How to Use Secondary Research in Dissertation

Secondary Research is an easy type of data collection method that is frequently used by students. Secondary research doesn’t require student to go to different places, check out the historical monuments, and listen to the opinions of the people and other things. You only need to sit on a chair in the library with your laptop and you can read all the books related to your research topic. It will be pretty much easy if you use an online library that is authorized by your institution. Secondary research really won’t let you waste your time and money on doing and making things up which will not guarantee success at the end of the day. You can start writing at any point and describe your opinions and ideas on the facts that need to be explained.

Even though secondary research is easy and convenient, it has some drawbacks as well. Secondary research won’t be able to give you the actual facts on a topic. Besides, there might be some slight differences between your ideas and the ideas of the previous researchers. The information provided may not be valid and suitable for your topic. And, there might be some factors that can be different due to the different time zones. Secondary research won’t give you the necessary factors that need to be mentioned in your research paper.

Methods and Purpose of Secondary Research

Now, when you know about the benefits and drawbacks of the secondary research, you need to know the real methods of secondary research and the purpose of each method as well. There are three different ways to conduct secondary research:

Method 1: Use a Secondary Data Set in Separation
Method 2: Use two Secondary Date Sets with each other
Method 3: Unite Secondary and Primary Data Sets up

Let’s try to discuss these methods one by one and know the correct timing of using these methods.

Use a Secondary Data Set in Isolation

This is the to-the-point method that is like a copy and paste of a textbook. In this method, all you have to do is to look for the secondary data set that fits with your research topic. You need to know about your topic. Then, considering your subject and topic, try to look for a secondary data set that has the contents of your topic and will be enough to give you aspiration to present your ideas as well on the topic.
For example, if your topic is marketing plan of Marks and Spencer, you know that your subject is marketing and business administration. So, you have to go to the libraries or search on Google about the research papers that were written on the target topic and subject by the previous writers.
You can provide the basis of your whole research on that secondary data set.

There might be some conditions where you have to give some references as well. It might be easy as you have help from your textbook, journals, magazines, and most important feature, the Internet.
You can ask for the opinions of the people around you on the topic and present your unique ideas on some topics as well. Creativity means a lot for the professors when it comes to writing academic papers in the undergraduate or graduate degree.
So, you must try to be creative and present the facts that have never been described to the world.

Use Two Secondary Data Sets with Each Other

This is the second method that you can adopt in the process of writing a secondary research paper. You can decide to choose this method when you can’t find all the important facts on research on a topic in one secondary data set. Sometimes, you may not have all the facts on a topic and there might be some other researchers who researched on the specific topic in the past other than the main researcher. In short, if there are many secondary data sets available on a topic and there are various factors that are different in two secondary data sets, you can fuse two secondary data sets. There might be some relations between certain unpredictable sentences in both of the secondary data sets. Or, you can use this type of method when you want to compare the studies of the past made on the topic.
For example, when you want to write on the social privacy of the people during different time eras and regions of the world, you can fuse different data sets on the topic with each other and write some important factors that describe the differences between the two data sets. One researcher might have been written on the topic that describes the methods of protecting social privacy and the other researcher might have researched the factors that affect the social privacy of a person. In addition to that, there might be some differences in time and space between the two data sets. You can fuse them both and write in a combined state that would explain the points of both researchers and verify your research paper as well.

Unite Secondary and Primary Data Sets up

This is the third method that you can use in case if you are not satisfied with the research papers of the previous researchers completely. If you are not assured if the use of secondary data set in your research paper would be productive, you can try to investigate a topic on your own. On the other hand, you can try to consult a secondary data set that can testify to your primary research.
This method can mostly be used when you want to investigate a topic by yourself, but there is not enough information that you can obtain. So, you can decide to write your incomplete primary research in the research paper and then, have a look at a secondary data set that can be able, to sum up, your research paper.
For example, if you have the topic to write on the attitude of people in two different countries toward a point, you can investigate the attitude of the people in your own country (this is the primary research), but you can’t go to another country just to look at the attitude of people. In this case, you would look for a data set that would give information or history of the attitude of people living in the other country (this is the secondary research). You can say that you can fuse primary and secondary research when there is a comparison between your state and a distant state. You can also use this method when you have to notice the history and wars of the past.