Initial Post Instructions Primary research is generally pref

Initial Post Instructions
Primary research is generally preferred because it is within one\'s control and can be planned out. Secondary research depends on trusting data that was already collected. There are mountains of data that have been collected but never analyzed to the fullest extent. Some could be a simple database of employees, students or customers, while others could be survey data collected by a researcher. If you had access to secondary data, what questions would you want to answer BEFORE using that data for research? Please give a specific example.

350 Word Minimum with 1 in text citation and reference (APA) ORIGINAL ANSWER PLEASE

Solution

There are a few advantages and disadvantages to work with secondary data. Advantages such as, it is time saving and economical to work with secondary data because researcher does not have to spend time on the resources as already collected by someone else. Also, the secondary data would be available for less cost. It is better for researchers who wish to spend time in performing hypothesis testing using secondary data. Another advantage is the extent of data availability and procedure used for data collected is vetted by expertise. Whereas the disadvantage with secondary data may not answer the specific queries in research and at the same time may not be sufficient to understand the seriousness of the earlier researches done. Hence, to have a perfect fit between the data selected and research queries, is to follow an iterative procedure. The simplest way to work with secondary data for a given research is to begin with a research query and search for the data set that answers the query. This approach is a standard approach. Another way could be looking at the secondary data and formulating the research queries and this approach could be followed in class room sessions in order to have a quality output.

The researcher should start with a query along with the appropriate data set by following a few generalized set of procedures:

1. Outline the question to be studied such as, “How does the project success affect an organization?”

2. Lay down the population to be studied. Are you interested to have various managers at all levels? What experience level should be studied? Do you want to analyze various organizations?

3. Postulate what other variables need to be included in the analysis. For example, role clarity affects the project success when considering various stakeholders.

4. Lay down what type of data is most appropriate for the research. For example, the way survey should be generated or through personal interviews.

5. Generate a list of data sets that is required based on the research queries. For example, what experience level of managers? What should be the project size or firm size?

6. Missing data should also be examined after having all the above questions.

Also, it is important to understand how the secondary data is collected by considering a few questions such as (a) what was the purpose when the data was collated? (b) what type of data it is and how/ when it was collected? (c) what process was followed to clean the data?