Masters Discussion Forum

Hi all,

Hoping someone might be able to help here. I am using secondary sources of data (journal articles-some qualitative studies, some quantitative studies) as my main source of data for a traditional lit review thesis. I am wondering- can I use "a report on an ethnographic study"... or does this make it third-hand data? The author worked on this which is part of a larger study, but from what I can see she is drawing on other findings that were part of this larger study. In this sense, is it still secondary data? I'm just wondering whether I can justify using it if it isn't!!

Any ideas/hints/tips/general encouragement for thesis writing would be greatly appreciated- a million life things seem to have happened and I'm behind where I wanted to be at this point so trying not to panic!

Many thanks :)