Content:
 

1. Prerequisites and uses of secondary analysis
2. Data for secondary analysis
3. Using old data to test new ideas
4. Technical means to add to the informational value of data
5. The potential of secondary analysis for teaching
6. Creating the data base for social science research
7. Notes

4. Technical means to add to the informational value of data

In traditional approaches to data analysis the single survey has been considered the natural born unit of data analysis. Frequently that orientation can impose serious limitations on secondary analysis. This is in particular the case if the researcher is interested in the social behaviour of subgroups of the population, which are not represented in a large enough proportion in the respective survey to lean to further statistical analysis. If, on the contrary, the individual interviews are taken from the same population, the natural unit then under certain constraints (functional equivalence of indicator, i.e. comparable or identical question formulation, contextual effects etc.) data can be accumulated across various surveys. In this way a higher representation of the respective groups can be achieved in the data base.

Likewise the informational value of the archived studies can be enriched by combining survey data with aggregate data from other sources like the statistical offices. The precondition here is that linkage variables, i.e. same identifiers in all data sets to be linked, are available.

From studies of leisure behaviour you may infer that swimming or tennis are of no interest in particular communities, but if you add contextual information from the respective communities to the survey data then you may find out that swimming pools or tennis courts are not available in the respective communities. This certainly will cause you to interpret your data in another light. Thus multilevel analysis can be made feasible by additional archival operations, provided that relevant data can be made available and that these data sets can be merged without violating data protection of the individual.