My opinion is that it will depend on the problem you are facing. Institutional framework, doing business indicators, macroeconomic conditions, are all secondary (processed) data sources. There's no other way to get that data (surveys are not very useful because using them would mean to "match" cases from your observational (possibly panel) dataset on entrepreneurship with those surveys which is not very reliable because emphasis may be different in each survey).

However, be careful if you are using a panel data, for example, because some of these secondary data may be disregarded if using fix effects estimations, or may introduce a lot of problems if using random effects.

I'd rather not pay attention to prejudice on what type of data is preferred is you're writing a Ph.D. dissertation. I'd use instead that time to make a good point about the need of using such type of data in my current setup.

Cheers!

Thank you Dr. Avanzini for your thorough reply. According to my knowledge,  world bank and global competitiveness index are the most recognized sources to measure corruption, education quality, access to credit and business regulations. However, I need to search more about this matter.

Cheers :)

In my opinion, the secondary data are involved as the mediating variables which can improve the institutional quality in term of the "Weakness-Threat". So it is better to have a look at the economical problems which are proposed nowadays. 

Dear Hasan

I think you have been given some erroneous advice about the use of secondary data in PhDs in the UK.  Secondary data are critical in all sorts of research contexts, especially when the analysis moves beyond the cases of individuals or small groups.  Data collected over time by organisations like the OECD, World Bank, IMF as well as national and local governments, Ministries and Departments are invaluable sources of information for research.  The relevance of secondary data for your research depends on the research question -- it is not a case of some sources and types of data being acceptable while others are not.

I hope this comment is useful.

Best wishes

Richard Bedford

Emeritus Professor, University of Waikato

Thank you Amir and Prof. Richard for your valuable feedback. I agree with you Prof. Richard that the secondary data should be relevant to the research questions.

Dear Hasan,

The difference between primary and second data collection is that primary research data collection involves conducting research oneself, or using the data for the purpose it was intended for. Secondary research data, on the other hand, was collected by a third party or for some other purpose.

I think secondary data is valuable in research but it should be a base for your research or primary data collection.  The secondary data collected from organizations like the OECD, World Bank, IMF as well as national and local governments, Ministries and Departments are invaluable sources of information for research. But to make base of your research, you can not use it directly to make conclusions on this data for your research because purpose of collecting it might be different.  So you can refer this for your research and Literature Review and then as per your research problem statement, objectives, research questions; you need to collect your research primary data. which can be used for data analysis and conclusion.

I hope this might be useful !

Best wishes!

Dhananjay S. Deshpande

Symbiosis International University, Pune, India

Thank you all for your valuable feedback :)