But learning about each of them will give you a better understanding of the kinds of research that scholars and experts might do. And since scholars and researchers also write to report their primary research, it will also help you better understand the studies, reports, and articles you find when you do secondary research.
This method involves going out in the world and watching, using your five senses to collect data. This method was used in the first writing project for this class, where students examined the contents and rhetorical features of a film documentary in order to come to conclusions about the arguments made in it. At the same time, observation means you can only observe one or a few examples, thus it is hard to say that anything you observed is true for most or all situations.
The plans a research makes to conduct observation depends on he kind of data she or he wants to collect. Observational data can be qualitative or quantitative. One common way to do such qualitative observational research is to use the DIE method — Describe, Interpret, Evaluate. This strategy allows you to carefully distinguish between what is actually being observed, the reasons the phenomena you are observing are happening, and what you think it all means.
Another strategy to conduct qualitative observational research, which can be used alone or in conjunction with the DIE method is a dual-entry notebook. On each page of a dual-entry notebook, you create two parallel columns. In the left column, you describe what you observe remember the five senses , and in the right column, you analyze and interpret what that descriptive data might mean.
This allows you to jump back and forth between description and analysis, while distinguishing between what is actually being observed and what the significance of it all might be. Quantitative observation usually involves tallying — simply making a mark every time the phenomena you are observing happens.
This allows you to calculate the frequency or number of anything being observed. To do this, you must select periods of time in which to collect data and decide beforehand a certain set behaviors or phenomena you will count during each observation period. After that, of course, you must observe and tally those behaviors or phenomena.
After you collect these numerical results you can interpret the data and evaluate it in terms of your research question s. When doing observational research, it can often be useful to record what you are observing, either photographing or video-recording it. This is useful because it allows you to look at it again and again. Keep in mind, though, that if a researcher records people in a way that would make them identifiable by others, they must gain permission to use those images or footage from the individuals recorded.
Interviews involve one-on-one sessions with individuals, in which you ask open-ended questions. You collect their broad, open-ended answers much like you do with observation, without coming to conclusions or assumptions about what the person is saying.
Only afterward do you analyze the questions and relate it to the subject and your research question s. Interviews come in a couple different varieties. One version is a representative interview, in which you interview people who are affected by or experience a certain problem or issue. Another version is an expert interview, in which you interview people who are experts, scholars, professors, or professionals in a field related to your topic of research.
It is even possible to combine interviews with observation, by asking interview respondents to view something like a video or a set of images and then ask questions about what they think or noticed about the phenomena or artifacts they viewed. Interviews are quintessentially qualitative , leading to complex understandings and viewpoints of one or a small group of people. Generally, the answers are in depth and nuanced because the respondent has some time to construct his or her answers carefully and add clarification if needed.
In this way, the interview becomes sort of a conversation; the information you collect adjusts and changes according to what you discover at that moment. You can conduct interviews in person or via writing email, chat, instant message, etc. Although the application of the scientific method varies from field to field, the general principles of the scientific method allow researchers to learn more about the world through observable phenomena. Using the scientific method, researchers develop questions or hypotheses and then collect data on events, objects, or people that is measurable, observable, and replicable.
The ultimate goal in conducting primary research is to learn about something new that can be confirmed by others and to eliminate our own biases in the process. How do you choose between a survey, an interview, or an observation?
It depends on what kind of information you are looking for. Surveys are particularly useful to find small amounts of information from a wider selection of people in the hopes of making a general claim. Interviews are best used when you want to learn detailed information from a few specific people. Interviews are also particularly useful if you want to interview experts about their opinions.
Observations are useful for gathering data about actual human behavior by recording it as it occurs. In sum, then, use surveys to learn general patterns from many people, interviews to gain details from a few people, and observations to determine how people behave or act. For WRIT , a single primary research method can often suffice.
However, students may also combine two or more of these primary research methods for their projects. Of course, there are other ways of conducting primary research. What is Primary Research?
Simply put, primary research is research that is your own original work. Here, the researcher would be performing primary research. What is Secondary Research? Here the researcher would be performing secondary research. The best place to start in order to kick off the project would be to leverage existing research. Using Primary Research and Secondary Research Together Once you have a deep understanding of the problem at hand thanks to your secondary research, you can then plan your primary research efforts accordingly, so that you can fill in any gaps and obtain any information that was previously missing.
Both methods are most effective when they work together. Surveys Are Great Tools for Performing Primary Research Surveys are one of the most commonly used ways in which original data not found through secondary research is collected.
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