Primary and Secondary Data Sources

1. Different data sources, their usefulness and disadvantages

Secondary sources of data constitute of all available published or unpublished information in a library, government or company records, in data tapes or internet among others sources where research information may be obtained. On the other hand, primary sources of data provide information elicited directly for the first time. This may include organization, individuals or trashcans where information is obtained through observation, ethnographic, surveys or interviews.

Secondary data sources provide a basis for subsequent studies without having to reinvent the wheel. They may indicate knowledge-gaps, which spur new research and provides insight to the different perspectives from which the topic of research may be perceived. The dynamism nature of different research problems may lender secondary sources irrelevant. For example, using old archive national data to examine and make inferences may lender the research findings inaccurate and unreliable to the extent that they don’t reflect the current circumstances. For example, current workplaces vary greatly compared to 20 years ago in terms of gender inspiration and expectations. As such, one has to be cautious while using secondary data sources.

Primary data sources provide up-to-date information regarding phenomenon under study and hence more reliable. However, it’s costly to collect fresh data, permission to access organization for interviews or observation may not be always granted and also research has to be co-opted.

1. Steps that I would undertake as a manager to allay staff apprehension before research team starts to research on how to improve staff performance. 

As a manager, I would call for a meeting to inform the rest of the staff on the possible repercussions of low performance such as lying off staff. I would then point out alternative option opted by management to have external expert help to breakthrough. For this reason, I would seek their cooperation so that the recommendations made may suit the company situation for improvements.

1. Relationship between multiple methods of data collection from multiple sources and reliability and validity of the measures

Convergence or correlation among data obtained through different methods on the same variable may help establish convergent validity. Though reliability cannot be directly assessed from multi-methods, usually, since a valid instrument is a valid instrument is reliable, it’s appropriate to presume reliability if validity is established through multi-trait or multi-matrix method.