Secondary Research

Secondary research uses information that already exists and has been interpreted or analysed by someone else. That information is secondary data: data collected by another person, rather than by you for this project. It is not simply the research you happen to do second.

Imagine you are planning a short film about food waste in your area. You find a national charity's report with yearly figures and a magazine article describing a similar school project. Both are secondary sources. They usually take minutes to find and often cost nothing, and the charity's report covers thousands of homes you could never visit yourself. That is the main strength: secondary research is quick, cheap and plentiful.

Advantages and disadvantages

Advantage	Why it helps
Quick and easy	Existing information can be searched and read straight away.
Usually cheap or free	Many reports, articles and websites cost little or nothing to use.
Lots available	You can find information on almost any topic.
Wider reach	Other people may have studied places or groups you cannot access yourself.

Disadvantage	Why it matters
May be out of date	The situation may have changed since it was published.
Collected for another purpose	It may not answer your exact question or fit your audience.
May be biased or inaccurate	The author may push a particular view or make mistakes.
Available to competitors	Rival companies can read the same public information, so it gives you no private advantage.
Method may be unknown	You cannot always tell how the data was collected or who was asked.

In the film example, the charity's report may be several years old and written to persuade people to waste less, so its figures are presented in a way that supports that aim. You also cannot see its survey questions, so you do not know who was asked. A respected source is often reliable, but check a second, more recent source to confirm the facts still hold.

Advantages and disadvantages

Practise this