Secondary Data on Health‐Related Subjects: Major Sources, Uses, and Limitations

Abstract

Although secondary data are generally neglected by nurses, they are useful for nurse researchers, practitioners, educators, administrators, and policy makers. Major sources of data on health-related subjects are medical records, administrative records, the census, vital statistics, surveys of the National Center for Health Statistics, social science archives, and nursing archives, each with its specific uses and limitations.

Health-related quality of life in individuals with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

“…[53][54][55] Another limitation of this investigation was the lack of control on temporal ordering of predictor variables. Jones' original model proposed numerous reciprocal relationships that were not tested in this investigation and speak to the cyclical relationship of breathlessness, emotions, HRQOL, and the difficulty establishing cause and effect.…”

Issues to Consider when Choosing and Using Large National Databases for Research of Families

“…The secondary analyst needs to be aware of the goals of the agency in addition to the purpose of the study. Brown and Semradek (1992) suggest that the secondary analyst review the exact information collected and the conclusions reached and look for congruence between the two. For example, a researcher is studying family processes related to child abuse through a secondary analysis of data collected by an agency that provides mental health services to families with intrafamilial violence.…”

“…In evaluating a database, the secondary analyst should search for threats to reliability: problems with instruments, poor training and supervision of data collectors, and inconsistent data collection procedures. Also deserving of scrutiny are potential threats to validity, such as instruments that do not fit concepts, a large amount of missing data or confusion about coding missing data, and inaccuracy in data entry (Brown & Semradek, 1992;Lange & Jacox, 1993).…”

Assistive Device Use Among the Elderly:

“…This survey accepts answers from alternate respondents when household members are not home at the time of the interview, and information provided is not verified by the physician (Brown & Semradek, 1992). Although information from 3,297 subjects was obtained, some questions did not have a 100% response rate; response rates ranged from 2541 (77%)-3297 (100%).…”