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AQA GCSE · Question 10.4 · Data Collection and Sampling Methods
Sol decides to find the actual birth rates for a selection of countries. He says, “This is primary data as it is me who is going on the Internet to find it.”
Is Sol correct? Tick a box and give a reason for your answer.
Sol decides to find the actual birth rates for a selection of countries. He says, “This is primary data as it is me who is going on the Internet to find it.”
Is Sol correct? Tick a box and give a reason for your answer.
How to approach this question
First, recall the definitions of primary and secondary data. Primary data is collected firsthand by the researcher for their specific purpose. Secondary data has been collected by someone else for a different purpose. Did Sol conduct the surveys himself to get the birth rates, or is he using data that already exists? Based on this, decide if he is correct and explain why.
Full Answer
No.
Reason: The data was collected by someone else (e.g., the CIA World Factbook). Sol is just accessing it; he is not collecting it himself for the first time. This makes it secondary data.
Sol is incorrect.
**Primary data** is data that you collect yourself, for your own specific research purposes. Examples include conducting your own surveys, interviews, or experiments.
**Secondary data** is data that has been collected by someone else for their purposes, which you then use for your own research.
When Sol goes on the Internet to find birth rates from a source like the CIA World Factbook, he is using data that the CIA (or another organisation) has already collected. Sol did not collect it firsthand, so it is secondary data.
Common mistakes
✗ Ticking "Yes".
✗ Ticking "No" but giving an incorrect reason, e.g., "because the internet is not reliable". Reliability does not determine if data is primary or secondary.
Practice the full AQA GCSE Statistics Foundation Tier Paper 1
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