Managing and using secondary data sets with multidisciplinary research teams.

Author(s):  
J. Douglas Willms
2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 697-711 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erika Quendler

AbstractTourism is vitally important to the Austrian economy. The number of tourist destinations, both farms and other forms of accommodation, in the different regions of Austria is considerably and constantly changing. This paper discusses the position of the ‘farm holiday’ compared to other forms of tourism. Understanding the resilience of farm holidays is especially important but empirical research on this matter remains limited. The term ‘farm holiday’ covers staying overnight on a farm that is actively engaged in agriculture and has a maximum of 10 guest beds. The results reported in this paper are based on an analysis of secondary data from 2000 and 2018 by looking at two types of indicator: (i) accommodation capacity (supply side) and (ii) attractiveness of a destination (demand side). The data sets cover Austria and its NUTS3 regions. The results show the evolution of farm holidays vis-à-vis other forms of tourist accommodation. In the form of a quadrant matrix they also show the relative position of farm holidays regionally. While putting into question the resilience of farm holidays, the data also reveals where farm holidays could act to expand this niche or learn and improve to effect a shift in their respective position relative to the market ‘leaders’. However, there is clearly a need to learn more about farm holidays within the local context. This paper contributes to our knowledge of farm holidays from a regional point of view and tries to elaborate on the need for further research.


Author(s):  
Joanne Stares ◽  
Jenny Sutherland

ABSTRACT ObjectivesUnderlying the delivery of services by the universal Canadian health care system are a number of rich secondary administrative health data sets which contain information on persons who are registered for care and details on their contacts with the system. These datasets are powerful sources of information for investigation of non-notifiable diseases and as an adjunct to traditional communicable disease surveillance. However, there are gaps between public health practitioners, access to these data, and access to experts in the use of these secondary data. The data linkage requires in-depth knowledge of these data including usages, limitations and data quality issues and also the skills to extract data to support secondary usage. OLAP reports have been developed to support operation needs but not on advanced analytics reports for surveillance and cohort study. To fill these gaps, we developed a set of web-based modular, parameterized, extraction and reporting tools for the purpose of: 1) decreasing the time and resources necessary to fill general secondary data requests for public health audiences; 2) quickly providing information from descriptive analysis of secondary data to public health practitioners; 3) informing the development of data feeds for continued enhanced surveillance or further data access requests; 4) assisting in preliminary stages of epidemiological investigations of non-notifiable diseases; and, 5) facilitating access to information from secondary data for evidence-based decision making in public health. ApproachWe intend to present these tools by case study of their application to small area analysis of secondary data in the context of air quality concerns. Data sources include individuals registered for health care coverage in BC, hospital separations, physician consultations, chronic disease registries, and drugs dispensation. Data sets contain complete information from 1992. Data were extracted and analyzed to describe the occurrence of health service utilization for cardiovascular and respiratory morbidity. Analysis was undertaken for BC residents in areas identified by local public health as priorities for monitoring. Health outcomes were directly standardized by age and compared to provincial trends by use of the comparative morbidity figure. ResultsResults will include descriptive epidemiological analysis of secondary data relating to respiratory and cardiovascular morbidity in the context of air quality concerns, summary of next steps, as well as an assessment of tool performance. ConclusionsWhere adopted tools such as these can make information from secondary data more accessible to support public health practice, particularly in regions with low analytical or epidemiological capacity.


Author(s):  
Phillip L. Manning ◽  
Peter L. Falkingham

Dinosaurs successfully conjure images of lost worlds and forgotten lives. Our understanding of these iconic, extinct animals now comes from many disciplines, not just the science of palaeontology. In recent years palaeontology has benefited from the application of new and existing techniques from physics, biology, chemistry, engineering, but especially computational science. The application of computers in palaeontology is highlighted in this chapter as a key area of development in studying fossils. The advances in high performance computing (HPC) have greatly aided and abetted multiple disciplines and technologies that are now feeding paleontological research, especially when dealing with large and complex data sets. We also give examples of how such multidisciplinary research can be used to communicate not only specific discoveries in palaeontology, but also the methods and ideas, from interrelated disciplines to wider audiences. Dinosaurs represent a useful vehicle that can help enable wider public engagement, communicating complex science in digestible chunks.


Author(s):  
Melinda D. Smith

I am a plant community and ecosystem ecologist who has conducted research within the context of the Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) network from the beginning of my scientific career, now almost two decades ago. My research has benefited greatly from site-based research at the Konza Prairie (KNZ) LTER site, as well as from network-level syntheses utilizing data sets and knowledge produced by the collective of LTER sites. My involvement in the KNZ LTER site, in particular, has shown me the strength of conducting site-based research, yet my involvement in synthesis activities within the LTER network and beyond has illuminated the limitations of site-based research for addressing cross-site comparative research. To this end, I have been and continue to be a strong proponent of highly coordinated, multisite experiments, and much of my research is comparative in nature. Being involved in the LTER network from the start of my research career has made me a scientist who is well aware of the benefits and power of collaborative, multidisciplinary research. Because of the benefits and breadth of experiences that I have received from such research endeavors, I encourage my graduate students and postdoctoral fellows to also become involved in such research, and I recognize the positive impact collaborative, multidisciplinary research can have on beginning investigators. I believe that individuals outside of the LTER network (ranging from established principal investigators, to young investigators, to graduate students) are often not fully aware of the benefits of being involved in the LTER network or of the advances in ecological understanding that it has made possible. Thus, there is a need for the LTER network to be more proactive and creative in the ways that it attracts new researchers to get involved in the site-based or network-level research. Ultimately, the LTER network will only benefit from increased involvement by new investigators, who also could serve the role of leading the LTER network in the future. I have been affiliated with the LTER program since beginning as a graduate student at Kansas State University.


2016 ◽  
Vol 39 (11) ◽  
pp. 1477-1501 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victoria Goode ◽  
Nancy Crego ◽  
Michael P. Cary ◽  
Deirdre Thornlow ◽  
Elizabeth Merwin

Researchers need to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of data sets to choose a secondary data set to use for a health care study. This research method review informs the reader of the major issues necessary for investigators to consider while incorporating secondary data into their repertoire of potential research designs and shows the range of approaches the investigators may take to answer nursing research questions in a variety of context areas. The researcher requires expertise in locating and judging data sets and in the development of complex data management skills for managing large numbers of records. There are important considerations such as firm knowledge of the research question supported by the conceptual framework and the selection of appropriate databases, which guide the researcher in delineating the unit of analysis. Other more complex issues for researchers to consider when conducting secondary data research methods include data access, management and security, and complex variable construction.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kimberly M. Scott ◽  
Melissa Kline

As more researchers make their data sets openly available, the potential of secondary data analysis to address new questions increases. However, the distinction between primary and secondary data analysis is unnecessarily confounded with the distinction between confirmatory and exploratory research. We propose a framework, akin to library-book checkout records, for logging access to data sets in order to support confirmatory analysis when appropriate. This system would support a standard form of preregistration for secondary data analysis, allowing authors to demonstrate that their plans were registered prior to data access. We discuss the critical elements of such a system, its strengths and limitations, and potential extensions.


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