Doing Primary Research

Doing Primary Research — page 1 — Published by Creative Education P O Box 227 Mankato Minnesota 56002 Creative Education is an imprint of The Creative Company www thecreativecompany us Design and production by Liddy Walseth Art direction by Rita Marshall Printed in the United States of America Illustrations by Elwood H Smith 2012 Copyright 2013 Creative Education International copyright reserved in all countries No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Bodden Valerie Doing primary research by Valerie Bodden p cm Research for writing Includes bibliographical references and index Summary A narrative guide to conducting primary research complete with an overview of methodologies tips for collecting and applying qualitative and quantitative data and helpful resources ISBN 978-1-60818-204-6 hard cover ISBN 978-1-56660-148-1 eBook 1 Research Methodology Juvenile literature 2 Information literacy Juvenile literature I Title ZA3080 B63 2012 001 4’2 dc23 2011040490 First Edition 246897531

Doing Primary Research — page 2 — TABLE OF CONTENTS 4 INTRODUCTION CHAPTERS 6 P R I M A RY S O U R C E P R I M E R 1 6 M E T H O D S TO CO U N T O N 26 WONDERING WHY 36 THE HUNT IS ON ACTIVE RESEARCH 1 4 E Y E O N E VA L U AT I O N 24 T H E S C I E N T I F I C M E T H O D 3 4 A S K AWAY 44 A TREASURE TROVE RESOURCES 4 6 G LO S S A RY 47 WEB SITES 48 SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY 48 INDEX

Doing Primary Research — page 3 — YOU CONDUCT RESEARCH EVERY DAY AND YOU PROBABLY DON’T EVEN REALIZE IT When you want to know the score of last night’s football game you check on line If you’re wondering how to spell or deﬁne supercilious you get out the dictionary And when you’ve forgotten the math assignment you e-mail your friends to ask them Although these research situations are rather informal the skills you use for them are similar to those you need to conduct research for writing After all research is basically just a search a search for sources that contain speciﬁc relevant and accurate information about your topic But where do you look for that information Well that depends on what you want to know For some subjects books will be your best sources For oth ers you might ﬁnd what you need on the Internet In many cases you’ll need to do primary research that is research that contains ﬁrsthand information Let’s say your assignment is to write about the 2010 Winter Olympic Games for example Today’s newspaper probably isn’t going to cover the event You will 4

Doing Primary Research — page 4 — most likely ﬁnd an entry in an encyclopedia but will that be enough How about turning right to the source including television footage of the Games and inter views with the athletes Primary sources are a great way to learn about an event from the perspec tive of those who experienced it And you can conduct your own primary re search too by carrying out experiments surveys interviews and observations Such ﬁrsthand information can back up old claims and even lead to new insights 5

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