NCJ Number
122179
Date Published
1990
Length
11 pages
Annotation
This chapter reviews the general principles of secondary analysis and their application to criminal justice research, discusses the problems of secondary analysis and the ways in which they can be addressed by social science data archives, and provides examples of the potential applications of three large-scale criminal justice data bases.
Abstract
Secondary analysis is sometimes referred to as "extended" analysis because it involves the use of data to conduct research beyond the theoretical or analytical goals and interests of the original principal investigators. Archival data provide an efficient, cost-effective, and timely way for researchers to pursue important theoretical and policy-related crime and criminal justice issues. More researchers are working with better data than would be available if they had to organize and administer their own data-collection projects. They are also devoting more of their effort to analysis than to the time-consuming administrative tasks of managing large-scale data-collection projects. Although care must be taken in reviewing the principal investigators' decisions about conceptualization and operationalization, secondary analysis has increased research opportunities. The National Jail Census, the Uniform Crime Reports, and the National Crime Surveys are reviewed to show how archival activity enhances the basic data products prepared and distributed by major Federal agencies.