गौण आंकड़े

गौण आंकड़े दो मुख्य प्रकार के आंकड़ों में से एक है, जहाँ दूसरा प्रकार गौण आंकड़ा है। ये दो आंकड़ों के प्रकार अनुसंधान और सांख्यिकी में बहुत उपयोगी हैं

हम गौण आंकड़े, इसके उदाहरण, स्रोत और विश्लेषण के तरीकों का अध्ययन करेंगे।

गौण आंकड़े क्या है?

गौण आंकड़े वह आंकड़े हैं जो प्राथमिक स्रोतों के माध्यम से पहले से ही एकत्र किया गया है और शोधकर्ताओं को अपने स्वयं के शोध के लिए उपयोग करने के लिए आसानी से उपलब्ध कराया गया है। यह एक प्रकार का आंकड़ा है जो पहले से ही अतीत में एकत्र किया गया है।

एक शोधकर्ता ने किसी विशेष परियोजना के लिए आंकड़ा एकत्र किया हो सकता है, फिर इसे किसी अन्य शोधकर्ता द्वारा उपयोग करने के लिए उपलब्ध कराया हो सकता है। आंकड़े को राष्ट्रीय जनगणना की तरह बिना किसी विशिष्ट शोध उद्देश्य के सामान्य उपयोग के लिए भी एकत्र किया जा सकता है।

किसी विशेष शोध के लिए गौण के रूप में वर्गीकृत आंकड़े को किसी अन्य शोध के लिए प्राथमिक कहा जा सकता है। यह तब होता है जब आंकड़े का पुन: उपयोग किया जा रहा हो, जिससे यह पहले शोध के लिए प्राथमिक आंकड़े बन जाते हैं और दूसरे शोध के लिए गौण आंकड़े बन जाते हैं जिसके लिए इसका उपयोग किया जा रहा है।

गौण आंकड़ों के स्रोत

गौण आंकड़ों के स्रोतों में पुस्तकें, व्यक्तिगत स्रोत, पत्रिकाएँ, समाचार पत्र, वेबसाइट, सरकारी अभिलेख आदि उपस्थित हैं। गौण आंकड़े, प्राथमिक आंकड़े की तुलना में आसानी से उपलब्ध होने के लिए जाने जाते हैं। इन स्रोतों का उपयोग करने के लिए बहुत कम शोध की आवश्यकता होती है और जनशक्ति की आवश्यकता होती है।

इलेक्ट्रॉनिक मीडिया और इंटरनेट के आगमन के साथ, गौण आंकड़ों के स्रोत अधिक आसानी से सुलभ हो गए हैं। इनमें से कुछ स्रोतों पर नीचे प्रकाश डाला गया है।

• पुस्तकें

पुस्तकें आंकड़े एकत्र करने के सबसे पारंपरिक उपायों में से एक हैं। आज, हम जितने भी विषयों के बारे में सोच सकते हैं, उन सभी के लिए किताबें उपलब्ध हैं। शोध करते समय, हमें मात्र शोध किए जा रहे विषय पर एक पुस्तक की तलाश करनी है, फिर उस क्षेत्र में पुस्तकों के उपलब्ध भंडार में से चयन करना है। पुस्तकें, जब सावधानीपूर्वक चुनी जाती हैं, प्रामाणिक आंकड़ों का एक प्रामाणिक स्रोत होता है और साहित्य समीक्षा तैयार करने में उपयोगी हो सकती हैं।

• प्रकाशित स्रोत

विभिन्न शोध विषयों के लिए विभिन्न प्रकार के प्रकाशित स्रोत उपलब्ध हैं। इन स्रोतों से उत्पन्न आंकड़े की प्रामाणिकता मुख्य रूप से लेखक और प्रकाशन कंपनी पर निर्भर करती है।

प्रकाशित स्रोत मुद्रित या इलेक्ट्रॉनिक हो सकते हैं, जैसी भी स्थिति हो। लेखक और प्रकाशन कंपनी के निर्णय के आधार पर वे सशुल्क या निःशुल्क हो सकते हैं।

• अप्रकाशित व्यक्तिगत स्रोत

This may not be readily available and easily accessible compared to the published sources. They only become accessible if the researcher shares with another researcher who is not allowed to share it with a third party.

For example, the product management team of an organization may need data on customer feedback to assess what customers think about their product and improvement suggestions. They will need to collect the data from the customer service department, which primarily collected the data to improve customer service.

• पत्रिका

Journals are gradually becoming more important than books these days when data collection is concerned. This is because journals are updated regularly with new publications on a periodic basis, therefore giving to date information.

Also, journals are usually more specific when it comes to research. For example, we can have a journal on, “Secondary data collection for quantitative data” while a book will simply be titled, “Secondary data collection”.

• समाचार पत्र

In most cases, the information passed through a newspaper is usually very reliable. Hence, making it one of the most authentic sources of collecting secondary data.

The kind of data commonly shared in newspapers is usually more political, economic, and educational than scientific. Therefore, newspapers may not be the best source for scientific data collection.

• वेबसाइटें

The information shared on websites is mostly not regulated and as such may not be trusted compared to other sources. However, there are some regulated websites that only share authentic data and can be trusted by researchers.

Most of these websites are usually government websites or private organizations that are paid, data collectors.

• ब्लॉग्स

Blogs are one of the most common online sources for data and may even be less authentic than websites. These days, practically everyone owns a blog, and a lot of people use these blogs to drive traffic to their website or make money through paid ads.

Therefore, they cannot always be trusted. For example, a blogger may write good things about a product because he or she was paid to do so by the manufacturer even though these things are not true.

• डायरियों

They are personal records and as such rarely used for data collection by researchers. Also, diaries are usually personal, except for these days when people now share public diaries containing specific events in their life.

A common example of this is Anne Frank’s diary which contained an accurate record of the Nazi wars.

• सरकारी अभिलेख

Government records are a very important and authentic source of secondary data. They contain information useful in marketing, management, humanities, and social science research.

Some of these records include; census data, health records, education institute records, etc. They are usually collected to aid proper planning, allocation of funds, and prioritizing of projects.

• पॉडकास्ट

Podcasts are gradually becoming very common these days, and a lot of people listen to them as an alternative to radio. They are more or less like online radio stations and are generating increasing popularity.

Information is usually shared during podcasts, and listeners can use it as a source of data collection.

Some other sources of data collection include:

• Letters
• Radio stations
• Public sector records.

गौण आंकड़ों के लाभ

• Ease of Access

Most of the sources of secondary data are easily accessible to researchers. Most of these sources can be accessed online through a mobile device.  People who do not have access to the internet can also access them through print.

They are usually available in libraries, book stores, and can even be borrowed from other people.

• Inexpensive

Secondary data mostly require little to no cost for people to acquire them. Many books, journals, and magazines can be downloaded for free online.  Books can also be borrowed for free from public libraries by people who do not have access to the internet.

Researchers do not have to spend money on investigations, and very little is spent on acquiring books if any.

• Time-Saving

The time spent on collecting secondary data is usually very little compared to that of primary data. The only investigation necessary for secondary data collection is the process of sourcing for necessary data sources.

Therefore, cutting the time that would normally be spent on the investigation. This will save a significant amount of time for the researcher

• Longitudinal and Comparative Studies

Secondary data makes it easy to carry out longitudinal studies without having to wait for a couple of years to draw conclusions. For example, you may want to compare the country’s population according to census 5 years ago, and now.

Rather than waiting for 5 years, the comparison can easily be made by collecting the census 5 years ago and now.

• Generating new insights

When re-evaluating data, especially through another person’s lens or point of view, new things are uncovered. There might be a thing that wasn’t discovered in the past by the primary data collector, that secondary data collection may reveal.

For example, when customers complain about difficulty using an app to the customer service team, they may decide to create a user guide teaching customers how to use it. However, when a product developer has access to this data, it may be uncovered that the issue came from and UI/UX design that needs to be worked on.

गौण आंकड़ों के हानि

• Data Quality:

The data collected through secondary sources may not be as authentic as when collected directly from the source. This is a very common disadvantage with online sources due to a lack of regulatory bodies to monitor the kind of content that is being shared.

Therefore, working with this kind of data may have negative effects on the research being carried out.

• Irrelevant Data:

Researchers spend so much time surfing through a pool of irrelevant data before finally getting the one they need. This is because the data was not collected mainly for the researcher.

In some cases, a researcher may not even find the exact data he or she needs, but have to settle for the next best alternative.

• Exaggerated Data

Some data sources are known to exaggerate the information that is being shared. This bias may be some to maintain a good public image or due to a paid advert.

This is very common with many online blogs that even go a bead to share false information just to gain web traffic. For example, a FinTech startup may exaggerate the amount of money it has processed just to attract more customers.

A researcher gathering this data to investigate the total amount of money processed by FinTech startups in the US for the quarter may have to use this exaggerated data.

• Outdated Information

Some of the data sources are outdated and there are no new available data to replace the old ones. For example, the national census is not usually updated yearly.

Therefore, there have been changes in the country’s population since the last census. However, someone working with the country’s population will have to settle for the previously recorded figure even though it is outdated.

निष्कर्ष

Secondary data has various uses in research, business, and statistics. Researchers choose secondary data for different reasons, with some of it being due to price, availability, or even needs of the research.

Although old, secondary data may be the only source of data in some cases. This may be due to the huge cost of performing research or due to its delegation to a particular body (e.g. national census).

In short, secondary data has its shortcomings, which may affect the outcome of the research negatively and also some advantages over primary data. It all depends on the situation, the researcher in question, and the kind of research being carried out.

गौण आंकडों से तात्पर्य उस आंकड़े से है जो प्राथमिक उपयोगकर्ता के अलावा किसी अन्य व्यक्ति द्वारा पहले एकत्र किया गया है। सामाजिक विज्ञान के लिए गौण आंकडों के सामान्य स्रोतों में जनगणना, सरकारी विभागों द्वारा एकत्र की गई जानकारी, संगठनात्मक रिकॉर्ड और अन्य शोध उद्देश्यों के लिए मूल रूप से एकत्र किया गया आंकड़े सम्मिलित हैं। इसके विपरीत, प्राथमिक आंकडों का शोध करने वाले अन्वेषक द्वारा एकत्र किया जाता है।

गौण आंकडों के कुछ मुख्य बिंदुओं का उल्लेख नीचे दी गई तालिका में किया गया है।

आंकड़े	भूतपूर्व आँकड़े
प्रक्रिया	त्वरित और सरल
स्रोत	सरकारी प्रकाशन, वेबसाइट, पुस्तकें, जर्नल लेख, आंतरिक रिकॉर्ड आदि।
लागत प्रभाविता	अल्पव्ययी
संग्रहकाल	लघु
विशिष्ट	शोधकर्ता की आवश्यकता के लिए विशिष्ट हो भी सकता है और नहीं भी
उपलब्धता	परिष्कृत रूप
परिशुद्धता और विश्वसनीयता	अपेक्षाकृत कम