Anticipate barriers to primary data collection in schools? Try secondary analysis!
COVID-19's impact on human subjects research
The COVID-19 pandemic continues to evolve and impact lives around the world. The process of primary research data collection was slowed (and in some cases stopped) for many social scientists in 2020. Even now, as universities and IRBs relax their restrictions on data collection, barriers still remain.
Potential limits on in-class data collection
For researchers who study civic education, student activism, and other topics requiring school-based observation and data collection, a second COVID-related roadblock may come from schools themselves. Many students' learning was significantly interrupted by the pandemic, and even as many schools plan for a return to fully in-person instruction for the 2021-2022 school year, administrators and teachers will likely be focusing on catching students up to grade level and working toward creating greater equity in classrooms. Therefore, school leadership may be hesistant to spend class time allowing researchers to survey, interview, or even observe their students.
Secondary data analysis is the solution
At a time when accessing student respondents for primary data collection is likely to be difficult, we recommend secondary data analysis as an alternative. CivicLEADS provides dozens of studies covering a wide range of topics with large, representative samples and oversamples. CivicLEADS has studies on students from fifth grade through secondary school, community colleges and universities, and into young adulthood. You can explore our data by searching our 39 studies, 217,000+ variables, or the 1710 publications that have used data archived with CivicLEADS. Bring your research question to CivicLEADS; we think you will find something that meets your needs.
Jul 22, 2021