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There are many reasons why you may need to gather information; for example, to aid decision-making, to prepare a report, when undertaking research, or to justify budget expenditure. In this article, the sources of secondary data will be outlined and their uses and limitations as a source of information will be explained.
Sources of Statistical Information
There are two methods of gathering information:
- primary data sources – original data gathered from you or your organization’s original research such as from surveys, interviews and focus groups
- secondary data sources – data gathered by someone else or some other organization which you may want to use, i.e. ‘second hand’ data
Sources of Secondary Data
A good starting point for finding out which organizations publish research data is the internet and the research section of public libraries. There are many organizations which gather information and publish statistical data which are easily accessible at low or no cost. Below we outline some useful sources of secondary data.
Government and Official Statistics
Organizations in both the public and private sectors will often refer to the many official statistics published by the government to help in decision-making. For example, in the private sector, an insurance company when setting accurate premiums for life insurance policies, will want to have up-to-date facts on male and female life expectancy. In the public sector, a community education organization may require information about literacy and numeracy rates, e.g. when making a proposal to justify funding for a project.
The main sources of government statistics are published by:
NSO
The NSO publishes detailed research information about the current social, financial and economic situation in the UK. A great deal of this information is gathered from information in the Census.
- The Census. This provides valuable social and economic information about the UK population. The information is gathered every 10 years from UK households via a questionnaire. The results are published in stages as they are analyzed.
- Annual Abstract of Statistics. This document is published annually and provides summarized information on key areas, such as the economy, industry, healthcare, savings and investment.
DTI
The DTI publishes industry sector specific information in more detail than in the annual abstract of statistics. The DTI index has approximately 100 industry classifications which can be searched on its website.
It provides a good source of information on the following:
- small business statistics and government initiatives
- employment practice and law
- consumer policy and rights
Other Government Statistics
The Government’s Stationery Office is the source of the official Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) list, which is a coding of all categories and types of UK and European Businesses. For example Code 0111 is ‘The Growing of Cereals’. This information is often used for marketing purposes by businesses.
Private Sector Statistical Sources
There are many private companies and marketing organizations which provide valuable sources of data which are useful to public and private sector organizations. A few of the most useful are:
- National Readership Survey (NRS). this is a non-profit organization which has categorized people in the UK into six social categories (A, B, C1, C2, D and E), with A being the highest. This information is valuable, for example, to potential advertisers in newspapers who will want to target the most appropriate readership groups based on their social status.
- A Classification of Residential Neighborhoods (ACORN). CACI Ltd is an organization which has classified all households in the UK into 39 categories on the basis of their social status. They range from 1 (mansions with large land acreages), to 39 (Department of Work and Pensions accommodation for the unwaged). This information would be useful, for example, to a prospective business thinking of where to establish an upmarket restaurant.
- AC Neilsen and Which?. both publish sector specific retail information on trends and customer spending patterns on, for example, travel and tourism, and electronic goods. These are widely available for reference in academic and larger public libraries.
- University research reports. many universities have research centers of excellence, which are often funded by commercial organizations, e.g. in pharmaceuticals, oil and gas industries or retail studies. The research reports are often available free for reference either by direct application to the university or via a web search.
Trade Organizations and Professional Associations
These organizations provide low or no cost sources of secondary information via yearbooks, websites and trade or professional journals, for example:
- British Bankers’ Association. Publishes a wide variety of information on retail banking such as average deposit balances, current regulation and public policy issues.
- Chartered Institute of Personnel Development (CIPD). Publishes information on employment issues, such as average pay rates, trends in working patterns, and average sick days lost per employee in the UK.
- The Economist. This publication regularly provides tables and charts on UK, EC and worldwide trade and economic issues.
A useful starting point is to search your profession or trade’s website.
Limitations of Secondary Data
Secondary data is just that – it is second hand information gathered for someone else’s purpose. It, therefore, may have flaws such as:
- Not being usable in the form in which it was originally published.
- Being out of date. For example, data gathered from the Census is published in stages. It may take years for some of the information to become available.
- Not having validity or reliability. How accurate is the data? Were appropriate methods used to gather the data? Were the right units of measurement selected?
- It may be incomplete. For example, you may want information on all retired people in the UK. However, if you have used a source of information in which the age grouping is limited to age 70, this data will be of limited or of no use to you.
