measurement used in secondary data is different from the one needed in the research project. In that case, secondary data cannot to used.
Even if the units are the same as those required by the research project, it may just be the case that class boundaries are different from those desired. For example, the monthly income of households may have a break up of (i) Loss than Rs. 500 (ii) Rs. 501-1000, (iii) Rs. 1001-1500, (iv) Rs.1501-2000, and (v) Rs 2001+ so far as secondary data are concerned. If the researcher wants to find, for example, the number of households with a monthly income of Rs 1800 or some similar figure, he will be at a loss with such secondary data.
One does not always know how accurate the secondary data are. In case the degree of inaccuracy his high, the use of such dubious data would undermine the utility of a research study. In most cases, it is difficult to known with what care secondary data have been collected and tabulated. All the same, in the case of well-established and reputed organization, both official and non-official, secondary data would be far more accurate and reliable and they can be used without much reservation.
A severe limitation in the use of secondary data is that they may be somewhat out of date. A good deal of time is spent in the collection, processing, tabulation and publishing of such data and by the time the data are available to the researcher, they are already two to three years old. As a result, the data are no longer up-to-date. It is a moot question as to how such data are relevant at the time of their use. Obviously, the utility of secondary data declines progressively as the time goes by, and they are finally useful only for historical purpose.
Evaluating Secondary Data: Since the use of secondary data is substantially cheaper than that of primary data, it is advisable to explore the possibility of using secondary data. In this connection, there are four requirements that must be met. There are – (i) Availability of secondary data, (ii) Relevance, (iii) Accuracy, and (iv) Sufficiency.
These requirements are briefly Discussed Here.
The first and foremost requirement is that secondary data must be available for use. At times, one may find that secondary data are just not available on a problem at hand. In such cases there is no alternative but to take recourse to the collection of primary data.
Another pre-condition for the use of secondary data is their relevance to the marketing problem. Relevance means that the data available must fit the requirements of that problem. This would cover several aspects; first, the unit of measurement should be the same as that in the marketing problem. For example, social class, income employment should have the same definitions. Another pertinent issue is that the data should not be obsolete. Generally, any secondary data would have been collected sometime in the past, but they should not be so remote as to make them useless.
The third requirement is that the data should be accurate. In this connection, one should consult the original source. This world not only enable the researcher to get more comprehensive information but would also indicate the context in which data have been collected, the procedure followed and the extent of care exercised in their collection.
Finally, the data should be sufficient. If the data are inadequate, the compliance with the preceding requirements will be in vain.
The foregoing requirements must be met to avoid an improper use of secondary data. One may go into more specific details. It may be emphasized that the use of secondary data by the marketing researcher imposes in implicit responsibility on him that he has satisfied himself as to their accuracy and reliability. In view of this, he has to be extremely careful when deciding to use any secondary data. To help him take a decision, he has to seek answers to such questions as –What sample design was used for collecting data? What questionnaire was used? What was the quality of the field staff which collected the data? What was the extent of non –responses and how was the problem handled by the organization? These are some of the questions which are pertinent while deciding the reliability of secondary data. As information on some of these questions is not readily available, the researcher may have to spend quite some time to get it. In the final analysis, it is the reputation of the organization collecting and publishing such data, and its regularity in their publication, that would carry more weight than anything else.
Robert W. Joselyn suggests a detailed approach for evaluating secondary data and understanding their potential limitations. The approach comprises eight steps.
The eight steps are grouped into three categories, namely (i) applicability to the project objectives. (ii) Cost of acquisition, and (iii) accuracy of the data. Under each of these categories, answer to specific questions is sought. Thus, some of the basic questions are –Do the data apply to the population of interest? Do they apply to the time period of interest? Can the units and classifications presented apply? If answers to these and similar other questions are in the affirmative, one may proceed with the use of secondary data, otherwise one should drop the idea of using them. At the end, the author rightly cautions the researcher to exercise great care before using the secondary data “because of the natural tendency of many people to hide a shaky foundation beneath an elaborate superstructure. “
Sources of Secondary Data: Secondary data can be obtained internally, i.e. within the firm; or externally, i.e. from one or more outside agencies. Internal secondary data are those which are generated within the firm.
Internal Sources of Secondary Data: Internal sources can be classified under four broad categories – accounting records, accounting records, sales force reports, miscellaneous reports and internal experts.
Accounting records generate a good deal of data. As profits are based on sales, sales invoice is a good source. Normally a sales invoice includes name of the customer, address of the customer, items ordered, quantities ordered, quantities shipped, discounts allowed, price charged, total amount of sales and the date of sales. It often contains information on sales territory, sales representative and warehouse from which the product was dispatched. Such information can be extremely useful in undertaking a detailed analysis of sales by product, customer, industry geographic area, sales territory and sales representative. Compared with corresponding data on costs, it can indicate the level of profits (or loss) for each product. This apart, data on advertising expenditure along with the time period would also be available.
Another internal source is in the form of sales force reports. This source can provide a very useful marketing information but somehow it has remained largely untapped. This is because sales persons may not be giving detailed reports. In order to ensure that this source is more useful, it is necessary to organise the system properly. It should be a simple process of reporting the information. Sales persons may be encouraged to provide accurate and comprehensive information. Some incentive may be given to those who report accurately and adequately.
Another source of internal data is in the form of miscellaneous report. Any studies done earlier on marketing problems of the company, special audit, etc. come in this category. Such reports on varying subjects should be properly maintained and easily accessible when required.
Finally, experts working in the company can also be a good source of internal data. Executive working as product managers, marketing research manager, public relations personal and advertising personnel have specialized knowledge relevant to marketing problems. However, this source is least tapped. A limitation of this source is that information is in the expert’s mind and not on paper. The experts can provide useful information or ideas on a given marketing problem whenever a serious discussion is held in a meeting.
External Sources of Secondary Data: The external secondary data do not originate in the firm and are obtained from outside sources.
It may be noted that secondary data can be collected from the originating source or from secondary sources. For example, the office of the Economic Adviser, Government of India, is the originating source for the data on wholesale prices. In contrast, a publication such as the Reserve Bank of India Bulletin containing some parts of the series of wholesale prices, is a secondary source.
Generally, the originating source of external secondary data should be preferred on account of several reasons. First, the originating source is more likely to explain the object and procedure of data collection. Second, the originating source is more likely to present all the data. Whereas a secondary source may present a part of such data, depending on its requirement or convenience Finally, the originating source of secondary data presents another possible source of error.
Despite these advantages of using the originating source data, many a time secondary sources of secondary data are used. There may be good reasons4 for this. First, the secondary source may be readily available to the researcher and, as such, it is convenient to use it if the data are sufficiently reliable. At likely improvement in the quality of secondary data may not be commensurate with the time and effort required for using the originating source. Second, sometimes secondary sources provide secondary data on punched cards or magnetic tape for computer input. As a result of this facility, the researcher may prefer the secondary source.
Government Publications: A large bulk of secondary data useful to a marketing researcher is found in various government publications. To give an idea of the nature of data contained, periodicity and concepts used in respect of each of the government publication would be overstretching the scope of this textbook. Moreover, it is not necessary to be exhaustive as this work does not solely concern Indian statistics. As such, the following discussion provides only some general idea of the nature of data provided by the major government agencies.
To being with, the Registrar General of India conducts a population census throughout the country every ten years and brings out demographic data in voluminous reports. These publications provide perhaps the most basic source of information useful to the marketing researcher. The data relate to various characteristics such as the break –up population by sex, rural urban residence, age, education and occupation. While it is true that these statistics are available only decennially, they are the most authentic and are often used as the basis for projection for future years.
The Central Statistical Organization (CSO) beings out statistics of national income Its major publication ‘National Accounts Statistics, is brought out one once a year and contains estimates of national income for several years. The figures are given separately for major economic activities such as agriculture, industry, trade, transport, etc. Besides this, the estimates of saving, capital formation and consumption expenditure, together with national and public sector accounts are given.
The CSO also brings out the Statistical Abstract, India, which is an annual publication. It contains all India statistics for various sectors of the economy for a number of years, usually five.
As regards industrial statistics, the CSO publishes detailed data on the performance of the industrial sector in its annual publication ‘annual Survey of Industry, workers and non-workers employed, productive capital employed and its break –up by major categories, number of man-hours worked, total production and its break –up by important product – types, both in physical units and values, expenditure incurred on materials, electricity consumed, and finally, the value –added by manufacture, shown separately as that part which is paid to workers as wages and that which returns to the industry.
The CSO also brings out the Monthly Production of Selected Industries of India. These statistics are on output, and index number.
The Director General of Commercial Intelligence, Government of India, brings out from Calcutta, monthly statistics of the foreign trade of India. The statistics are contained in two separate volumes one for the export trade and the other for the import trade. These statistics are complied on a very comprehensive basis, covering a very large number of products and are extremely useful in undertaking regionwise, countrywise or productwise studies on the prospects of foreign trade. They also provide historical data over a long period, thus enabling the researchers to study the changing composition of India’s foreign trade over a chosen period.
As regards price statistics, there are some index numbers compiled and published by different government agencies. Thus, the Office of the Economics Adviser, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India constructs the Wholesale Price Index numbers. This is a weekly series and it is revised from time to time so as to make it representative of all the products. The present series uses 1981-82 as the base year5. The products covered are food articles, food grains, non-foodgrains, minerals, fuel, power, light and lubricants, various manufactured products such as textiles, chemicals, metal, machinery and transport equipment. Apart from the wholesale price index, the Government of India published the All – India Consumer Price Index numbers for (a) industrial workers. (n) Urban no manual employees, and (c) agricultural labourers.
Some other official publications include the (i) Basic Statistics Relating to the Indian Economy, which is an annual publication of the Planning Commission. It contains data on various
Aspects of the economy for several years (ii) Reserve Bank of India Bulletin, which is a monthly journal dealing with all aspects of the economy in general, and currency and finance in particular. Although the main focus is on currency and finance, it contains statistics on almost all major aspects of the economy, (iv) The Economic Survey, which is an annual publication of the Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Government of India. It is published on the eve of the presentation of the national budget and contains a detailed review of the different sectors of the economy. Detailed statistics are also given in the publication. (v) Agricultural Situation in India, which is monthly journal of the Directorate of Economics and Statistics of the Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India. It contains current statistics and articles on the assessment of the agricultural situation in the country and the states. (vi) The Indian Labour journal, which is a monthly journal of the Labour Bureau, published statistics on price indices, employment, wages and earnings, absenteeism, etc. (vii) The Indian Labour Year Book, which is an annual publication, contains detail statistics on wages and earnings, cost of living, industrial relations, labors welfare and industrial housing. (viii) State Statistical Abstracts and District Statistical Handbooks, which are published by various State Statistical Handbooks, which are published by various State Statistical Bureaux, publish statistical abstracts for their states on the lines of the Statistical Abstract of India, though the scope of the data covered varies from state of state.
Another important source is the National Sample Survey (NSS), which was set up by the Government of India in the Ministry of Planning in 1950. the objective of setting up this organization was to obtain social, economic, demographic, industrial and agricultural statistics on a comprehensive and continuing basis. The NSS has been conducting multi-purpose socio-economic surveys in the form of rounds. Numbers of rounds have been completed by the NSs. The programme for each round is decided by the NSS in collaboration with the concerned ministries and state government. A complete list of the nature of information collected in various rounds along with the code numbers is given at the end of each report to facilitate the reader in referring to a particular report in which he is interested. Apart from the regular rounds, the NSS has conducted ad hoc surveys in collaboration with the concerned central ministries.
Non – Government Publications: Besides the official agencies, there are a number of private organizations, which bring out statistics in one from or another on a periodical basis. Of these, various industry and trade associations are important, for example, the Indian Cotton Mills Federation brings out statistics on the cotton textile industry. Likewise, the annual report of the Bombay Mill Owners’ Association contains the latest statistics on the working of the member units. One major advantage of trade and industry publication is that they give an account of the main problems faced by these industries.
Another source of detailed information on the corporate sector exchange directories. The Bombay Stock Exchange Directory contains information on financial account, key profitability and other ratios of the listed joint stock companies.
The Directory has been designed in such a manner that the latest possible writes –up on the listed company can be inserted and the earlier one taken out. This ensures efficient updating of the various financial statistics of the companies.
A few more examples of non-governmental agencies bringing out periodical data may be given here. The Market Research and Statistical Bureau of the Coffee Board, Banglore, published coffee statistics annually. The coir Board, Cochin, brings out annually its publication titled ‘India’s production Exports and Internal Consumption of Coir and Coir goods’. The Rubber Board, Kottayam (kerala), publishes the Indian Sugar Year Book, Indian Rubber Statistics annually. The Indian Sugar Mills Association, Delhi, annually issues the containing detailed statistics. The Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) publishes statistics for the iron and steel industry in Indian on a quarterly basis. The Indian Woolen Mills Federation, Bombay brings out a quarterly publication ‘Wool and Woolens of India’.
Besides the industry associations listed earlier, there are several chambers of commerce. Most of the states have them and there are also some at the national level such as the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), Associated Chamber of Commerce and Industry and its problems. Such publications often contain useful statistics though such statistics may be ‘biased’. Care must be exercised to see how far these statistics are appropriate and representative. In any case, the chambers of commerce (including their federations) are an additional source of secondary data, which must be tapped.
There are a number of export promotion councils operating in India. Some of these bring out statistics at regular intervals. The publications of these councils, both statistical and otherwise, are quite authentic and, as such, useful for any studies pertaining to foreign trade. The marketing researcher who is concerned with any aspect of foreign trade would do well to look up relevant statistics in his chose field with the concerned export promotion council.
Finally, a number of organizations (other than stock exchanges) have come up in India in recent years, which provide periodical data on a particular subject to the subscribing companies. These organizations have answered the need for such a paid service, and most of them collect data from secondary sources, arrange them in their own specified manner and present them to their clients. Of course, a few of them gather data themselves for the client companies.
Syndicated Services: Syndicated services6 are provided by certain organizations, which collect and tabulate marketing information on a continuing basis. Reports, based on the marketing information collected by such organizations are sent periodically (weekly, monthly, or quarterly) to clients who are subscribers. Syndicated services are normally designed to suit the requirements of many individuals or firms. Such services are particularly useful in the spheres of TV viewing, magazine readership, and the movement of consumer goods through retail outlets. Organizations providing syndicated services may also engage themselves in other types of research work for their clients. However, such organizations usually confine themselves to this activity alone.
Syndicated services may be regarded as in ‘intermediate’ source falling between the primary and secondary sources. This is because the characteristics of both types of sources. As such services are based on data collected specifically by the organization from original sources and since they are current in nature, the data may be called primary. On the other hand syndicated data may be regarded as secondary data as they are collected by an independent organization for purposes of sale to a large number of firms. The data are not meant for use by a particular firm or in a specific research organization. It should be obvious that as syndicated information is supplied to a large number of individuals or firms, its unit cost to the client is much less. If the client has to collect and tabulate individuals or firms, its unit cost to the client has to collect and tabulate individuals or firms, it unit cost to the client is much less. If the client has to collect and tabulate the same information on his own, he will have to incur a considerably greater expenditure. Thus, though cost-wise it is a distinct advantage to the client, he does not enjoy any exclusive advantage, as the same information is available to several clients into.
When syndicated information is collected from the same sample group of individuals, households to their clients unlike syndicated services, in customized services, the research agency undertakes and hoc studies on behalf of its clients. An illustrative list of the customer research services offered by a leading research agency in India is as follows:-
Consumer Research Services
- Consumer research
- Usage and attitude studies
- Brand image and positioning research
- New product development research
- Advertising research
- Brand tracking studies
- Product testing
- Simulated test marketing
- Market estimation and forecasting
- Market modeling
- Customized panel research
- Qualitative research
- Motivation research
- Life style research
- Concept evaluation
- Corporate image research
- Strategic research
This list is impressive as it shows a wide variety of research activities. Besides these two areas consumer research and qualitative research agency handles ad hoc research projects in other areas such as financial research, travel and tourism research, medical marketing research and social research. In a typical year it handles more than 400 widely diversified projects.
Another leading marketing research agency offers to undertake client-specific services in the following areas
- Behavioral and attitude research
- Product and packaging studies
- The marketing studies
- Corporate image studies
- Campaign evaluation
- Media studies
- Opinion surveys
- Industrial market research
It goes to the credit of these agencies that some of the studies conducted by them were of pioneering nature, involving the development of appropriate concepts as well as sampling the measurement techniques. They have a large field set-up supported by full-time investigators in different parts of the country having several years of professional experience.
Publications of International Organizations: So far the discussion was confined to national organization. There are several international organizations that publish statistics in their respective areas. Some of these organizations publish data on India along with that of other countries. The main advantage to such data is that international comparisons can be drawn.
How to Read, Comprehend and Analyze a Secondary Source: The goal of this exercise is to acquire the ability to read a secondary source with understanding and to express succinctly (in one-two pages) what the author has said. It involves identifying the following:
- What are the main questions/issues in which the author is interested?
- What are the data that are available to the author for his/her analysis?
- What is the method (or methods) by which the data are analyzed in order to explore the questions/issues?
- What are the main conclusions of the analysis?
A secondary source is a modern author who is commenting upon and, usually, intrepreting primary data. Primary data are the material left behind by ancient societies. In the case of Greek myth, the primary data are very often literary sources, but they can also be visual imagery, archaeological material, etc.
As you read an article, the first skill that you need to develop is the ability to sort the primary data from the secondary analysis. Do not confuse the one (primary data) for the other (secondary interpretation). A secondary interpretation needs to deal with the primary data, but it does not mean that that secondary source is “saying” what the primary source “says.” It only means that the secondary interpretor wants to bring a specific primary reference(s) to your awareness for the sake of interpretation.
As a reader your next strategy is to generate a list of questions, or issues, in which the secondary source is interested. Generally, the secondary source will be attempting to answer these questions, or address these issues, via an analysis of the primary data. Once you have determined the main questions/issues in which a secondary source is interested, the next question that you must ask yourself is by what method is the secondary source attempting to answer the questions (or address the issues). Data is not neutral. It needs to be filtered through an analytical framework. The nature of the framework will foreground certain aspects of the data. This is a most critical aspect to comprehension when reading any secondary analysis, be it in myth, biology or economics.
The questions/issues and the methodology may be considered as the interpretive agenda of the secondary source.
Clues to the interpretive agenda of a secondary source can often be found
- In the title of the article (but be careful, many post-modern analyses love word play in their titles).
- In the first three-four paragraphs of the article
- In the last three-four paragraphs of the article
In a good secondary analysis, the questions/issues raised at the beginning of the analysis will be addressed again at the end of it. At the end of an analysis the author will generally state the conclusions that have been reached by examining and reading the primary data through a particular methodology [methodologies]).
I suggest that you take notes as you read. An outline is usually more helpful than long rambling notes. Try to structure your outline hierarchically, conforming to the organization of the secondary analysis. Perhaps you may start by making each paragraph of the secondary analysis part of your outline. You will probably need access to a good English dictionary. The library is an excellent place to do reading assignments, since it has a wealth of such aids for you. The articles that you are asked to read in this class often are sophisticated and employ powerful rhetorical and philosophical terms. It is very difficult to read for comprehension when you are struggling with (or ingnoring) the meanings of words.
As you read, continuously ask yourself the questions listed above
- What are the main questions/issues in which the author is interested?
- What are the data that are available to the author for his/her analysis?
- What is the method (or methods) by which the data are analyzed in order to explore the questions/issues?
- What are the main conclusions of the analysis?
When asked to provide a summary of a secondary analysis, you want to avoid injecting your personal responses into the summary. The point of the summary is to answer the questions listed above; it is not to get your “personal reaction.” This is not to say, of course, that you should have no personal reaction, but only that the summary is not the place for it.
