Secondary analysis of existing data is common practice in many academic fields. Existing data can be used to conduct new research, test hypotheses, or replicate findings from previous studies.
Using existing data can improve efficiency and reduce costs in the data collection process, reduce participant fatigue, and reduce duplication of efforts.
Use the following search portals and online repositories to find data that may relate to your research project.
Dataset search portals
Research Data Australia is an internet-based discovery service designed to provide rich connections between data, projects, researchers and institutions, and promote the visibility of Australian research data collections in search engines.
Google Dataset Search indexes many data repositories (WSU, Research Data Australia, DRAYD, OSF, Figshare etc) into one single platform search.
Australian Data Archive (ADA) provides a national service for the collection and preservation of digital research data comprising seven sub-archives. Social Science, Historical, Indigenous, Longitudinal, Qualitative, Crime & Justice, International.
Open data repositories
Consult these subject-specific repositories for research datasets:
- The Atlas of Living Australia
- Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS)
- Australian Bureau of Statistics DataBuilder
- BOM weather data feeds
- CSIRO Data Access Portal
- Data.gov.au
- Data.NSW
- DRYAD
- Figshare
- The Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)
- Global Health Observatory (GHO) data
- Humanities Networked Infrastructure (HuNI)
- IMF eLibrary data
- Open Science Framework
- World Bank Data
- World Health Data Platform
It is important to check the conditions or Creative Commons licences that have been applied to any third party datasets that you have used in your research.