Primary Data is information collected by sociologists themselves for their own purposes. These purposes may be to obtain a first-hand "picture" of a group or society, or to test a hypothesis (an untested theory).
Methods for obtaining primary data include:
Social Surveys - These involve asking people questions in a written questionnaire or an interview.
Participant Observation - The sociologists joins in with the activities of the group he or she is studying.
Experiments - Sociologists rarely use laboratory experiments, but the sometimes use field experiments and the comparative method.
Secondary Data is information that has been collected or created by someone else for their own purposes, but which the sociologist can then use.
Sources of secondary data include:
Official Statistics - Produced by government on a wide range of issues, such as crime, divorce, health and unemployment, as well as other statistics produced by charities, businesses and other organisations.
Documents - Such as letters, diaries, photographs, official reports, novels, newspapers and television broadcasts.
Quantitative Data refers to information in numerical form. Examples of quantitative data include official statistics. Quantitative data is usually collected by structured questionnaires or interviews.
Qualitative Data refers to information in written form. Examples of qualitative data include information gained from participant observation and in-depth interviews.
Triangulation or Methodological Pluralism refers to using more than one method to combine the advantages of both quantitative and qualitative data and primary and secondary research methods.
There can therefore be qualitative secondary and quantitative secondary data?
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