forhåndsinnsamlede

Forhåndsinnsamlede refers to data or biological samples that have already been collected before a new research project begins. The term is commonly used in fields such as epidemiology, economics, social sciences, and biomedicine to denote secondary data or preserved materials intended for reuse. Forhåndsinnsamlede data may come from administrative registers, national inventories, prior surveys, electronic health records, or biobanks, and can be linked with new data collection when needed.

In practice, researchers use these data to perform secondary analyses, longitudinal studies, or meta-analyses, often after harmonizing variables across sources and de-identifying personal information. Data linkage methods enable combining information from different registries or cohorts, while ensuring privacy and data governance.

Ethical and legal considerations include informed consent for secondary use, privacy protection, data protection regulations, and data access agreements that specify permissible uses, retention periods, and publication rights. Data quality and provenance are critical; researchers must assess biases, completeness, and temporal relevance, and document data provenance and transformations.

Advantages include reduced cost and time, access to large and long-running datasets, and the ability to study outcomes not captured in a single dataset. Limitations include potential mismatches with current research questions, variable definitions that differ across sources, missing data, and restricted access due to sensitive information. Forhåndsinnsamlede data often require careful governance, documentation, and methodological transparency to support reliable secondary analysis.