Primary research is an integral part of report writing and dissertations, if you’re working on original research questions. The key to a good paper that takes the existing literature of the subject forward is primary research that follows the guidelines of academic integrity and ethical considerations. But what is primary research? And how does it tie into report writing?
Well, if you’re in a hurry, you can check out our report writing help services at Digi Assignment Help. Our experts will happily help you understand what primary research is and do it for you in the timeline you want. But, if you have some time, check out our thorough guide on primary research and its types below.
What is Primary Research?
Primary research refers to the type of research that you originally conduct yourself. It can range from interviews you take to surveys you conduct, or even experiments you perform. The key to primary research is its originality. You’re performing these experiments yourself because your research matter is original, and there’s no existing research on this topic. So, when your paper is published, it can take the research you’ve performed to improve the knowledge base of the academic literature of your subject. That’s primarily what primary research means.
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How is Primary Research Different From Secondary Research?
Secondary research refers to any research that’s done by studying existing published research papers, reports, and dissertations. If you want to learn more about how to reference from white papers and business reports, you can check out Digi Assignment Help. The key here is that, though your findings or interpretations of the data you gather are original, you’re not in charge of collecting the data yourself. The data is already present and published for you to use.
In primary research, you’re responsible for collecting original data through various types of research in order to create your dissertation or report. That’s the main difference.
Types of Primary Research Crucial for Report Writing & Dissertations
The types of primary research refer to the different methods of data-gathering techniques you use to complete your research. Each of these techniques is utilised by different research prospects and based on your subject and research question you can choose any of these methodologies to create a solid primary research data.
- Interviews
Interviews are the easiest among primary research data gathering techniques as they are a one-on-one data collection methodology. It requires the least capital funding and can be completed anywhere with the help of the internet today. You can interview anybody for your research to create a reference of answers provided by people of different ages, genders, ethnicities, and professions.
Based on your interviews, you can create interpretations from the data you collect and use them to create compelling arguments. It is crucial to note that interviews inherently require the interviewee to be a subject-matter expert. While this is not necessary, it becomes difficult to differentiate interviews from surveys otherwise. Another important factor to consider here is that interviews require the questions to be open-ended.
- Surveys
Surveys are highly common nowadays with the advent of the internet, and they’ve become more easily available for users globally. Surveys, unlike interviews, are questionnaires that are prepared and filled out by participants without the focus being on one-on-one communication. However, it is important to note that surveys often can be conducted one-on-one to learn more about the subjects.
The questions of a survey are not open-ended, and they’re generally easy to answer for participants. The answers can even be yes/no, which is done to learn more about the preferences of participants. Academics regularly use surveys to create interesting research arguments. In fact, surveys are used by corporations as well to learn more about consumer behaviour, product research and marketing.
- Experiments
Experiments are the most difficult among all primary research methodologies, considering they require significant capital investment and have to follow crucial governmental and ethical guidelines. Failure to comply can lead to the researchers being tried in court and even jailed. Experiments, as the name suggests, are widely used in the scientific fields to prove or disprove theories.
In fact, experiments have helped prove some of the most popular concepts of science, which have helped shape humanity’s understanding of the world around them. Experiments can also be non-scientific and suited for subjects like business and psychology, with A/B tests and thought experiments. Overall, experiments are one of the most revered primary research methodologies due to their stringent measures.
- Focus Groups
Focus groups can be an effective and interesting primary research methodology if you can get the right candidates. The process involves a group discussion about any topic that’s led by you, the researcher. The candidates in the focus group all share their opinions and discuss the issue at hand.
It can help you create observations that can back your research arguments. The key is to ensure the discussion is always moving forward and properly moderated when you’re using a focus group for research purposes.
- Observations
Observations can be a difficult primary research method to pull off, considering you’d require permission and consent from the person you’re observing. However, you can also be observing robots and AI, so considerations have to be made accordingly for permissions in those cases, too. Observations are a key part of understanding the psychology and patterns of people and even machines.
Based on your observations, you can create recommendations that are focused on the outcomes of your observations. This is especially important in research that’s conducted on consumers and their buying patterns. Based on your input, companies can make changes to optimise sales and improve their brand positioning.
Conclusion
These are some of the best primary research methodologies that you can use to take your reports and dissertations to the next level. Be sure to always keep your data collection processes transparent and respect the privacy and the rights of the participants involved.
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