Secondary Research

Secondary research usually follows the same steps as primary research except for first-hand data collection. So, it still involves coming up with a research question, designing a study, using pre-collected data, analysing it and then discussing the findings. However, unlike primary research, it rarely needs ethics approval or time and resource consuming first-hand data collection. Here’s a stepwise approach to getting involved in this type of research.

1.Find a supervisor. 

An expert in the field.

2.Decide on a research question and objectives. 

Make sure it serves a purpose and adds new information. 

3.Design the study. 

Will it be a narrative review, systematic review, metanalysis, critical appraisal etc. Set inclusion and exclusion criteria for papers and their data to be used. 

4.”Collect” data. 

Use research search engines to find relevant papers and their data to include. 

5.Statistically analyse data. 

Especially if doing a metanalysis.

6. Interpret data and reasonings.

7.Write-up. 

We suggest an outline below (best suited for a systematic review). 

a.Introduction: Define the importance of your research. Discuss current evidence based on a literature search. Introduce and define the research question, objective and aims. 

b.Method: Set out a detailed description of the literature search method used. Set out the inclusion/ exclusion criteria; e.g. “only selected randomised controlled trials published in the last 10 years” etc. Search sites used for data collection; PubMed, Cochrane library etc. Essentially, someone should be able to exactly replicate your study using your described method. 

c.Results: Present the results of the study using tables, graphs etc. and statistically analyse data if carrying out a meta-analysis. Comment on the heterogeneity (i.e. how similar is the data from different papers; are they comparable and can they be combined). Present the results using a forest plot.   

d.Discussion: Discuss the reasons for your results and findings. Identify limitations.

e.Future directions: Suggest improvements and future research avenues.   

f.Conclusion: Summarise and bring it all together to answer the research question.