Sources of secondary data can be divided into two parts.
I. Published Source :
Various govemmet and non-government organisations collect data on different topics and get them published from time-to-time. Other investigators use this published data for their investigation.
Following are the sources of published data :
- International Publications : Foreign governments and international agencies publish regular and occasional reports on various subjects, like – Report published by the International Labour Organization, International Monetary Fund and United Nations Organization, etc.
- Government Publication : The Central Government and the State Governments and their different departments publish reports on various topics.
- For example : Reserve Bank of India Bulletins, Annual Survey of Industries, Journal of Indian Business, Five Year Plans and Indian Agricultural Data, etc. This data is very reliable and authentic.
- Semi-government Publications : Semi-government institutions like municipalities, corporations, district boards, Block and Panchayat Samitis, etc. publish reports and data regarding birth and death, health and sanitation and other related subjects.
- Reports of Committees and Commissions : The committees and commissions formed by the government also publish their reports. The published data provided by them are also very important. Main examples of these are Various Finance Commission, Minority Commission, Monopoly Commission, Planning Commission, etc.
- Publications of Trade Associations : Large trading associations also publish data collected by their research and statistical department; Like -Tata, Birla, Reliance, Indian Commercial Industries Associations, etc.
- Publication of Research Institutions : Various universities and research institutes also publish their research results, such as the Indian Statistical Institute, Indian Standards Institute, National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER), etc.
- Newspapers – Magazines : Newspapers and magazines are also an important source of secondary data. From time-to-time useful data is published in them on various topics. Economic Times, Business Standard, Planning, Industry Trade Magazine, Commerce, Capital, Industrial Times, etc. have been publishing important data.
- Publications of Individual Researchers : Some individual researchers also collect and publish data related to their topic.
II. Unpublished Source : Sometimes, the government or other institutions or individuals (especially investigators) collect material associated with important subjects, but they remain unpublished due to some issues. Such unpublished material can be obtained from papers, documents, registers of offices or diaries of the investigators.
Precautions while using secondary data : Secondary data should be used very carefully because they are full of shortcomings. Use of this data without thinking or without critically analysing it can be very dangerous. Bowley has rightly said-“Accepting primary data without knowing their meaning and limitations can be very dangerous and it is very important to critically analyse those logics which can be based on them.” From this it is clear that secondary data should be used after properly considering them.
Following are the precautions to be taken at the time of using them:
- Objective and area of previous investigation : Firstly, it should be checked for what purpose was the data earlier collected. The data can be used if the objective for the collection of data and the current objective is same. If the purpose and area of earlier investigation differs from the current purpose and area, then the data should not be used.
- Eligibility of the previous investigator : It should be seen whether we can rely on the eligibility, honesty, unbiasedness and experience of the previous investigator, If he can be relied upon then the data collected by him can also be relied upon.
- Method of collection : It should also be checked which methods were used while collecting primary data. The method which was used earlier can be trusted upon or not. After taking these things into consideration, it should be decided whether to use that data in the investigation or not.
- Meaning of Unit : It should also be made clear whether the meaning of each unit used in previous investigation is same as each unit in the present investigation. If these both differ, then the data should not be used.
- Level of purity : While using secondary data the question of the level of purity of published data should also be considered. If the level of purity was high then their use is possible. If the level of purity is low then it would be better not to use that data.
- Time of testing : It should also be checked what was the time of the primary investigation. If the investigation was done at the time of some emergency or some abnormal time, then in the normal time such data should not be used for investigation.
- Sufficiency of the data : Investigator, while using secondary data, should check whether it is sufficient for the current investigation or not.
- Sources of collection of data : It should be properly checked what were the sources of primary data. Whether those sources can be relied upon or not.
- Homogeniety : Was there homogeniety in the published data or not? If homogeniety is not present in the data, then they are not useful.
- Tentatively testing : The present investigator should tentatively test the published data so that their purity and trustworthiness can be estimated.
From the above analysis it is clear that published or secondary data should not be used without proper investigation, otherwise the results can be misleading.
