Evaluating Preexisting Research Data for Secondary Analysis

• In Event: Westin Roundtable Session 4

Abstract

Whilst quantitative secondary analysis approach has been widely explored and employed in education and social sciences, this has not been the case with the qualitative secondary analysis. As existing literature primarily reports the outcomes of qualitative secondary research, little attention is dedicated to the details of evaluation of qualitative data to be used for secondary analysis. This paper explores the nature of secondary analysis and describes criteria for evaluating quality and sufficiency of qualitative data to prepare and use for secondary analysis. The criteria include data fit and relevance, quality, trustworthiness, and sustainability. Qualitative secondary analysis has important implications for educational and social researchers interested in generating new knowledge via unobtrusive and time/cost effective research to fully utilize pre-existing data.

Authors

• Victoria Sherif, University of Kentucky

• Beth Rous