On Primary Research

On this page

Here you will find some introductory material on the many different aspects of primary research. Treat these docs as starting points and then explore more about the methods you will employ.

Super Tips

  • Plan this stage carefully. The decisions you make here will have a very large impact on the quality of your results.

  • This is vital part of your methodology - which therefore presents many opportunities to show critical thinking.

  • Be sure to speak to your supervisor for subject specific guidance

Useful ideas to help get your thinking started

On the importance of sampling decisions
How to carry out questionnaires
How to carry out observations in the social sciences
How to carry out interviews
How to carry out focus groups
Using and presenting statistics

On handling data: two very documents

Data Visualisations guide.pdf
How should data be presented?

Dr Zina O'Leary provides some expert advice

This video is freely available from https://study.sagepub.com/oleary3e. Please as always, speak to your subject specialist supervisor for advice on your EE

6. Working with primary data.mp4

What tips do you have for collecting primary data?

This video is apx 12 mins in length