Table Of Content

ARCHIVAL AND SECONDARY DATA Chandola_AW.indd 2 26/10/2020 14:42 THE SAGE QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH KIT Archival and Secondary Data Analysis by Tarani Chandola and Cara Booker is the 5th volume in The SAGE Quantitative Research Kit. This book can be used together with the other titles in the Kit as a comprehensive guide to the process of doing quantitative research, but is equally valuable on its own as a practical introduction to Data Archives and Secondary Data Analysis. Editors of The SAGE Quantitative Research Kit: Malcolm Williams – Cardiff University, UK Richard D. Wiggins – UCL Social Research Institute, UK D. Betsy McCoach – University of Connecticut, USA Founding editor: The late W. Paul Vogt – Illinois State University, USA ARCHIVAL AND SECONDARY DATA TARANI CHANDOLA CARA BOOKER THE SAGE QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH KIT Chandola_AW.indd 3 26/10/2020 14:42 SAGE Publications Ltd  Tarani Chandola and Cara Booker 2021 1 Oliver’s Yard 55 City Road This volume published as part of The SAGE Quantitative London EC1Y 1SP Research Kit (2021), edited by Malcolm Williams, Richard D. Wiggins and D. Betsy McCoach. 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Contents List of Figures and Tables ix About the Authors xiii 1 What Is Archival and Secondary Data Analysis? 1 Background and History 2 Secondary Data Analysis: What Does It Mean? 3 Why Should I Do Research on Second-Hand Data? 3 The Ontological and Epistemological Issues of Secondary Analysis 4 The Social Construction of Data 5 Useful Concepts and Terms in Secondary Analysis 6 Data and Theory 6 Secondary Data Analysis Versus Big Data Analysis 6 Metadata, Paradata and Secondary Data 7 Data and Variables 8 2 From Ideas to Research Questions 11 Background 12 Research Questions to Research Design 12 Coming Up With a Research Topic 13 Concepts and Variables 14 Choices and Compromise 15 How Do Your Concepts Relate 16 Population and Units of Analysis 17 3 Finding Secondary Data 21 Background 22 Your Ideal Data Set 22 Looking for Research Data 25 Starting Your Search for Research Data 25 Search Tool 1: Searching for a Particular Data Set Within the UKDS 26 Search Tool 2: Key Data Within the UKDS 27 Search Tool 3: Theme Pages Within the UKDS 27 Search Tool 4: The UKDS Data Catalogue 27 What Happens If You Get Too Many Results? 27 Who Can Access the Data? 28 vi ARCHIVAL AND SECONDARY DATA ANALYSIS Keywords, Search Terms and Databases 28 Practical Steps in Searching for Data 29 4 Getting to Know the Data 33 Background 34 Interpreting Data Correctly 34 Evaluating the Data Catalogue Entry 34 Establishing the Coverage, Universe and Methodology of the Data 36 Exploring the Survey Documentation 40 Using Nesstar to explore data 42 5 Basic Data Management 47 Background 48 Basic Data Manipulation Commands in the Statistical Software Packages SPSS and STATA 48 Using a Syntax or Command File 48 Basic SPSS Commands 49 Basic STATA Commands 49 Building a Usable Data Set 50 Creating Subsets of Data 50 Wide or Long Data Sets? 50 Common Problems With Getting Familiar With Secondary Data Sets 52 Tips on Handling Secondary Data Sets 53 Getting to Know the Understanding Society Data Set 57 Why Use the Understanding Society Data Set? 57 Contents of the Study 58 Target Population and Samples 58 Accessing the Data 59 Using the Data 59 Data Structure 59 Practical Exercise 63 Understanding Society Common STATA Commands 63 Commonly Used Commands to Explore Data 64 Commonly Used Commands to Modify and Sort the Data File 65 Commonly Used Commands to Summarise Data 65 6 Manipulating Data and Basic Statistical Analysis 69 Background 70 Examining Univariate Distributions 70 Example 71 Examining Bivariate Associations 77 CONTENTS vii Manipulating Data 77 Cross Tabulations 79 Comparing Means 83 Statistical Tests to Compare Means and Proportions 84 Examining Multivariate Associations 87 Making Statistical Inference 87 What Is Weighting? How Do You Use the Derived Weights? 88 Basic Longitudinal Data Analysis 93 Examples of Longitudinal Data 93 Examining Associations Between Variables Measured at Different Times 93 Describing Change in a Repeated Measure 94 Modelling Change in a Repeated Measure 94 Practical Longitudinal Data Analysis Exercise 95 Data Management 95 Descriptive Analysis 100 Regression Analysis 102 7 Writing Up Your Analyses 107 Background 108 Existing Guidelines 108 Reporting Your Results in Words 110 Preparing Tables 111 Preparing Graphs 111 Practical Exercise 112 8 Complexities of Working With Secondary Data: Limitations of Archival and Secondary Data Analysis 119 Background 120 Identifying Problems and Limitations in Secondary Data 120 Using Derived Variables 122 Dealing With Missing Data 123 Changing Your Research Questions 126 Showing Critical Awareness 127 Sharing Your Analyses and Coding 128 9 Conclusions 131 Next Steps in Secondary Data Analysis 132 Critics of Secondary Analysis 133 Ethical Risks and Informed Consent, Confidentiality and Anonymity 133 The Future of Secondary Data 134 viii ARCHIVAL AND SECONDARY DATA ANALYSIS Appendix 1: Case Study Example of Secondary Data Analysis Using Biomarker Data From Understanding Society, the UK Household Longitudinal Study 137 Appendix 2: Software and Data Used in This Book and Related User Guides 157 Glossary 159 References 163 Index 165 List of Figures and Tables List of figures 2.1 Independent and dependent variables 18 4.1 Screenshot from the UK Data Service Nesstar resource on the distribution of ‘How satisfied are you with: Your present job?’ from the data Set European Quality of Life Time Series, 2011 43 4.2 Screenshot from the UK Data Service Nesstar resource on the cross tabulation of ‘How satisfied are you with: Your present job?’ by ‘Is your household able to make ends meet?’ from the data Set European Quality of Life Time Series, 2011 44 6.1 D istribution of b_depenth ‘feels tense about job’ from wave 2 of Understanding Society 72 6.2 Distribution of b_dvage ‘age’ from wave 2 of Understanding Society 74 6.3 Histogram of combined job stress measure by categories of highest education qualification 85 7.1 Histogram of household income 113 7.2 Scatter plot of Age and HH_income 115 7.3 Scatter plot of household income and age 116 A1.1 Histogram of educational qualifications 143 A1.2 Histogram of social class 144 List of tables 5.1 Example of a ‘wide’ data set with one record/person per row 51 5.2 Example of a ‘long’ data set with multiple rows of data for each person 51 5.3 K ey data files for analysing data for responding households and individuals in Understanding Society and the British Household Panel Study 60