PRIMARYSOURCES

LS11: RESEARCH METHODS IN LIBRARY

AND INFROMATION SCIENCE

PRIMARY SOURCES• Are original materials on which other

research is based

• A document created at the time of your research subject

• Data that you or your colleagues collect specifically for the purpose of answering your research question

• Are directly connected with the events or people being researched

• You collect exactly the data elements that you need

• You control the data collection process, so you can ensure data quality

• You select a sample that is specifically designed to help answer your research question, so irrelevant information is not a concern

• You may conduct a research that investigates a new problem or issue

• You may also investigate longstanding issue with a new approach

ADVANTAGES PRIMARY SOURCES

EXAMPLES OF PRIMARY

SOURCES

PRIMARY SOURCES DIARIES

• Non-Fictional: Anne Frank was a teenager during World War II. She kept a diary or journal the years before she died in a concentration camp. Her diary was later published as the “Diary of Anne Frank”

• Fictional: Meg Cabot has written and published over fifty books, and is best known for  “The Princess Diaries”

PRIMARY SOURCES AUTOBIOGRAPHIES

• Benjamin Franklin wrote his autobiography about the events in his life called “Memoirs” Although he wasn’t able to finish the book, it is still the most famous autobiography ever written

PRIMARY SOURCES SPEECHES

• Presidents’ Inauguration Address or State of the Nation’s Address

• England’s King George VI’s speech

PRIMARY SOURCES HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS

• Historical documents such as the Declaration of Independence or the constitution

• They were drafted and signed

PRIMARY SOURCES FIRST-HAND ACCOUNTS

• Rosa Henson talked about her own experience as one of the many comfort women during the Japanese occupation in the Philippines in the book “Comfort Women: A Slave of Destiny”

PRIMARY SOURCES PHOTOS AND VIDEOS

• Photographers during World War II took photographs of the battles and or events during the war.

• President Ferdinand Marcos’ footage of Martial Law

PRIMARY SOURCES LETTERS

• Soldiers during the war wrote to their families about war events the experienced

Nicholas Sparks’ fictional novel Dear John is an example

RESEARCHERS are creators of primary resources, however, they may gather information

from secondary sources.

SECONDARYSOURCES

LS11: RESEARCH METHODS IN LIBRARY

AND INFROMATION SCIENCE

SECONDARY SOURCES• Records generated by an event but written by a

non-participant in the event

• often attempt to interpret, explain, or analyze primary sources

• Those existing data collected for another purpose that you employ to answer your research question.

• These documents have no direct connection with the events or people being researched

• Refers to original information and have been written after the fact with the benefit of hindsight

• It is less expensive to collect

• It takes less time to collect

• You may not need to worry about informed consent

• Some secondary sources have been reorganized, reinterpreted, summarized, and indexed

• Access is much easier

• Usually, secondary sources have already been carefully studied

ADVANTAGES SECONDARY SOURCES

EXAMPLES OF SECONDARY

SOURCES

SECONDARY SOURCES BIOGRAPHY

• Teofilo H. Montemayor wrote a biography about the life of Dr. Jose Rizal, the Philippines’ hero

• Girja Kumar, an Indian poet and writer, wrote a biography about Shiyali Ramamrita Ranganathan, the father of library science

SECONDARY SOURCES ENCYCLOPEDIAS

• The Britannica Encyclopedia or any other encyclopedias

SECONDARY SOURCES DICTIONARIES

• Dictionaries are also secondary sources. An example of which is Oxford Dictionary of English

SECONDARY SOURCES ALMANACS

• The World Almanac and Book of Facts and The World Almanac for Kids are also secondary sources

SECONDARY SOURCES BOOK REVIEWS

• Andy Grundberg’s wrote a review of the book Invisible City by Ken Schles

SECONDARY SOURCES MOVIE ADAPTATIONS

PRIMARY NEWSPAPERS SECONDARY

• Prince William and Kate Middleton’s Royal Wedding

Discipline Primary Sources Secondary Sources

English Literature, Film, Plays, Performances Literary criticism, Author biographies, Literary guides,Dictionaries, etc

Fine Arts Artwork, Film/Performances, Photographs, Sculpture, Architecture

Art criticism, Film criticism, reviews, Art history, Published studies of environmental design

HistoryHistorical Documents, Literature,

Autobiographies, Narratives, diaries, essays, Political documents, Letters, speeches

Criticism about historical documents, Criticism and biography of historical figures, Published accounts of

historical periods, etc.

Philosophy & Religion Texts written by philosophers, Religious documents: Bible, prayers, Koran, etc.

Criticism of religious texts and philosophical texts, Explications of Bible, e.g., Published work of

theological scholars

Anthropology Interview Transcripts, Field notes for Ethnographic data

Cultural criticism, Sources on method, Anthropological theory

Economics & Business Economic/market data Criticism of economic forces and effects, historical influences, etc., Economic theory

Criminal Justice Cases, Testimony, Written decision, precedent, Governmental policy

Criticism of jurisprudence, Published research in law, Published criticism of policy

Psychology/ Sciences/ Education/ Sociology

Empirical Data, Interviews, Questionnaire Data, Observation Data, Lab Measurements

Published reports of other scientists, Methodological criticism, Theory, Published method guides

REFERENCES• http://www15.uta.fi/FAST/FIN/RESEARCH/sources.html• http://wire.rutgers.edu/

research_assignments_pri_second.html• http://libweb.surrey.ac.uk/library/skills/Introduction%20to

%20Research%20and%20Managing%20Information%20Leicester/page_21.htm

• http://www.concordia.edu/sitefiles/w3/Library/Primary%20versus%20Secondary%20Sources.pdf

• http://www.grossmont.edu/library/libraryinstruction/flyers&handouts/primary_vs_secondary.pdf

• http://www2.smumn.edu/deptpages/tclibrary/tutorials/finding/primary.pdf

• http://concordia.csp.edu/library/help/HelpSheets/Primary_and_Secondar.pdf

• http://www.mpc.edu/library/Articles_Databases/Pages/Primary%20and%20Secondary%20Resources.pdf

THE END!SYMON T. LAGAO

NINA ALEXANDRA T. TORILLOS