ABSTRACT
The researcher who subsequently does a secondary analysis of that data adds a second researcher’s voice. This chapter explains the necessity of adding a second researcher’s voice and illustrates how it might be done. It begins with a discussion of the way secondary analysis has become a dominant characteristic of survey research as contrasted with qualitative research. The chapter presents a few exceptions, i.e., instances of secondary analyses of qualitative data. It examines the possibility of secondary analysis of observational data as recorded in fieldnotes in order to extend this discussion of the secondary analysis of qualitative data. The possibility of creating standardized computerized formats for qualitative data makes it more convenient than ever to analyze other people’s data. The women’s explanations of their miscarriages are similar and yet much more complex than those offered by their physicians. Women were reaching for causes and needed more than ‘empty explanations’.
