美国大学申请文书要求：数据收集的研究方法
所采用的数据采集方法为二次数据采集。次要数据是指不是由研究人员收集的数据，而是由其他研究人员、机构等收集的数据(Long et al .， 2015)。在这种情况下，收集二手研究数据来代表和讨论SIA的可持续性。用于批判性讨论的框架是从现有的二级研究中收集的。需要谨慎使用这些数据，因为尽管它是一种收集数据的成本效益和快速的方法，但数据及其关键点必须正确使用(Cnossen, 1997)。其次，数据通常使用基线来表示主要的研究论点，通常建议在审查新数据之前使用次要研究(Novak, 1996)。在本研究中，重点是分析SIA的可持续性，并就SIA在未来如何改善CSR提出建议，因此，利用现有的CSR证据将会有所帮助。
美国大学申请文书要求：数据收集的研究方法
数据收集自同行评议的期刊文章和SIA关于企业社会责任和可持续性的报告。此外，还从政府网站收集信息，尽可能只利用期刊文章。使用2006-2016年期间的文章，不包括其他文章。
用于收集信息的方法的说明
第二种研究方法是在数据收集中使用的。第二研究方法的使用有助于收集全面的数据，以便进行分析。次要数据是从研究论文和政府报告中收集的现有数据。主要的研究方法需要与SIA的人进行互动来获取数据，但这不是一个可行的选择。第二种方法可以方便地采集在线数据。
数据收集的限制是，所有的数据都是用次要方法收集的，无法问定制的问题。数据必须根据模型进行解释和理解。所收集的数据是次要的研究数据，因此在数据收集的伦理方面存在问题。
美国大学申请文书要求：数据收集的研究方法
The data collection method used is secondary data collection. Secondary data is such data that was not collected by the researcher but by other researchers, institutions etc (Long et al, 2015). In this case, the secondary research data is collected for both representing and discussing sustainability of SIA. The frameworks used for the critical discussions are collected from existing secondary research studies. The use of this data needs to be undertaken with care as although it is a cost effective and fast way to collect data, the data and its key points have to be used properly (Cnossen, 1997). Secondly, data is usually made use of a baseline for presenting primary research arguments and it is usually recommended to make use of the secondary research before a review of newer data is done (Novak, 1996). In this research, the focus is to analyse sustainability of SIA and also present recommendations on how SIA can improve its CSR in future, so for doing it, the use of existing evidence on CSR would be helpful.
美国大学申请文书要求：数据收集的研究方法
Data was collected from peer reviewed journal articles and SIA reports on corporate social responsibility and sustainability. Information was also collected from government websites, whenever possible only journal articles were made use of. Articles between 2006-2016 were made use of, other articles were not included.
The secondary research method is made use of in collection of data. The use of the secondary research method helps in collection of comprehensive amount of data in order to do the analysis. The secondary data is existing data collected from research articles and government reports. Primary research method would have required interacting with people in SIA for data but this was not a feasible option. Online data could be collected easily with the secondary method.
Limitations and Ethical Issue
The limitations in data gathering was that, all the data was collected with secondary method where there is no way to ask custom questions. Data had to be interpreted and understood according to the models. The data collected is secondary research data and hence there are issues in ethics of data collection.
