May 20, 2025

Secondary research—the analysis of data originally collected for other purposes—offers a valuable strategy for advancing knowledge in the social and behavioral sciences. For example, survey data gathered for a health policy evaluation might later be used to explore social determinants of mental health, observational data collected for an educational study might support new investigations into developmental trends, or Medicare data can provide insight into climate change impacts on mortality.

This approach allows researchers to extract additional insights from existing resources, reducing the need for new data collection and minimizing participant burden. It also aligns with broader scientific goals of efficiency, transparency, and data sharing.

Considerations

Secondary research brings a few advantages:

• Access to large-scale, high-quality datasets that would be costly or time-consuming to generate independently
• Ability to conduct exploratory or confirmatory research using real-world data that is often free of cost
• Potential for expedited IRB review or exemption, depending on the nature of the data and whether identifiable information is involved

However, there are also challenges to consider:

• Existing data may not fully align with a new research question or methodology
• Documentation about the original data collection process may be limited
• Variables of interest may be missing or measured inconsistently
• Analyses may require advanced statistical methods suited to complex datasets

Example Data Sources

There are numerous extant datasets that researchers can use for secondary analysis. A few resources available on our campus are:

• The Cline Center on campus curates the SPOTLITE Dataset, which captures details of police use of lethal force in the United States. Read more about the available data here.
• The Illinois Federal Statistical Research Data Center (FSRDC) hosts detailed datasets from several federal agencies such as the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the U.S. Census Bureau. Read more here.
• Organizations like the Research Data Alliance are compiling formerly public federal datasets for continuous researcher access. Read more here.

Ethical and Regulatory Considerations

Researchers must be aware of the ethical and legal responsibilities associated with secondary data use. Access to certain datasets may require:

• Institutional Review Board approval, depending on how the data were collected and whether they involve human subjects, in accordance with federal regulations (e.g., 45 CFR 46)
• Data Use Agreements or Institutional Certifications, especially when working with sensitive, identifiable, or genomic data
• Compliance with data repository requirements, including secure data handling and confidentiality protections

Secondary research offers social and behavioral scientists a powerful means of generating new knowledge, validating findings, and contributing to a more collaborative and resource-efficient scientific enterprise. By leveraging existing datasets thoughtfully and ethically, researchers can maximize the value of prior work while pursuing innovative questions that advance their fields.