Secondary Research

Secondary research (also known as desk research) involves the summary, collation and/or synthesis of existing research rather than primary research, where data is collected from, for example, research subjects or experiments.The term is widely used in market research and in medical research. The principle methodology in medical secondary research is the systematic review, commonly using meta-analytic statistical techniques, although other methods of synthesis, like realist reviews and meta-narrative[1] reviews, have been developed in recent years.
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the collection of marketing research data using previously published sources. See Primary Research.

research already in existence; sometimes call second-hand or desk research (see primary research).