An in-person process of gathering information that has not been gathered before and/or the research that writers conduct themselves. Sometimes called FIELD RESEARCH.
In writing studies, primary sources may include letters, speeches, diaries, audio recordings, videos, photographs, newspaper accounts, historical artifacts, maps, debates, public records, and official government documents. Whether a source is considered primary or secondary depends on how the source is used. In History and other fields, the same source can be considered a primary or secondary source depending on the focus of what is being written. If a historian is writing about war in Afghanistan, an article may be seen as a secondary source if it is used to support or illustrate an argument; but if the same article were used to examine the writing about the war, it would be considered a primary source.
(See also SOURCES. Compare to SECONDARY RESEARCH.
Can be either QUANTITATIVE or QUALITATIVE. Quantitative primary research can produce numerical data by using surveys or questionnaires. Qualitative primary research can produce non-numerical data from interviews, case studies, collected artifacts, or archival documents such as newspapers or correspondence from the era being researched.