1. Wandering Off The Beaten Track: re-using qualitative data in doctoral research Janet Heaton Social Policy Research Unit (SPRU) University of York ESRC Research Methods Festival Friday 2nd July 2004 St Catherine's College, Oxford

2. Benefits (of re-using qualitative data while working as a contract researcher) familiarity with the dataset access to the dataset ability to collect related documents professionally transcribed data data was computerised and easy to re- code overlap of contract research work and PhD work added value to contract research study

3. Drawbacks (of re-using qualitative data while working as a contract researcher) incompatible timeframes blurred boundaries between primary and secondary research limits of informed consent tensions with good professional practice? lack of information and advice on how to do qualitative secondary analysis

4. Summary and final thoughts Qualitative secondary analysis is not an easy option! Qualitative secondary analysis is not as well developed or recognised as quantitative secondary analysis Qualitative secondary analysis has been and can be used to undertake original research There is still methodological work to be done to inform best approaches to re-using qualitative data Opportunities for re-using qualitative data are growing. Also some interest overseas – so lots of potential to be realised