As an essay writer, you know the conventions of writing such as grammar and language usage. Similarly, as a researcher, knowing the basics of primary research is one of the most important skills that you can possess. In higher education institutions, you have to conduct primary research for many classes, so knowing the basics of primary research can save you from a lot of hassle. Primary research tries to test a hypothesis by conducting your own study; however, the convention of writing is not much different than any other type of research. This article will provide you key guidelines that will help you in conducting primary research.
- What is Meant by Primary Sources?
Primary research is a type of research in which you collect your data yourself without consulting any secondary sources. This data then helps you to perform analysis and assist you in your findings. Primary research is done with the help of interviews, observations, and surveys. Primary sources constitute data that you collect from your own research. If you conduct a survey about the religious affiliations of students at your school, this is an example of a primary source. The results that you gather yourself to make an assertion in your research are primary sources.
- Why Primary Research?
There are many reasons someone would choose to do primary research. Primary research is a self-conducted study that leads towards new insights and findings. The main aim of primary research is to answer questions that are not before discussed in any literature. Primary research takes more time and resources to conduct since it does not draw upon other research.
- Qualitative and Quantitative Research
All research falls under two categories: qualitative research and quantitative research. Qualitative research deals with subjective conclusions, exploring problems, and categorizing data, while quantitative research deals with statistical data, objective conclusions, and hypothesis confirmation. The aim of qualitative research is to describe relationships, while the aim of quantitative research is to describe demographic characteristics and quantify variations. Primary research can be both qualitative and quantitative.
- Forming a Research Question
The research question is the most important step of conducting primary research. The research question is the inquiry that you want to investigate. It defines the path and the direction your research will take. Remember that the research question should be researchable, debatable, and feasible. Your research question should be focused on a specific topic and should not be too vague or general. Whenever I write my essay, I keep the research question in front of me to make sure that my research is focused. You should do it too.
- Types of Primary Research
In primary research, data is collected by interviews, observations, and research surveys. The best form of data collection for your research is dependent on your primary research question. The following paragraphs will guide you through different types of primary research.
- Interviews
Interviews are conducted on a particular group or demography by face-to-face questioning, phone calls, and emails. You have to develop a questionnaire to conduct interviews on people whom you wish to study. Interviews involve asking respondents a series of questions and documenting their answers. It is highly important that you ask follow up questions during interviews to gain insights about the responses of the respondent. In-person interviews are invariably better than phone or email interviews since you can easily ask follow up questions.
- Observations
You can also collect data for your primary research by making observations about the things or people you are studying. Researchers observe a phenomenon by examining it with the senses and documenting details. Observations involve gaining empirical knowledge that is gained through sense and experience. Observing people and things in the real world and documenting them is the cornerstone of scientific research, and highly useful in conducting primary research.
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- Surveys
In primary research, surveys are of paramount importance since they help you to get data efficiently. Surveys are conducted by handing people a set of questions called a questionnaire. Surveys help researchers gain insights about a topic from a large number of people in a short amount of time. It should be kept in mind that surveys are only effective if the questionnaire contains good questions. Survey questions should be unbiased, clear, and related to the topic that you are investigating. While conducting surveys, make sure that the respondents are comfortable answering your question.
- Analysis
If you have formulated a research question and gathered data through interviews, observations, and surveys, the difficult part of conducting primary research is already behind you. Now that you have all the data, it is time to analyze it and write your primary research paper. Analyzing your data helps you figure out what the data means and discover the findings of your research. Analysis is usually done by comparing, contrasting and triangulating the data that you have documented from interviews, observations, and surveys. Now you can test your hypothesis and find the results of your studies.
Now you know how to conduct primary research, it is time to take up the gauntlet and start conducting. If you think conducting primary research and writing a research paper is not your cup of tea, you can get help from a paper writing service. If you are sure that you can conduct a research paper on your own, follow the guidelines that are provided in this article to conduct your first primary research.
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