Primary Research
Primary research is when someone directly generates information to aid in their study, rather than relying on other sources. Also known as 'original' research, its aim is to produce new data surrounding a topic.
Most primary research is completed so it can later be published and cited as a credible source by academic organisations. Primary research can be useful in music, for example when testing which drum kit mic setup sounds the best.
Examples of this include surveys, interviews, observation, data analysis and focus groups.
In this case, observation does not mean simply looking at another source and taking the data; it instead involves observing people, scenarios or anything relevant to the studied topic first-hand over a period of time.
Focus groups typically comprise of 12 people all discussing the topic at hand, and could prove more useful in social studies or scenarios in which you wish to explore multiple viewpoints.
For the above-stated reasons, primary research can be very specific and tailored to the researcher's needs.
Source: https://research.com/research/primary-research-vs-secondary-research#what
Secondary Research
Secondary research is when someone references other published materials (e.g. theses, essays, websites) to come to a conclusion about that particular topic. With secondary research, you are not required to generate raw data. However, for this reason, the research may prove to be less credible since anyone could post information online; as a result, the information could be biased or uninformed.
Most secondary research is done in schools or academic institutions since it is quick and cheap. Primary research often involves large costs as you need to pay people to take your surveys, attend your interviews etc., whereas secondary research does not require the involvement of anyone else but yourself.
Some sources of secondary research include academic articles, academic books, government data and data from companies.
Source: https://research.com/research/primary-research-vs-secondary-research#what
What is the research process?
The research process ensures that research done by an individual is completed to a high standard, and is therefore credible and easily understandable.
The research process is quite subjective and can differ from institution to institution, however, general consensus dictates that there are 5 crucial steps to research:
1. What is the question you are trying to answer? / What are you trying to prove?
You must first evaluate the cause for the investigation. This will help you understand what it is you are trying to accomplish, and how to accomplish that goal.
2. Plan your research.
Before even starting, you must create a plan on how you are going to research. Take into account what sources you are going to use, and whether you are going to conduct primary or secondary research. For example, you might decide to pursue secondary research and use government data paired with academic reports to answer your question.
You may want to gather either qualitative or quantitative research, or both. Qualitative research revolves around opinions, ethics and variables which cannot be measured mathematically. Contrastingly, quantitative research revolves around gathering precise statistics, numbers and objective evidence which is generally more useful in scientific investigations.
3. Gather your data.
The most important step, of course, is gathering your data. As stated above, you could do this in a variety of ways. You must exercise your own discretion surrounding how you want to gather the data (depending on the question).
Most importantly, you must make sure all your data is gathered from credible sources. It is important when researching to assess sources for credibility, relevance to the topic (i.e. how well does it match?), and bias (i.e. is the information subjective or objective). If one of your sources is not public, you will also need to get consent to use it in your research.
4. Come to a conclusion.
Analyse your data and ask yourself - what does this mean? Does the data I've collected support or disprove my point? Are there any anomalies in the data which should be cut out?
5. Compile your findings and/or present them.
Usually, you would create a written resource citing the sources you took from, the information they presented and how they impact the investigation. An essay format is often required for such documents. In some situations (e.g. you are the marketing manager for a company researching different forms of advertising), you may be required to present your research to a team.
Source: https://www.studysmarter.co.uk/explanations/english/research-and-composition/research-process/
Accuracy
As aforementioned, anyone can post anything to the internet. For this reason, it is difficult to guarantee you are gathering information from a reliable source.
To ensure your research is accurate, you should look for certain aspects in sources:
1. Who is it written by?
If a resource is written by a well-known publishing company or academic institution, it is very likely its research is credible and well-informed. For example, if you're researching something about science, you may want to look into gathering information from sites like National Geographic.
2. Citations.
If a resource has written citations documenting where/how they gathered the evidence, they are much more likely to be well-informed since they have analysed a variety of data.
3. When was it written?
If a resource was written recently, it will have the newest up-to-date information available on the topic. Old sources may have more outdated information which could have been proven wrong over time.
4. Objectivity.
Tying into the use of citations, it is practical to see whether the author has gathered information from multiple sources instead of making things up. Even if they only used one source, their information could be biased as they haven't considered a variety of viewpoints.
Also analyse the language used in the post and the author's views on the topic - even the most acclaimed researchers may let their bias control their writing, especially when related to political topics.
Source: https://hbl.gcc.libguides.com/research/credible
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