PRIMARY AND SECONDARY DATA, INCLUDING META-ANALYSIS
CONTENTS
PRIMARY AND SECONDARY DATA
META-ANALYSIS
PRIMARY AND SECONDARY DATA
When researching, you have to gather information and evidence from various sources.
Primary sources provide raw information and first-hand evidence. Examples include interview transcripts, statistical data, and works of art. A primary source gives you direct access to the subject of your research.
Secondary sources provide second-hand information and commentary from other researchers. Examples include journal articles, reviews, and academic books. A secondary source describes, interprets, or synthesises primary sources.
Primary sources are more credible as evidence, but good research uses both primary and secondary sources.
QUESTIONS ON PRIMARY AND SECONDARY DATA
Read the item and then answer the questions that follow.
In a study of social cognition, a researcher examined perspective-taking in children aged 5 and 9 years. An overall perspective-taking score was calculated from responses to a questionnaire. A high score indicated good perspective-taking, and a low score indicated poor perspective-taking. The scores are shown in the table below.
TABLE 2
.
Explain why the table data is primary data, not secondary data. 2 MARKS.
Explain one strength of primary data. 3 MARKS
A researcher wanted to investigate whether there was a relationship between locus of control and resistance to social influence. Before the investigation began, he devised a questionnaire to measure locus of control.
Why would the researcher’s questionnaire produce primary data? 2 MARKS
Suggest one limitation of primary data. 2 MARKS
A psychologist is investigating the causes of addiction to gambling. She interviews people attending debt counselling for problem gamblers. She asks them to describe their family and early childhood, recording everything they say. She also reviews information in gamblers’ debt counsellor reports.
Referring to this investigation, explain the difference between primary and secondary data. 4 MARKS
Please explain how the psychologist could continue her investigation by conducting a thematic analysis of the interview recordings. 6 MARKS.
META-ANALYSIS
A meta-analysis integrates findings from multiple studies to draw a more comprehensive conclusion with greater statistical weight than any individual study. This method blends qualitative and quantitative data from selected studies to derive a singular, powerful conclusion. The strength of a meta-analysis lies in its ability to include a larger number of subjects and a wider diversity among them, enhancing the overall impact and reliability of the findings.
This analytical approach can compare and contrast findings from different research efforts, highlighting common threads, points of contention, or new insights that emerge from the collective data. It's particularly valuable when numerous studies explore the same question, pooling their data to form the most reliable evidence base.
Meta-analyses can compare results across studies and identify patterns, sources of disagreement, and other interesting relationships that may emerge from multiple studies.
Meta-analyses can be performed when multiple scientific studies address the same question. Meta-analytic results are considered the most trustworthy source of evidence.
Meta-analysis is a powerful statistical technique for synthesising results from multiple studies to achieve several key objectives.
Here's a breakdown of its primary purposes:
STATISTICAL SIGNIFICANCE: To resolve discrepancies and conflicting outcomes among studies. By aggregating data, a meta-analysis can determine whether there is a statistically significant effect across all studies, even when individual studies report different results.
GOOD MEASURE OF MAGNITUDE: To refine the understanding of how strong a particular effect or relationship is across different contexts. Meta-analysis calculates a pooled estimate, providing a more precise measure of effect size than any single study could offer.
OBJECTIVITY: To assess the consistency of findings across multiple studies. A meta-analysis evaluates the reliability of results by examining if similar methodologies yield similar outcomes, thereby verifying the robustness of research findings.
PREVALENCE: To ascertain the rate or frequency of a phenomenon, condition, or characteristic within a given population.
CULTURAL VARIABILITY: To explore how cultural contexts influence the outcomes of interest.
ADVANTAGES
Greater statistical power
Confirmatory data analysis
Greater ability to extrapolate to the general population affected
Considered an evidence-based resource
DISADVANTAGES
It is difficult and time-consuming to identify appropriate studies
Not all studies provide adequate data for inclusion and analysis
Requires advanced statistical techniques
Variability in study population characteristics can introduce complexity.
While meta-analyses demand rigorous study selection and advanced statistical skills, they stand as a cornerstone of evidence-based research, offering robust conclusions drawn from a broad spectrum of data.
META-ANALYSIS EXAMPLES
A META-ANALYSIS OF THE STRANGE SITUATION
Van Ijzendoorn & Kroonenberg examined almost 2,000 Ainsworth Strange Situation classifications from 8 countries. Differences and similarities among distributions across sample types were investigated using correspondence analysis. Aggregating samples by country and continent provided a firmer empirical basis for cross-cultural analysis. Substantial intracultural differences were established; in several instances, samples from one country resembled those in other countries more than they did each other. The data also suggest a pattern of cross-cultural differences, with avoidant classifications more prevalent in Western European countries and resistant classifications more frequent in Israel and Japan. Intracultural variation was nearly 1.5 times the cross-cultural variation.
META-ANALYSIS OF SCHIZOPHRENIA IN FAMILIES
QUESTIONS ON META-ANALYSIS
A Meta-Analysis pools the sample populations from different studies, such as randomised controlled trials, into a single statistical analysis and treats them as a single large sample population, yielding a single conclusion.
Please choose one option.
True
False
2. One potential design pitfall of Meta-Analyses that is important to pay attention to is?
Please choose one option.
If the authors appropriately combined studies, they did not compare apples and oranges.
If the authors used only quantitative data.
Whether it is evidence-based.
If the authors combined studies with conflicting results.
