Maximizing research opportunities: secondary data analysis.

Knowledge development in nursing can be enhanced by broadening the understanding of legitimate scientific inquiry. SDA uses existing data to answer research questions and can be especially useful for nurse researchers. Advantages of SDA include its potential for resource savings and its cost-effectiveness. Also, the investigator can circumvent data collection challenges such as finding appropriate participants. However, SDA does not require less rigor. A sound conceptualization of the research problem is still required, and identifying and obtaining appropriate data for SDA can be quite time-consuming. Nevertheless, SDA can be both a practical and appropriate research process that enables nurses to maximize their opportunities for answering important clinical questions.