Question

What is the difference between primary and secondary data in statistics?

(a) No difference

(b) The former is collected from the field of the investigation while the latter is collected from a separate entity

(c) The first set of data received is Primary data while the next set is secondary data

(d) The important data is primary data while the lesser important data is secondary data

I have been asked this question in an internship interview.

I would like to ask this question from Statistics topic in portion MATLAB Basics of MATLAB

Answer 1

The correct choice is (b) The former is collected from the field of the investigation while the latter is collected from a separate entity

Easiest explanation: Data collected directly from the field of purposeful investigation is primary data because it is directly used by the one who collects it. If the data, gathered by an agency or a person, is used by a different agency or person for some purpose- there is no direct link between the data and the person requiring it. Thus this is secondary data.