16 Secondary Data

Secondary data is what you already have access to. It is typically used to provide evidence of the community’s strengths and weaknesses and to identify trends. It provides context and an opportunity for comparison. It should never be relied upon to present the entire picture of a problem and point to a solution. But, it presents a very important part of the picture. Secondary data helps illuminate the evidence for community change.

There is an immense amount of secondary data that is already available to us to use as described below.

Global Data

Global data is that which is collected all around the world and typically expressed in formats that allow the user to compare data across nations. Here are three examples:

• United Nations Children’s Fund collects and shares data on the well-being of women and children.
  • https://data.unicef.org/
• World Health Organization “works worldwide to promote health, keep the world safe, and serve the vulnerable.”
  • https://www.who.int/
• United Nations Refugee Agency “works to ensure that everybody has the right to seek asylum and find safe refuge, having fled violence, persecution, war, or disaster at home.”
  • https://www.unhcr.org/refugee-statistics/

A limitation of global data collection is ensuring that each country uses the same method of operationalizing the data that is collected and shared. Any concerns about data collection measures are typically explained by the organization sharing the data.

National Data

Similar to global data but on a smaller scale, national data is collected and expressed in formats that allow the user to compare data across states and in smaller jurisdictions. National data has similar limitations to global data: the user of the data needs to consider if each state collects the data using the same or comparable measures.

Here are three examples of national data:

• The United States Census Bureau collects and publishes data related to the US population. The data is collected every 10 years by contacting each household in the US, as well as persons who are homeless at the time of the count.  The US Census also conducts an annual survey of random households, called the American Community Survey. The data collected by the US Census is typically considered demographic, including information on age, gender, ethnicity, race, economic status, housing, disability status, etc.
  • https://www.census.gov/
• Annie E. Casey Foundation and the Kids Count Data Center are “devoted to developing a brighter future for millions of children and young people with respect to their educational, economic, social, and health outcomes.”
  • https://datacenter.kidscount.org/
• The Sentencing Project “advocates for effective and humane responses to crime that minimize imprisonment and criminalization of youth and adults by promoting racial, ethnic, economic, and gender justice.”
  • https://www.sentencingproject.org/

 State/Regional Data

Each state collects and shares data that is public and typically shared through government agencies. Here are a few examples:

• State Departments of Health
• State Department of Human Services
• State Department of Corrections
• State Department of Transportation
• State Department of Education

Local Data

Local data is typically collected and shared by county government as well as through surveys conducted by local agencies. Considering the concept of proximity, it is important to seek data that most closely represents the community that you are focused on while also supplementing this data with that which provides a broader perspective. Typically this means finding data that is as local as possible, since often changemaking is focused on geographic areas.

Local data can be identified by accessing national or state sources of data (i.e. the US Census or State Department of Education) and selecting local geographic units that can be identified by searching for local survey data. Here is one example of this:

• The Bridge to Health Survey is conducted by the Generations Foundation and surveys randomly selected households in Northeast Minnesota and Northwestern Wisconsin on the health status of adults.
  • The Bridge to Health Survey results can be viewed for the entire region, individual counties, or some more urban cities or specific neighborhoods.

Caution about Data Inclusivity

Be very intentional about finding secondary data that includes data on the populations of interest in your work. If the data doesn’t include the population categories, then it is mandatory that you supplement it with additional sources of data. For example, if you are working on the issue of educational achievement in your community and are specifically interested in supporting Indigenous students, then the data you find and use must include the educational experiences of Indigenous students. If you are using data that isn’t inclusive, then it is all too easy to identify solutions that will not be relevant to the population or community you’re working with, thus not actually benefiting them or solving the problem at hand.