The research method that uses information that has been already collected and made available for the public by governments, businesses and educational institutions are called secondary analysis. Secondary analysis or secondary data analysis take advantage of data that is already available and apply it to new research.
Secondary analysis uses existing data, collected for a prior study, in order to research a topic that is distinct from that original work. This new topic can be an alternative perspective on the original work, or it can be a new research question all together.
