Finding Secondary Data Posted on February 29, 2008 You may find helpful data in unexpected places, says Bruce G. Link (bio).

In terms of where I get data and how I look for data, I work on the problem first and what kind of data do I need to answer the question that I'm interested in. And so it could be a lot of different ways. Sometimes it could be existing data, and I go to the data, it's there, you don't have to pay for it. I don't have to collect it. It's there, and it can answer the question.

And a lot of times that's where people start out with the secondary data, and there's a lot of great data around. Researchers, in a setting like I exist in here at Columbia, there is just tons of research projects that are going on, and it's good when you come into a context to survey all the possibilities in your area, to go around and meet with people. Don't make any commitments; just find out what's going on. And then find where the best spot for looking at your interest is. And sometimes it could be surprising where that is, because it's not always in working with somebody who's in your area.

Some risk factor that you're not interested in, but they have to collect other data, and your main interest could be embedded in that other data. And then the investigator doesn't mind if you do it. In fact, they encourage you to look into it; because it's not their main interest, it won't step on their toes. It's available to you.

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