Secondary Data Analysis

Book Description

An Introduction for Psychologists

The use of secondary data, or existing data that is freely available to researchers who were not involved in the original study, has a long and rich tradition in the social sciences. In recent years, the internet has made secondary datasets readily available at the click of a mouse. And yet, whether due to a lack of methodological training or as part of a broader indifference to alternative data collection strategies, psychologists have been surprisingly slow to utilize these useful resources.

Secondary Data Analysis: An Introduction for Psychologists provides students and seasoned researchers alike with an accessible introduction to secondary analysis.

The book is divided into two sections:

Part I provides psychologists with a set of accessible methodological primers, including chapters on using short forms of scales; analyzing survey data with complex sampling designs; and dealing with missing data. (Readers are assumed to possess a working knowledge of multivariate analysis.)

Chapters in Part II provide compelling examples of secondary data analysis in various kinds of psychological research, including development and aging, behavioral genetics, cross-cultural psychology, and the psychology of political affiliation.

This wide-ranging yet practical book shows how the analysis of secondary data can provide unique and compelling opportunities for advancing psychological science.
 

Edited by Kali H. Trzesniewski, PhD; M. Brent Donnellan, PhD; and Richard E. Lucas, PhD