Secondary analysis of qualitative data: an overview

Abstract

?Sekund?ranalyse qualitativer Daten: Ein ?berblick?. This paper provides an overview of secondary analysis of qualitative data, based on work examining the nature and use of the methodology in social research. It clarifies what secondary analysis is and how the methodology relates to other similar approaches used in qualitative research. It looks at the development of secon dary analysis in qualitative research, and some of the factors that have shaped this. And it examines the ways in which researchers have re-used qualitative data in published studies to date, describing which sources of data have been re-used, by whom and for what purposes. As well as reflecting on the ways in which researchers have so far utilized qualitative data in secondary studies, the paper also looks forward to some of the challenges that lie ahead.