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THE NATURE AND USE OF PRIMARY DATA

SOURCES
Primary Data Sources

Primary data collection is necessary when a researcher cannot find the

data needed in secondary sources. Market researchers are interested in
primary data about demographic/socioeconomic characteristics,
attitudes/opinions/interests, awareness/knowledge, intentions, motivation,
and behavior. Three basic means of obtaining primary data are observation,
surveys, and experiments. The choice will be influenced by the nature of the
problem and by the availability of time and money.

Examples include surveys, interviews, observations, and ethnographic

research. A good researcher knows how to use both primary and secondary
sources in her writing and to integrate them in a cohesive fashion.

Conducting primary research is a useful skill to acquire as it can

greatly supplement research in secondary sources, such as journals,
magazines, or books. Primary research is an excellent skill to learn as it can
be useful in a variety of settings including business, personal, and academic.
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Activities that can be Benefited from Primary Research

• When you are working on a local problem that may not have been
addressed before and little research is there to back it up.
• When you are working on writing about a specific group of people or
a specific person.
• When you are working on a topic that is relatively new or original and
few publications exist on the subject.
• You can also use primary research to confirm or dispute national
results with local trends.

Types of Primary Research:

Many types of primary research exist. This guide is designed to provide you
with an overview of primary research that is often done in writing classes.

Interviews: Interviews are one-on-one or small group question and answer

sessions. Interviews will provide a lot of information from a small number
of people and are useful when you want to get an expert or knowledgeable
opinion on a subject.
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Surveys: Surveys are a form of questioning that is more rigid than

interviews and that involve larger groups of people. Surveys will provide a
limited amount of information from a large group of people and are useful
when you want to learn what a larger population thinks.

Observations: Observations involve taking organized notes about

occurrences in the world. Observations provide you insight about specific
people, events, or locales and are useful when you want to learn more about
an event without the biased viewpoint of an interview.

Analysis: Analysis involves collecting data and organizing it in some

fashion based on criteria you develop. They are useful when you want to
find some trend or pattern. A type of analysis would be to record
commercials on three major television networks and analyze gender roles.

How to start Primary Research?

• What do I want to discover?

• How do I plan on discovering it? (This is called your research
methods or methodology)
• Who am I going to talk to/observe/survey? (These people are called
your subjects or participants)
• How am I going to be able gain access to these groups or individuals?
• What are my biases about this topic?
• How can I make sure my biases are not reflected in my research
methods?
• What do I expect to discover?

Ethical Considerations in Primary Research:

• You should have the permission of the people who you will be
studying to conduct research involving them.
• Not all types of research require permission—for example, if you are
interested in analyzing something that is available publicly (such as in
the case of commercials, public message boards, etc) you do not
necessarily need the permission of the authors.
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• You don’t want to do anything that would cause physical or emotional

harm to your subjects. This could be something as simple as being
careful how you word sensitive or difficult questions during your
interviews.
• Objectivity vs. subjectivity in your research is another important
consideration. Be sure your own personal biases and opinions do not
get in the way of your research and that you give both sides fair
consideration.
• Many types of research, such as surveys or observations, should be
conducted under the assumption that you will keep your findings
anonymous. Many interviews, however, are not done under the
condition of anonymity. You should let your subjects know whether
your research results will be anonymous or not.
• When you are doing research, be sure you are not taking advantage of
easy-to-access groups of people (such as children at a daycare) simply
because they are easy to access. You should choose your subjects
based on what would most benefit your research.
• When reporting your results be sure that you accurately represent
what you observed or what you were told.

Common Pitfalls of Primary Research:

Over generalizing your results

It is impossible to make sweeping generalizations about groups of people

based solely on a few interviews, observations, or surveys. You can find
general patterns or trends, but should never assume that what you have
found is what exists or what will always exist. In fact, it is hard to make
concrete generalizations about any occurrence that relates to people because
people themselves are dynamic and situations are always changing.

Biased methodology

If you create a biased survey or ask biased questions, you’ll get biased
results. See the "creating good survey and interview questions" section for
tips on how to make your questions non-biased.
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Correlation does not imply causation

Remember that just because two results have a relationship between them
does not necessarily mean that one causes another to occur. For example,
although video games and violent behaviors are shown to have a link, it has
not been proven that video games cause violent behavior (instead, it could be
that individuals who are predisposed toward violent activity are drawn to
violent video games).

Not considering other related factors

It is very difficult to be able to study all the factors that relate to a specific
group of people, event, or occurrence. Even so, if you do not include these
factors within your primary research, they should still be considered when
you begin to analyze your data. For example, if you are studying the parking
issue on campus and look at the amount of cars being parked on campus vs.
the student population, you are omitting other factors like the amount of
commuter students, the number of faculty who drive, accessibility of public
transportation and many others.

Being able to know what data is valid

Some participants in your research may not take it seriously and will provide
silly, inaccurate answers or engage in purposely aberrant behaviors. This
most likely occurs with surveys that individuals complete but occasionally
can occur during interviews or even with observations. These answers can
throw off your entire research project, so it is very important that you
examine your surveys or interviews for this type of erroneous information. If
you find information that is highly questionable, it is best to not include it in
your analysis of results.

Reported behavior vs. actual behavior

What people report as their behavior might not actually how they behave.
People will often report their own behavior in a more positive light than it
may actually be. For example, if you are surveying college students about
their study habits, they may report that they study for more hours than they
actually do.
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Interviewing

Interviewing is a great way to learn detailed information from a single

individual or small number of individuals. It is very useful when you want to
gain expert opinions on the subject or talk to someone knowledgeable about
a topic.

Types of Interviewing:

Several different types of interviews exist. You should choose one based on
what kind of technology you have available to you, the availability of the
individual you are interviewing, and how comfortable you feel talking to
people.

Face to Face Interviews: Face to face interviews are when you sit down
and talk with someone. They are beneficial because you can adapt your
questioning to the answers of the person you are interviewing. You will need
recording equipment for the interview, and it is highly recommended that
you bring two recording devices with you in case one fails.

Phone Interviews: Phone interviews can be used when you need to

interview someone who is geographically far away, who is too busy to meet
with you to talk, or who does not want to use Internet technology. You have
to purchase a special recording device for use with most phone systems.

Email Interviews: Email interviews are less personal than face-to-face or

phone interviews, but highly convenient for most individuals. You may not
get as much information from someone in an email interview because you
are not able to ask follow-up questions or play off the interviewee’s
responses. However, email interviews are useful because they are already in
a digital format.

Chat/Messaging Interviews: It is also possible to interview someone via an

instant messaging service such as MSN Messenger, ICQ, or AOL Instant
Messenger. These interviews allow you to talk to people at great distances
and give you the benefit of adapting your questioning based on the responses
you receive. Some people are not fluent at typing, however, so you may not
get as lengthy responses from this option.
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Setting up an interview

When setting up an interview, be sure to be courteous and professional.

Explain to the person being interviewed who you are, what you want to talk
them about, and what project you are working on. Don’t be discouraged if
not everyone you contact is willing to be interviewed.

Interview do's and dont's

When conducting interviews…

• Do be careful of the types of questions you ask. See the “Creating

good survey and interview questions” section for more information.
• Do start the interview with some small talk to give both yourself and
the person you are interviewing a chance to get comfortable.
• Do bring redundant recording equipment in case something happens
to one of your recording devices.
• Do pay attention to what is being said during the interview and follow
up responses that sound interesting.
• Do come to the interview prepared. You should learn as much as you
can about the person you are going to interview before the interview
takes place so that you can tailor your questions to them.
• Don't pester or push the person you are interviewing. If he or she does
not want to talk about an issue, you should respect that desire.
• Don't stick to your questions rigidly. If an interesting subject comes
up that relates to your research, feel free to ask additional questions
about it.
• Don't allow the person you are interviewing to continually get off
topic. If the conversation drifts, ask follow-up questions to redirect the
conversation to the subject at hand.

Surveying

Surveying is a great way to discover what a large amount of people think

about a particular issue or how a group of people report their behavior.
Surveys can be done on a large range of topics and can be conducted
relatively easily.
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Things to consider when conducting surveys:

Who are you planning on surveying? Decide what group you are going to
focus on surveying based on who you have access to and what your research
is focused on.

How many people are you going to survey? You want to choose a target
number of surveys to conduct. You don't want too few surveys because you
won't have enough answers to support any generalizations or findings you
may make. At the same time, you do not want too many surveys because you
will be overwhelmed with analyzing your data.

How are you going to survey people? You can choose to conduct your
survey in person (i.e. walk up to people and ask them questions); on paper
(i.e. hand out surveys and ask people to return them); or even via the
Internet. The survey method should be chosen based on the length of your
survey and types of questions.

How long is your survey going to be? The answer to this question depends
on what information you are attempting to discover and how much you want
to find out. Longer surveys sometimes involve the same question asked in
multiple ways to see if people are consistent in their answering strategies.
For your first survey, however, it is better to keep things simple. Short
questions are usually more effective than longer ones.

What type of questions are you going to ask? Do you want open-ended
questions or closed questions? Open-ended questions are questions that
allow the participant any type of response. An example of an open-ended
question is: How are you feeling today? A closed question is one with a set
of possible responses or yes/no responses. An example is: Did you feel that
the new campus regulation about parking is fair? While closed questions are
much easier to analyze they do not provide the rich responses you may get
with open-ended questions. Ultimately, what type of question you ask
depends on what you want to discover.

Creating Good Interview and Survey Questions

If you are conducting primary research using surveys or interviews, one of

the most important things to focus on is creating good questions.
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When creating questions you want to avoid:

Biased questions

Biased questions are questions that encourage your participants to respond to

the question in a certain way. They may contain biased terminology or are
worded in a biased way.

Biased question: Don't you agree that campus parking is a problem?

Revised question: Is parking on campus a problem?

Questions that assume what they ask

These questions are a type of biased question and lead your participants to
agree or respond in a certain way.

Biased question: There are many people who believe that campus parking is
a problem. Are you one of them?
Revised question: Do you agree or disagree that campus parking is a
problem?

Double-barreled questions

A double-barreled question is a one that has more than one question

embedded within it. Participants may answer one but not both, or may
disagree with part or all of the question.

Double-barreled question: Do you agree that campus parking is a problem

and that the administration should be working diligently on a solution?
Revised question: Is campus parking a problem? (If the participant
responds yes): Should the administration be responsible for solving this
problem?

Confusing or wordy questions

Make sure your questions are not confusing or wordy. Confusing questions
will only lead to confused participants, which leads to unreliable answers.

Confusing questions: What do you think about parking? (This is confusing

because the question isn't clear about what it is asking--parking in general?
The person's ability to park the car? Parking on campus?) Do you believe
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that the parking situation on campus is problematic or difficult because of
the lack of spaces and the walking distances or do you believe that the
parking situation on campus is ok? (This question is both very wordy and
leads the participant.)
Revised question: What is your opinion of the parking situation on campus?

Questions that do not relate to what you want to learn

Be sure that your questions directly relate to what it is you are studying. A
good way to do this is to ask someone else to read your questions or even
test your survey out on a few people and see if the responses fit what you are
looking for.

Unrelated questions: Have you ever encountered problems in the parking

garage on campus? Do you like or dislike the bus system?

Observing

Observations are a type of primary research that involves spending time

watching people or other creatures interact with each other and the world
around them. Observations are used in nearly every scientific field and can
be incredibly useful in gathering information.

Types of Participation

Before observing, consider how you as an observer may alter the event being
observed.

• How fully will you participate in the event?

• Will you simply sit, watch, and take notes with no interaction?
• Will you interact with the participants?
• Will you become a participant yourself?

These different choices can radically change what you end up observing.
The mere presence of an observer may alter the events--and if you interact
with participants, you further risk changing what takes place. The other side
to this is that by not participating in an event, you may not gain a complete
understanding of that event.
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How to Observe

When observing, it is especially important to separate observations from

your feelings or reactions to observations. A good way to do this is to take
your observations in a double-entry notebook. A double-entry notebook has
two columns, one for what is directly observed and one is for what the
observer interprets from the events. Here is an example:

Observation: The teacher walks around the circle and speaks to each
student individually.

Interpretation: The teacher seems to want to make sure that each student
understands the assignment.

If you are observing a group that is not found in public (such as a group of
card players, a sports team, or a special-interest group), it may be wise to
plan to spend multiple sittings with the group. This will allow the group
some time to adjust to your presence (and hence, for you to get more
accurate observations).

Recordings vs. Note-taking

How will you be observing? Will you be taking notes in a notebook? With a
laptop? Will you be recording your observations in some way (with a digital
camera, video camera, digital recorder, etc?

How you choose to observe is another important consideration that can

affect the quality and results of your observations. Remember that you
cannot capture everything that takes place with a recording or by even by
taking detailed notes.

What to Observe

Observational skills require some practice! The key to being a good observer
is to pay attention to the details of a situation, write as much as you can, and
write it as detailed as possible.
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Analysis

Analysis is a type of primary research that involves finding and interpreting

patterns in data, classifying those patterns, and generalizing the results. It is
useful when looking at actions, events, or occurrences in different texts,
media, or publications. Analysis can usually be done without considering
most of the ethical issues discussed in the overview, as you are not working
with people but rather publicly accessible documents. Analysis can be done
on new documents or performed on raw data that you yourself have
collected.

Here are several examples of analysis:

• Recording commercials on three major television networks and

analyzing race and gender within the commercials to discover some
conclusion.
• Analyzing the historical trends in public laws by looking at the
records at a local courthouse.
• Analyzing topics of discussion in chat rooms for patterns based on
gender and age.

Methods

Analysis research involves several steps:

• Finding and collecting documents.

• Specifying criteria or patterns that you are looking for.
• Analyzing documents for patterns, noting number of occurrences or
other factors.

Analyzing Your Primary Data

Now that you've collected your primary data, its time to figure out what that
data means and what you can learn from it. The keys when analyzing your
data is to pull out information that is the most pertinent to your writing,
information you can highlight and discuss, and information that will support
your claims (if you are making any).
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Interviews

Interviews are fairly easy to analyze, as you simply have to go back through
the answers you received and decide how to use them within your writing.
You can group the answers into categories and create a chart of how those
answers may best fit within your paper or article.

If you recorded the interview with a tape or digital recorder, you may want
to listen to it and type a transcript of the interview. Since transcription is a
tedious process, only use this option if you need to.

Surveys

When analyzing surveys, you want to get the raw data into form that you can
manipulate. If you were using a numerical system or yes/no answer system
for your survey, you may find it helpful to enter the results into a spreadsheet
program such as Microsoft Excel. If the survey was an open-ended question
style, see if you can fit your answers into categories of responses.

Observations

Observations are more difficult to analyze because when you are taking
notes, you often write down everything that you see. Start by organizing
your notes into categories or by some criteria. Once you have everything
organized, see if you can make some generalizations about what you have
observed.

Over-generalizing your results

Your first attempts at primary research will most likely include small groups
of people and may not be representative of the population as a whole. It is
important to remember not to over-generalize your findings--in other words,
don't assume that your findings are necessarily true of every person within
the group or every person in a society.

Triangulation of Data

One of the benefits of combining primary research with secondary research

is in the area of data triangulation. Data triangulation is when a piece of data,
a finding, or a generalization is able to be verified with several different
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research methods. This helps add to your credibility and makes your
findings stronger.