Secondary Data

What is it?

Primary data sources

Primary data sources – This will be the emphasis of this

class. How do you design a study to capture current experiences/events of a population that you are interested in?

Secondary data sources

Secondary data sources – are collected by someone else prior to your needing the data. Much of what you find in a library falls into this category.

These sources often provide analysis and context for understanding primary data.

Examples: articles, reports, books.

Secondary data sources

Advantages of secondary data sources Usually quite inexpensive to get. Usually quickly available.

Disadvantages of secondary data sources What is available to you is also probably

available to your competitors (if they have the skills to find them!)

May not be focused on your particular issue. May not be reflective of the population of

your interest. May not be recent enough to be relevant.

Using secondary data sources in a situation analysis

How can the Metropolitan State Library help?

http://www.metrostate.edu/library/

What are proprietary databases? How do I get to them? How can the Library’s web page help

me determine which databases to use?Metropolitan State Library’s JumpStart pageshttp://jumpstart.metrostate.edu/subjects.phtml

Using secondary data sources in a situation analysis

What kinds of questions might you ask when doing a situational analysis?Think about the organization as an entity.What’s the group’s mission? Why does this

group exist? Where would we go to answer this question?

The organization’s voice is best heard through their own web site . Look for links that say “About us”, or “What we do”.

Example: League of Minnesota Cities. What do they say about themselves? http://www.lmnc.org/main/whatwedo.cfm

Using secondary data sources in a situation analysis

What does the history of an organization tell us about an organization’s culture? What is currently affecting the organization?

Where would we go to answer these questions?For bigger companies, governments and organizations, books and articles can be very helpful. Example: Disney and copyright.

Books are located by using book catalogs, and articles are located by using our library’s proprietary article databases.

For small, local, and private companies, governments and organizations, much of this cultural history is found in both public and proprietary internal records. In addition to public records, many organizations keep their own archives. Local newspaper coverage is an important resource as well.

Using secondary data sources in a situation analysis

Books WebPALS catalog [Link to screen egs – Disney and

Grantwriting.]

Articles Academic journals [Link to EbscoHost BSP]

Magazines [Link to EbscoHost MasterFile]

Trade journals [Link to InfoTrac’s Article Search]

Newspapers [Link to ProQuest Newspapers amd Chronicle of Philanthropy]

Using secondary data sources in a situation analysis“If I only have a citation, how do I get a copy of

the article?”1. Use the Full Text Journal Finder (A-to-Z) service to see

if a Metropolitan State subscription database has the full-text of an article you need. Go through Metro’s link at the top of http://www.metrostate.edu/library/database.php

If the journal is not available through AtoZ, then:2. Search Metropolitan State’s print journal collection in

the WebPALS catalog (under the Search for Books icon on our library’s web page) or visit another library.

If the journal is not available in our print collection, then:3. Request the article through our Interlibrary Loan

service: http://www.metrostate.edu/library/submit.html

Using secondary data sources in a situation analysis

What does the number and strength of a company’s competitors in a particular industry tell us about the company?

Where would we go to answer this question?

First, understand what SIC and NAICS industry codes are. [insert link to my NAICS codes page here]

In InfoTrac’s Business and Company Resource Center, use the Company Search. Look at the SIC and NAICS industry codes. Choose the code that best fits your company, and follow the company profiles tab for other companies active in the same industry. [Link to a screen by screen search example.]

Using secondary data sources in a situation analysis

What can we learn from understanding larger macroeconomic trends on an industry?

Where would we go to answer this question?

Industry analysis is available in Standard and Poor’s NetAdvantage - Industry Surveys [link to

screen by screen page] InfoTrac’s Business and Company Resource Center -

Industry Search [link to screen by screen page]

ValueLine – Industry Lookup [link to screen by screen page]

Macroeconomic analysis is available from Conference Board [link to screen by screen page]

Using secondary data sources in a situation analysis

What sources are available for doing a financial analysis of a public company? SEC’s Edgar database 10-ks and 10-qs http://www.sec.gov Many public companies put their Annual Reports on their website. It is

common to find these reports under ‘Investor Relations’.Example: Northwest Airlines. About Northwest. Investor Relations.

What sources are available for doing a financial analysis of a non-profit organization? GuideStar database IRS 990 reports http://www.guidestar.org Register personally in GuideStar for a free account

What sources are available for finding local government budgets? Do a Google search with place name and government followed by the word

budget. For example: Lincoln Nebraska city budget. http://www.google.com

Posting this information is a local government’s decision. However, I have had good luck finding budget information in cities with a population over 350,000.

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is the representation of others’ work as your own.

Faculty at Metropolitan State have access to a text-matching service called Turnitin.

To see an example of good paraphrasing, go to http://www.metrostate.edu/library/tutorial/mod6/05-paraphrasing.html

If you have questions about how to integrate quotations into your text, or how to paraphrase, contact the Metropolitan State Writing Center. http://www.metrostate.edu/writingcenter/