Data recycling: using existing databases to increase research capacity in speech-language development and disorders.

PURPOSE

This clinical forum was organized to provide a means for informing the research and clinical communities of one mechanism through which research capacity might be enhanced within the field of speech-language pathology. Specifically, forum authors describe the process of conducting secondary analyses of extant databases to answer questions of relevance to speech and language development and disorders.

METHOD

This prologue defines the concept of secondary analysis of databases and provides an overview of each of the articles that make up the forum.

CONCLUSION

Researchers invested in addressing basic and applied problems of relevance to speech and language services in schools can make use of a variety of extant databases to increase research capacity.