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TESOL:Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages
(M.A. only)

The M.A. Program in Linguistics (TESOL), founded in April 2006, builds on Sophia's traditional strengths in linguistics and foreign language education. It provides graduate courses similar to those in the United States and Canada with emphasis on both theory and practice.

The approximately 10 faculty members in TESOL have advanced degrees from leading universities in the United States, Canada, Great Britain and Japan, and are actively engaged in research, teacher training and publication in their specializations. They represent a diverse spectrum of applied linguistics and language education, ensuring a comprehensive program for anyone interested in teaching English as a second or foreign language.
Every year 8 applicants are admitted to pursue the M.A. degree, and although the TESOL program is a M.A. program, many students go on to study for their Ph.D. Linguistics program. The size of the program is kept small to encourage close student-faculty interaction.

The M.A. Program in Linguistics (TESOL) and the Ph.D. program in Linguistics offer the degrees of M.A. in Linguistics and Ph.D. in Linguistics respectively. The students are required to take three compulsory courses--TEFL(Teaching English as a Foreign Language) in Japan, Introduction to Linguistics and Second Language Acquisition-as well as a designated number of credits from courses offered in the Core Courses, as well as Integrated Seminars I and II in consultation with faculty members. The students work on their M.A. thesis under the guidance of an academic advisor, who also chairs their M.A. thesis committee. Ph.D. students in Linguistics work on their dissertation under the guidance of an academic advisor, but are not required to do any specific course work.

Both the TESOL and Linguistics Ph.D. programs are designed in such a way that all required credits and consultation can be attained through the medium of English. However, there are also courses which are offered in Japanese as well. The TESOL and Linguistics programs draw on the resources of the Sophia Linguistics Institute for International Communication. The institute sponsors many lectures and workshops by both Japanese and international scholars-many of whom give their presentation in English--providing additional opportunities for the students to learn about their areas of specialization through the medium of English. The students are also encouraged to give presentations at domestic as well as international conferences starting from the M.A. level.

Admissions Information

--Entry Semester: Spring (April)

--Method of Admissions: Document screening and Oral Examination at the Yotsuya campus (online interview is not available)

--Information session:
An online information session will be held in July 10, 2021. For more information, please click here.(122.24 KB)Booklets about the TESOL Program and other topics are available for download from the webpage of Graduate School of Languages and Linguistics

Application Schedule for April 2022 entry

The following information was made available as of April 28, 2021.
Subsequent to the above date, unavoidable circumstances due to COVID-19 may result in changes in the University's policies and guidelines. Please note that in cases where any changes are made, the latest information are to be updated on this website as well as the booklet of the "Application Booklet."
The updated information will also be notified to registered applicants via email once the application period opens.

1. September Examination （9月入試）

Online application period

June 16 - June 30, 2021

Application documents submission Deadline

July 1, 2021

Issue of the examinee ticket

September 7, 2021

Oral examination Date

September 15, 2021

Notification of results on the website

10:00 a.m.(JST*), September 29, 2021

Matriculation deadline

October 20, 2021

2.February Examination （2月入試） *only applicants who hold valid status of residence in Japan

Online application period

November 17 - December 1, 2021

Application documents submission Deadline

December 2, 2021

Issue of the examinee ticket

February 8, 2022

Oral examination Date

February 16, 2022

Notification of results on the website

10:00 a.m.(JST*), February 28, 2022

Matriculation deadline

March 7, 2022

Application Booklet & Form

Download " Application Booklet 2022(254.77 KB)"
*We have added information about the TOEFL Special Home Edition on June 1st, 2020 (please check p.5).

Go to On-line Application

MEXT Scholarship for Degree Students

If you are interested in MEXT scholarship, click here.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The M.A. Program in Linguistics (TESOL), founded in April 2006, builds on Sophia's traditional strengths in linguistics and foreign language education. It provides graduate courses similar to those in the United States and Canada with emphasis on both theory and practice.

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the body of terms used with a particular technical application in a subject of study, profession, etc.

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The act or an instance of following up, as to further an end or review newdevelopments: The follow-up is often as important as the initial contact in gainingnew clients. The social worker's emphasis on followup reassured her clients.

2. One that follows so as to further an end or increase effectiveness: The softwarewas a successful follow-up to the original product.

3. An article or a report giving further information on a previously reported item ofnews.

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Social identity theory (SIT) provides a framework for explaining intergroup behavior and intergroup communication based on the inherent value humans place on social group memberships, and their desire to view their specific social groups in a positive light.

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Abstract

Social identity theory (SIT) provides a framework for explaining intergroup behavior and intergroup communication based on the inherent value humans place on social group memberships, and their desire to view their specific social groups in a positive light. This desire can lead to intergroup prejudice and conflict. Within the media sphere, SIT can help us understand the links between media ownership and media content, the nature of group portrayals in dominant-group-owned media, group-based selective consumption of specific media messages, and the effects of exposure to that content for dominant and subordinate group members. Newer Internet-based media provide new challenges and opportunities for those taking a broad social identity approach to mass communication.

Social identity theory (SIT) explains relations between large social groups using psychological processes concerning social identity-an individual's sense of belonging to a group and the positive or negative feelings associated with that membership. The theory has become an umbrella term for a set of more specific theories of intergroup behavior.

Summary of Social Identity Theory

The theory originated in studies using the "minimal group paradigm" in the early 1970s (Tajfel, Billig, Bundy, & Flament, ). These studies demonstrated people's apparently inherent desire to distinguish themselves from others based on group memberships, and their willingness to sacrifice absolute levels of rewards to maintain relative superiority over members of other groups. From these studies, Tajfel and Turner () developed a sophisticated model of how individual identity-related motivations predict individual-level motivations to discriminate between groups, and both individual and collective responses to societal-level group status, subsequently dubbed SIT (Tajfel & Turner, ).

Why Do People Engage In Intergroup Discrimination?

According to SIT, categorization of our social world is a natural and inevitable human instinct, serving to simplify our environment. As we categorize people into groups, we also categorize ourselves into some of those same groups-social identification. Once we "belong" to a group (our "ingroup"), we seek ways to gain positive feelings from that group membership. Viewing the ingroup more positively than other groups ("outgroups") is one way to achieve those positive feelings. Seeking positive distinctiveness for one's ingroup hence becomes an explanation for holding negative beliefs and attitudes about outgroups in our environment, and hence for prejudice and ultimately discrimination. The motivational basis of SIT in a desire for positive self-concept (Abrams & Hogg, ) has been supplemented in recent years by additional explanations-for example that (self-)categorization and intergroup differentiation is a way to reduce uncertainty (Hogg, ). Empirical examinations of SIT have shown that ingroup favoritism is not isomorphic with outgroup derogation (Mummendey & Otten, ).

How Do Groups Respond To Marginalization?

For some social groups, particularly marginalized or minority groups, the ability to perceive positive distinctiveness is constrained by realities of social prejudice and discrimination. SIT suggests that individual and group belief systems will drive the group response in such situations. People may adopt a social mobility strategy, essentially "leaving" one ingroup for a different, more socially valued group. Such behavior is likely when group members have little sense of identification with their group, when boundaries between groups are permeable (it is relatively easy for a person to "move" from one group to another, unconstrained by visible or other signs of group membership), and when the intergroup hierarchy is viewed as relatively stable and legitimate (i.e., change in the ingroup's marginalized position is unlikely). This behavior is apparent when individuals "pass" as members of another group, or successfully become members of that group (e.g., via achieving citizenship in another more desirable national group).

At the other extreme, people may adopt a social change belief system. This set of ideals drives people to act collectively to challenge the status quo and raise the position of their ingroup within the social hierarchy. Rather than abandoning their group for a more desirable outgroup, they instead attempt to make their ingroup's position more desirable. People are more likely to endorse social change ideologies when their ingroup identification is high, boundaries between groups are impermeable, and the status quo is perceived to be unstable and illegitimate. Collective movements around group rights exemplify this belief system-the U.S. Civil Rights movement, international movements for women's suffrage, Black South Africans' struggles against Apartheid, and the like. Social change beliefs are also sometimes labeled social competition.

Between social mobility and social change ideologies lie middle-ground strategies; Tajfel and Turner () refer to these as forms of social creativity. A group might, for instance, find alternative dimensions on which they can compare themselves to an outgroup: "We're not as powerful, but we are more creative." Or they might find alternate outgroups to serve as comparisons-hence SIT explains why marginalized groups may compete against one another rather than the dominant group.

In short, social identities are an important part of the self-concept. The desire to maintain a positive self-concept drives intergroup discrimination and other processes to support the positive distinctiveness of one's ingroups.

Extensions of Social Identity Theory

Self-categorization theory has clarified the processes by which individuals focus on specific group memberships in specific contexts. It explains why one person might be focused on maintaining a positive gender identity in a particular situation, while another is focused on the status of their religious group, for instance (Turner, Hogg, Oakes, Reicher, & Wetherell, ). Communication accommodation theory (Giles, ) and ethnolinguistic identity theory (Giles & Johnson, ) have both provided insights into the linguistic manifestations of social identity processes, explaining why individuals might emphasize their accent, dialect, or language, or alternatively why they might switch into an outgroup communication style. Ethnolinguistic vitality theory provides a framework for understanding the relative status and strength of different groups in any given context (Harwood, Giles, & Bourhis, ).

Social Identity Theory and the Media

Perspectives extending SIT to the study of media are organized here in terms of a traditional "who, says what, to whom, with what effect" model (Lasswell, ). The role of media channels, with a focus on new media, is considered last.

Who Makes The Media?

Understanding the media from a SIT perspective requires considering institutional processes as well as individual psychological and communicative activity. Media embody and represent the social hierarchy of group status, thus phenomena like media ownership (who owns television stations and networks, newspapers, social media) are nontrivial factors in understanding how individuals relate to the media in intergroup terms (Harwood & Roy, ). Minority-owned media are more likely to include portrayals of minority group members, feature news and other content of interest to minority group members, and hence support the social identities of those group members. Merely the presence of minority group members in media ownership, production, and green-lighting roles enhances the vitality of those groups (Erigha, ).

How Are Groups Portrayed In The media?

A massive body of research has documented portrayals of various social groups across media types (Tukachinsky, Mastro, & Yarchi, ). Broadly, groups that are marginalized in other ways in society are also marginalized in the media. Marginalization has typically been operationalized in two ways: underrepresentation and negative representation. Some groups (e.g., Native Americans in U.S. television) are proportionally present in substantially smaller numbers than their numbers in the actual population. Negative representations (for groups where some critical mass of portrayals can be identified) are examined in terms of generally derogatory portrayals, and specifically stereotypical representations (e.g., Dixon, ). Social identity explains such representations as a function of intergroup distinctiveness processes.

How Do Group Processes Drive Media Selection?

Individuals actively seek content that meets their needs and matches their interests. Some of this active seeking is driven by social identity motives (Harwood, ; Knobloch-Westerwick & Hastall, ). People typically prefer content featuring ingroup members, seek it out actively, and receive identity-related gratifications from doing so (Slater, ). Hence, the media (assuming positive ingroup representations are available) can serve as a support system for marginalized identities, but can also be selectively consumed by dominant group members in ways that reduce exposure to portrayals of marginalized groups.

What Are Social Identity-Related Media Effects?

As noted above, for members of marginalized communities, media can support their identities by providing positive models of the ingroup. Beyond positive portrayals, media can also model group activism, thus building support for a social change belief system (see earlier section How Do Groups Respond to Marginalization?; Reid, Giles, & Abrams, ).

For members of dominant groups, exposure to positive portrayals of marginalized outgroup members in the media can reduce prejudice-such exposure is a mediated form of intergroup contact (Allport, ). Such mediated contact effects are apparent in exposure to multiple types of media and for a diverse array of outgroups (Harwood, ).

However, as noted above, marginalized groups are typically underrepresented or negatively represented. Such portrayals have negative consequences for both marginalized and dominant group members. For dominant groups, such portrayals can reinforce stereotypes and encourage negative attitudes or reinforce the perceived irrelevance of outgroups (Mastro, Lapinski, Kopacz, & Behm-Morawitz, ). For minority group members, such portrayals (or their absence) can reinforce a sense that their ingroup is devalued (Ortiz & Behm-Morawitz, ). To the extent that media can elicit higher level identifications (e.g., with all humanity), there is promise for them to overcome some dimensions of prejudice (Oliver et al., ). Trepte () presents a social identity model of media effects.

New Media

Many of the media processes described here also occur in the Internet world, but often in new, complex, or amplified ways. The Internet provides massively increased ability to find content supportive of social identities-inexpensive production and distribution costs relative to traditional media make such content easier for marginalized groups to create. Such content can facilitate collective action by groups (Chan, ). Of course, the same processes, when combined with the relatively unregulated nature of Internet content, make it easy to disseminate hate speech and encourage intergroup violence. White supremacist websites, violent misogynistic pornography, anti-Semitic discussion boards, and the like are easily accessible on the Web, reflecting the worst forms of seeking positive intergroup distinctiveness. People who commit heinous intergroup violence find places online where they are not ostracized for their beliefs and may find support for their acts (Roose, ).

The Internet blurs some of the lines between mediated and interpersonal communication. Perspectives such as the social identity model of deindividuation (Klein, Spears, & Reicher, ) and models of online intergroup contact (Amichai-Hamburger, ; Walther, ) demonstrate the promise (and some potential problems) for online interpersonal media to bridge boundaries between groups-particularly physically segregated groups.

Jake Harwood (PhD, University of California, Santa Barbara, 1994) is Professor of Communication at the University of Arizona. He is author of Communication and Music in Social Interaction (2018) and Understanding Communication and Aging (2018), and coeditor of The Oxford Encyclopedia of Intergroup Communication (2018). He is the (co-)author of about 150 articles and chapters on intergenerational communication, intergroup communication, and communication and music. His research focuses on the communicative implications of music for relationships between individuals and large social groups.

SEE ALSO: Effects of Media Use on Development of Gender Role Beliefs; Ego and Cognitive Biases in Perceptions of Media Influence; Gender and Children's Media Preferences; Gender Identity; Implicit and Explicit Measures of Prejudice; Intergroup Contact; Media Use and the Development of Racial and Ethnic Identities; Media Use, Sexual Identity, and Gender Identity; Parasocial Contact and Prejudice Reduction; Race, Ethnicity, and Media Preferences: Content and Media Form; Same‐Gender Characters: Appeal and Identification; Selective Exposure; Social Identity Model of Deindividuation Effects and Media Use; Using Media to Promote Inclusive Attitudes in Childhood and Adolescence

Abstract

Social identity theory (SIT) provides a framework for explaining intergroup behavior and intergroup communication based on the inherent value humans place on social group memberships, and their desire to view their specific social groups in a positive light. This desire can lead to intergroup prejudice and conflict. Within the media sphere, SIT can help us understand the links between media ownership and media content, the nature of group portrayals in dominant-group-owned media, group-based selective consumption of specific media messages, and the effects of exposure to that content for dominant and subordinate group members. Newer Internet-based media provide new challenges and opportunities for those taking a broad social identity approach to mass communication.

Social identity theory (SIT) explains relations between large social groups using psychological processes concerning social identity-an individual's sense of belonging to a group and the positive or negative feelings associated with that membership. The theory has become an umbrella term for a set of more specific theories of intergroup behavior.

Summary of Social Identity Theory

The theory originated in studies using the "minimal group paradigm" in the early 1970s (Tajfel, Billig, Bundy, & Flament, ). These studies demonstrated people's apparently inherent desire to distinguish themselves from others based on group memberships, and their willingness to sacrifice absolute levels of rewards to maintain relative superiority over members of other groups. From these studies, Tajfel and Turner () developed a sophisticated model of how individual identity-related motivations predict individual-level motivations to discriminate between groups, and both individual and collective responses to societal-level group status, subsequently dubbed SIT (Tajfel & Turner, ).

Why Do People Engage In Intergroup Discrimination?

According to SIT, categorization of our social world is a natural and inevitable human instinct, serving to simplify our environment. As we categorize people into groups, we also categorize ourselves into some of those same groups-social identification. Once we "belong" to a group (our "ingroup"), we seek ways to gain positive feelings from that group membership. Viewing the ingroup more positively than other groups ("outgroups") is one way to achieve those positive feelings. Seeking positive distinctiveness for one's ingroup hence becomes an explanation for holding negative beliefs and attitudes about outgroups in our environment, and hence for prejudice and ultimately discrimination. The motivational basis of SIT in a desire for positive self-concept (Abrams & Hogg, ) has been supplemented in recent years by additional explanations-for example that (self-)categorization and intergroup differentiation is a way to reduce uncertainty (Hogg, ). Empirical examinations of SIT have shown that ingroup favoritism is not isomorphic with outgroup derogation (Mummendey & Otten, ).

How Do Groups Respond To Marginalization?

For some social groups, particularly marginalized or minority groups, the ability to perceive positive distinctiveness is constrained by realities of social prejudice and discrimination. SIT suggests that individual and group belief systems will drive the group response in such situations. People may adopt a social mobility strategy, essentially "leaving" one ingroup for a different, more socially valued group. Such behavior is likely when group members have little sense of identification with their group, when boundaries between groups are permeable (it is relatively easy for a person to "move" from one group to another, unconstrained by visible or other signs of group membership), and when the intergroup hierarchy is viewed as relatively stable and legitimate (i.e., change in the ingroup's marginalized position is unlikely). This behavior is apparent when individuals "pass" as members of another group, or successfully become members of that group (e.g., via achieving citizenship in another more desirable national group).

At the other extreme, people may adopt a social change belief system. This set of ideals drives people to act collectively to challenge the status quo and raise the position of their ingroup within the social hierarchy. Rather than abandoning their group for a more desirable outgroup, they instead attempt to make their ingroup's position more desirable. People are more likely to endorse social change ideologies when their ingroup identification is high, boundaries between groups are impermeable, and the status quo is perceived to be unstable and illegitimate. Collective movements around group rights exemplify this belief system-the U.S. Civil Rights movement, international movements for women's suffrage, Black South Africans' struggles against Apartheid, and the like. Social change beliefs are also sometimes labeled social competition.

Between social mobility and social change ideologies lie middle-ground strategies; Tajfel and Turner () refer to these as forms of social creativity. A group might, for instance, find alternative dimensions on which they can compare themselves to an outgroup: "We're not as powerful, but we are more creative." Or they might find alternate outgroups to serve as comparisons-hence SIT explains why marginalized groups may compete against one another rather than the dominant group.

In short, social identities are an important part of the self-concept. The desire to maintain a positive self-concept drives intergroup discrimination and other processes to support the positive distinctiveness of one's ingroups.

Extensions of Social Identity Theory

Self-categorization theory has clarified the processes by which individuals focus on specific group memberships in specific contexts. It explains why one person might be focused on maintaining a positive gender identity in a particular situation, while another is focused on the status of their religious group, for instance (Turner, Hogg, Oakes, Reicher, & Wetherell, ). Communication accommodation theory (Giles, ) and ethnolinguistic identity theory (Giles & Johnson, ) have both provided insights into the linguistic manifestations of social identity processes, explaining why individuals might emphasize their accent, dialect, or language, or alternatively why they might switch into an outgroup communication style. Ethnolinguistic vitality theory provides a framework for understanding the relative status and strength of different groups in any given context (Harwood, Giles, & Bourhis, ).

Social Identity Theory and the Media

Perspectives extending SIT to the study of media are organized here in terms of a traditional "who, says what, to whom, with what effect" model (Lasswell, ). The role of media channels, with a focus on new media, is considered last.

Who Makes The Media?

Understanding the media from a SIT perspective requires considering institutional processes as well as individual psychological and communicative activity. Media embody and represent the social hierarchy of group status, thus phenomena like media ownership (who owns television stations and networks, newspapers, social media) are nontrivial factors in understanding how individuals relate to the media in intergroup terms (Harwood & Roy, ). Minority-owned media are more likely to include portrayals of minority group members, feature news and other content of interest to minority group members, and hence support the social identities of those group members. Merely the presence of minority group members in media ownership, production, and green-lighting roles enhances the vitality of those groups (Erigha, ).

How Are Groups Portrayed In The media?

A massive body of research has documented portrayals of various social groups across media types (Tukachinsky, Mastro, & Yarchi, ). Broadly, groups that are marginalized in other ways in society are also marginalized in the media. Marginalization has typically been operationalized in two ways: underrepresentation and negative representation. Some groups (e.g., Native Americans in U.S. television) are proportionally present in substantially smaller numbers than their numbers in the actual population. Negative representations (for groups where some critical mass of portrayals can be identified) are examined in terms of generally derogatory portrayals, and specifically stereotypical representations (e.g., Dixon, ). Social identity explains such representations as a function of intergroup distinctiveness processes.

How Do Group Processes Drive Media Selection?

Individuals actively seek content that meets their needs and matches their interests. Some of this active seeking is driven by social identity motives (Harwood, ; Knobloch-Westerwick & Hastall, ). People typically prefer content featuring ingroup members, seek it out actively, and receive identity-related gratifications from doing so (Slater, ). Hence, the media (assuming positive ingroup representations are available) can serve as a support system for marginalized identities, but can also be selectively consumed by dominant group members in ways that reduce exposure to portrayals of marginalized groups.

What Are Social Identity-Related Media Effects?

As noted above, for members of marginalized communities, media can support their identities by providing positive models of the ingroup. Beyond positive portrayals, media can also model group activism, thus building support for a social change belief system (see earlier section How Do Groups Respond to Marginalization?; Reid, Giles, & Abrams, ).

For members of dominant groups, exposure to positive portrayals of marginalized outgroup members in the media can reduce prejudice-such exposure is a mediated form of intergroup contact (Allport, ). Such mediated contact effects are apparent in exposure to multiple types of media and for a diverse array of outgroups (Harwood, ).

However, as noted above, marginalized groups are typically underrepresented or negatively represented. Such portrayals have negative consequences for both marginalized and dominant group members. For dominant groups, such portrayals can reinforce stereotypes and encourage negative attitudes or reinforce the perceived irrelevance of outgroups (Mastro, Lapinski, Kopacz, & Behm-Morawitz, ). For minority group members, such portrayals (or their absence) can reinforce a sense that their ingroup is devalued (Ortiz & Behm-Morawitz, ). To the extent that media can elicit higher level identifications (e.g., with all humanity), there is promise for them to overcome some dimensions of prejudice (Oliver et al., ). Trepte () presents a social identity model of media effects.

New Media

Many of the media processes described here also occur in the Internet world, but often in new, complex, or amplified ways. The Internet provides massively increased ability to find content supportive of social identities-inexpensive production and distribution costs relative to traditional media make such content easier for marginalized groups to create. Such content can facilitate collective action by groups (Chan, ). Of course, the same processes, when combined with the relatively unregulated nature of Internet content, make it easy to disseminate hate speech and encourage intergroup violence. White supremacist websites, violent misogynistic pornography, anti-Semitic discussion boards, and the like are easily accessible on the Web, reflecting the worst forms of seeking positive intergroup distinctiveness. People who commit heinous intergroup violence find places online where they are not ostracized for their beliefs and may find support for their acts (Roose, ).

The Internet blurs some of the lines between mediated and interpersonal communication. Perspectives such as the social identity model of deindividuation (Klein, Spears, & Reicher, ) and models of online intergroup contact (Amichai-Hamburger, ; Walther, ) demonstrate the promise (and some potential problems) for online interpersonal media to bridge boundaries between groups-particularly physically segregated groups.

Jake Harwood (PhD, University of California, Santa Barbara, 1994) is Professor of Communication at the University of Arizona. He is author of Communication and Music in Social Interaction (2018) and Understanding Communication and Aging (2018), and coeditor of The Oxford Encyclopedia of Intergroup Communication (2018). He is the (co-)author of about 150 articles and chapters on intergenerational communication, intergroup communication, and communication and music. His research focuses on the communicative implications of music for relationships between individuals and large social groups.

SEE ALSO: Effects of Media Use on Development of Gender Role Beliefs; Ego and Cognitive Biases in Perceptions of Media Influence; Gender and Children's Media Preferences; Gender Identity; Implicit and Explicit Measures of Prejudice; Intergroup Contact; Media Use and the Development of Racial and Ethnic Identities; Media Use, Sexual Identity, and Gender Identity; Parasocial Contact and Prejudice Reduction; Race, Ethnicity, and Media Preferences: Content and Media Form; Same‐Gender Characters: Appeal and Identification; Selective Exposure; Social Identity Model of Deindividuation Effects and Media Use; Using Media to Promote Inclusive Attitudes in Childhood and Adolescence

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Social identity theory (SIT) provides a framework for explaining intergroup behavior and intergroup communication based on the inherent value humans place on social group memberships, and their desire to view their specific social groups in a positive light. This desire can lead to intergroup prejudice and conflict.

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having concern for one's own welfare and interests before those of others; self-seeking.

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attitude

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a totally different

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exaltation of oneself and one's abilities.

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Home away from home refers to a location where one does not reside but one in which they feel as comfortable as they would in their own abode.

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=higher education

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Secondary data is the data that has already been collected through primary sources and made readily available for researchers to use for their own research. It is a type of data that has already been collected in the past.

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Aside from consulting the primary origin or source, data can also be collected through a third party, a process common with secondary data. It takes advantage of the data collected from previous research and uses it to carry out new research.

Secondary data is one of the two main types of data, where the second type is the primary data. These 2 data types are very useful in research and statistics, but for the sake of this article, we will be restricting our scope to secondary data.

We will study secondary data, its examples, sources, and methods of analysis.

What is Secondary Data?

Secondary data is the data that has already been collected through primary sources and made readily available for researchers to use for their own research. It is a type of data that has already been collected in the past.

A researcher may have collected the data for a particular project, then made it available to be used by another researcher. The data may also have been collected for general use with no specific research purpose like in the case of the national census.

Data classified as secondary for particular research may be said to be primary for another research. This is the case when data is being reused, making it primary data for the first research and secondary data for the second research it is being used for.

Sources of Secondary Data

Sources of secondary data include books, personal sources, journals, newspapers, websitess, government records etc. Secondary data are known to be readily available compared to that of primary data. It requires very little research and needs for manpower to use these sources.

With the advent of electronic media and the internet, secondary data sources have become more easily accessible. Some of these sources are highlighted below.

Books are one of the most traditional ways of collecting data. Today, there are books available for all topics you can think of. When carrying out research, all you have to do is look for a book on the topic being researched, then select from the available repository of books in that area. Books, when carefully chosen are an authentic source of authentic data and can be useful in preparing a literature review.

There are a variety of published sources available for different research topics. The authenticity of the data generated from these sources depends majorly on the writer and publishing company.

Published sources may be printed or electronic as the case may be. They may be paid or free depending on the writer and publishing company's decision.

This may not be readily available and easily accessible compared to the published sources. They only become accessible if the researcher shares with another researcher who is not allowed to share it with a third party.

For example, the product management team of an organization may need data on customer feedback to assess what customers think about their product and improvement suggestions. They will need to collect the data from the customer service department, which primarily collected the data to improve customer service.

Journals are gradually becoming more important than books these days when data collection is concerned. This is because journals are updated regularly with new publications on a periodic basis, therefore giving to date information.

Also, journals are usually more specific when it comes to research. For example, we can have a journal on, "Secondary data collection for quantitative data " while a book will simply be titled, "Secondary data collection".

In most cases, the information passed through a newspaper is usually very reliable. Hence, making it one of the most authentic sources of collecting secondary data.

The kind of data commonly shared in newspapers is usually more political, economic, and educational than scientific. Therefore, newspapers may not be the best source for scientific data collection.

The information shared on websites is mostly not regulated and as such may not be trusted compared to other sources. However, there are some regulated websites that only share authentic data and can be trusted by researchers.

Most of these websites are usually government websites or private organizations that are paid, data collectors.

Blogs are one of the most common online sources for data and may even be less authentic than websites. These days, practically everyone owns a blog, and a lot of people use these blogs to drive traffic to their website or make money through paid ads.

Therefore, they cannot always be trusted. For example, a blogger may write good things about a product because he or she was paid to do so by the manufacturer even though these things are not true.

They are personal records and as such rarely used for data collection by researchers. Also, diaries are usually personal, except for these days when people now share public diaries containing specific events in their life.

A common example of this is Anne Frank's diary which contained an accurate record of the Nazi wars.

Government records are a very important and authentic source of secondary data. They contain information useful in marketing, management, humanities, and social science research.

Some of these records include; census data, health records, education institute records, etc. They are usually collected to aid proper planning, allocation of funds, and prioritizing of projects.

Podcasts are gradually becoming very common these days, and a lot of people listen to them as an alternative to radio. They are more or less like online radio stations and are generating increasing popularity.

Information is usually shared during podcasts, and listeners can use it as a source of data collection.

Some other sources of data collection include:

What are the Secondary Data Collection Tools?

Popular tools used to collect secondary data include; bots, devices, libraries, etc. In order to ease the data collection process from the sources of secondary data highlighted above, researchers use these important tools which are explained below.

There are a lot of data online and it may be difficult for researchers to browse through all these data and find what they are actually looking for. In order to ease this process of data collection, programmers have created bots to do an automatic web scraping for relevant data.

These bots are " software robots " programmed to perform some task for the researcher. It is common for businesses to use bots to pull data from forums and social media for sentiment and competitive analysis.

This could be a mobile phone, PC, or tablet that has access to an internet connection. They are used to access journals, books, blogs, etc. to collect secondary data.

This is a traditional secondary data collection tool for researchers. The library contains relevant materials for virtually all the research areas you can think of, and it is accessible to everyone.

A researcher might decide to sit in the library for some time to collect secondary data or borrow the materials for some time and return when done collecting the required data.

Radio stations are one of the secondary sources of data collection, and one needs radio to access them. The advent of technology has even made it possible to listen to the radio on mobile phones, deeming it unnecessary to get a radio.

Secondary Data Analysis

Secondary data analysis is the process of analyzing data collected from another researcher who primarily collected this data for another purpose. Researchers leverage secondary data to save time and resources that would have been spent on primary data collection.

The secondary data analysis process can be carried out quantitatively or qualitatively depending on the kind of data the researcher is dealing with. The quantitative method of secondary data analysis is used on numerical data and is analyzed mathematically, while the qualitative method uses words to provide in-depth information about data.

How to Analyse Secondary Data

There are different stages of secondary data analysis, which involve events before, during, and after data collection. These stages include;

Before collecting secondary data for analysis, you need to know your statement of purpose. That is, a clear understanding of why you are collecting the data-the ultimate aim of the research work and how this data will help achieve it.

This will help direct your path towards collecting the right data, and choosing the best data source and method of analysis.

This is a written-down plan on how the research activities will be carried out. It describes the kind of data to be collected, the sources of data collection, method of data collection, tools, and even method of analysis.

A research design may also contain a timestamp of when each of these activities will be carried out. Therefore, serving as a guide for the secondary data analysis.

After identifying the purpose of the research, the researcher should design a research process that will guide the data analysis process.

Developing the Research Questions

It is not enough to just know the research purpose, you need to develop research questions that will help in better identifying Secondary data. This is because they are usually a pool of data to choose from, and asking the right questions will assist in collecting authentic data.

For example, a researcher trying to collect data about the best fish feeds to enable fast growth in fishes will have to ask questions like, What kind of fish is considered? Is the data meant to be quantitative or qualitative? What is the content of the fish feed? The growth rate in fishes after feeding on it, and so on.

After developing the research questions, researchers use them as a guide to identifying relevant data from the data repository. For example, if the kind of data to be collected is qualitative, a researcher can filter out qualitative data.

The suitable secondary data will be the one that correctly answers the questions highlighted above. When looking for the solutions to a linear programming problem, for instance, the solutions will be numbers that satisfy both the objective and the constraints.

Any answer that doesn't satisfy both, is not a solution.

This stage is what many classify as the real data analysis stage because it is the point where analysis is actually performed. However, the stages highlighted above are a part of the data analysis process, because they influence how the analysis is performed.

Once a dataset that appears viable in addressing the initial requirements discussed above is located, the next step in the process is the evaluation of the dataset to ensure the appropriateness for the research topic. The data is evaluated to ensure that it really addresses the statement of the problem and answers the research questions.

After which it will now be analyzed either using the quantitative method or the qualitative method depending on the type of data it is.

Advantages of Secondary Data

Most of the sources of secondary data are easily accessible to researchers. Most of these sources can be accessed online through a mobile device. People who do not have access to the internet can also access them through print.

They are usually available in libraries, book stores, and can even be borrowed from other people.

Secondary data mostly require little to no cost for people to acquire them. Many books, journals, and magazines can be downloaded for free online. Books can also be borrowed for free from public libraries by people who do not have access to the internet.

Researchers do not have to spend money on investigations, and very little is spent on acquiring books if any.

The time spent on collecting secondary data is usually very little compared to that of primary data. The only investigation necessary for secondary data collection is the process of sourcing for necessary data sources.

Therefore, cutting the time that would normally be spent on the investigation. This will save a significant amount of time for the researcher

Longitudinal and Comparative Studies

Secondary data makes it easy to carry out longitudinal studies without having to wait for a couple of years to draw conclusions. For example, you may want to compare the country's population according to census 5 years ago, and now.

Rather than waiting for 5 years, the comparison can easily be made by collecting the census 5 years ago and now.

When re-evaluating data, especially through another person's lens or point of view, new things are uncovered. There might be a thing that wasn't discovered in the past by the primary data collector, that secondary data collection may reveal.

For example, when customers complain about difficulty using an app to the customer service team, they may decide to create a user guide teaching customers how to use it. However, when a product developer has access to this data, it may be uncovered that the issue came from and UI/UX design that needs to be worked on.

Disadvantages of Secondary Data

The data collected through secondary sources may not be as authentic as when collected directly from the source. This is a very common disadvantage with online sources due to a lack of regulatory bodies to monitor the kind of content that is being shared.

Therefore, working with this kind of data may have negative effects on the research being carried out.

Researchers spend so much time surfing through a pool of irrelevant data before finally getting the one they need. This is because the data was not collected mainly for the researcher.

In some cases, a researcher may not even find the exact data he or she needs, but have to settle for the next best alternative.

Some data sources are known to exaggerate the information that is being shared. This bias may be some to maintain a good public image or due to a paid advert.

This is very common with many online blogs that even go a bead to share false information just to gain web traffic. For example, a FinTech startup may exaggerate the amount of money it has processed just to attract more customers.

A researcher gathering this data to investigate the total amount of money processed by FinTech startups in the US for the quarter may have to use this exaggerated data.

Some of the data sources are outdated and there are no new available data to replace the old ones. For example, the national census is not usually updated yearly.

Therefore, there have been changes in the country's population since the last census. However, someone working with the country's population will have to settle for the previously recorded figure even though it is outdated.

Conclusion

Secondary data has various uses in research, business, and statistics. Researchers choose secondary data for different reasons, with some of it being due to price, availability, or even needs of the research.

Although old, secondary data may be the only source of data in some cases. This may be due to the huge cost of performing research or due to its delegation to a particular body (e.g. national census).

In short, secondary data has its shortcomings, which may affect the outcome of the research negatively and also some advantages over primary data. It all depends on the situation, the researcher in question, and the kind of research being carried out.

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What is Secondary Data? + [Examples, Sources, & Analysis]

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Aside from consulting the primary origin or source, data can also be collected through a third party, a process common with secondary data. It takes advantage of the data collected from previous research and uses it to carry out new research.