The Art of Extrapolation
Summary
We're all familiar with the standard justification for secondary research - it's a process to contextualise what's already known to plan more focused (primary) research studies. Among research practitioners and non-researchers, secondary research is rarely thought of as a method in itself - and rather a supplementary phase of work before the real investigation begins. In this talk, we hope to convince fellow researchers that secondary research can be more powerful and impactful than just offering a foundational starting point. With the right "research infrastructure‚" secondary research can allow us to step back, triangulate and evaluate not only a larger corpus of data but also consider data from different sources and teams to make better-informed decisions. We share how we evolved our secondary research processes to do more efficient research and help our teams make more informed decisions.
Key Insights
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Secondary research can deliver highly impactful and viral insights when structured and action-oriented.
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Leveraging secondary research is an ethical practice that respects participant time and reduces research fatigue.
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Secondary research encompasses internal reports, third-party data, and triangulated unstructured data like analytics and support tickets.
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Misconceptions persist that secondary research is less rigorous or less relevant than primary research among stakeholders.
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Building early relationships with other teams increases collaboration and data access critical for secondary research.
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Centralizing research outputs in simple accessible repositories is key to overcoming fragmented data access.
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Secondary research can save time and resources by reducing the need for recruitment and redundant studies.
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Engaging stakeholders by sharing analysis progress, curated document lists, or workshops helps dispel the perception that secondary research is passive.
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Normalizing diverse persona frameworks when consolidating multiple secondary studies requires a fresh, grounded approach to data interpretation.
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Positioning secondary research as strategic and real research—beyond just a precursor—helps get stakeholder buy-in and better integration into research workflows.
Notable Quotes
"Much to my surprise, it was one of the most impactful research pieces I had produced in my career."
"Secondary research is a way to respect your target population's time and efforts rather than constantly dipping into them for research."
"By orchestrating more collaborative activities, secondary research reduces the risk of knowledge siloing."
"Stakeholders often believe secondary research is less rigorous and therefore not as powerful as primary research."
"I let my stakeholders have access to the list I’m analyzing along with links and short notes—it helps make the process more active."
"Starting a repository for your existing data, however simple, is critical to enable efficient secondary research."
"Secondary research can be time-saving, letting you spend more time on deep analysis rather than data collection."
"Building relationships early, even before requests, helps build mutual understanding and future collaboration."
"Delivering a clear request along with your project’s goal helps get buy-in and clarifies what collaborators need to provide."
"We should challenge our definition of secondary research and elevate it as a standard in our industry."
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