title: Secondary analysis of national survey datasets.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This paper describes the methodological issues associated with secondary analysis of large national survey datasets.
  
  
  METHODS
  Issues about survey sampling, data collection, and non-response and missing data in terms of methodological validity and reliability are discussed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Although reanalyzing large national survey datasets is an expedient and cost-efficient way of producing nursing knowledge, successful investigations require a methodological consideration of the intrinsic limitations of secondary survey analysis.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Nursing researchers using existing national survey datasets should understand potential sources of error associated with survey sampling, data collection, and non-response and missing data. Although it is impossible to eliminate all potential errors, researchers using existing national survey datasets must be aware of the possible influence of errors on the results of the analyses.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiological Nursing, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California 94143-0610, USA. sunjoo.boo@gmail.com
authors.forename: Sunjoo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Boo
authors.forename: Erika Sivarajan
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Froelicher
mesh_terms: D003625:Data Collection; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D003628:Database Management Systems; D014481:United States