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Bryman: Social Research Methods: 3e

Chapter 13

http://www.data-archive.ac.uk/
The UK Data Archive is perhaps the most important resource for researchers who want to conduct secondary analysis of quantitative data. Here you can browse the archives by keyword to find datasets about a particular topic, and then download or order them. The Archive is also involved in acquiring and preserving datasets, and there is information about how to deposit your work there after a project is finished.

http://www.statistics.gov.uk/
This is the home page of the Office for National Statistics, the government's main department for compiling official statistics. Here you can search under particular topic areas (such as 'health and care') to find out about the main social trends that have been discovered so far and the surveys from which these data were collected. This would be another great way of identifying potential data sets for secondary analysis, and so could be followed by a visit to the Data Archive!

http://www.socresonline.org.uk/2/1/brannen_lamb.html
This article, written by Karen Brannen and Joanne Lamb at the University of Edinburgh, provides an example of the way secondary analysis can be used in cross-national studies. Their research focused on youth transitions from education to work in Scotland, Ireland and the Netherlands, and drew upon data from a selection of social surveys, such as the School Leavers' Survey. This 'meta-dataset' was stored and analysed by computer to produce cross-cultural research findings.

http://www.socresonline.org.uk/4/4/platt.html
In this article, Jennifer Platt from the University of Sussex reports on a project that used secondary data analysis to explore the low representation of women in the British sociological labour market. Her study used data from official statistics and other archived materials that contained quantitative data about university jobs in Sociology.

http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/unobtrus.php
This page comes from the 'research methods knowledge base', which is written and maintained by William Trochim at Cornell University. It discusses the concept of 'unobtrusive measures', in which the researcher does not enter into the field they are studying. Trochim discusses secondary data analysis as an example of this, and outlines some of its advantages and disadvantages as a research method.