Primary sources of data include information collected directly by the researcher through methods like questionnaires, interviews, and observations. Secondary sources include data that has already been collected or written about by other researchers, such as books, journals, and newspapers. Common primary sources are autobiographies, speeches, letters, and newspaper/magazine articles written at the time about an event. Secondary sources include biographies, encyclopedias, history textbooks, and articles written after the fact about past events. Primary data collection methods mentioned include interviews, questionnaires/surveys, experiments, case studies, and observations.

1. DATA COLLECTION

2. SOURCES OF INFORMATION
Primary Source
•Data is collected by
researcher himself
•Data is gathered
through questionnaire,
interviews,
observations etc.
Secondary Source
•Data collected,
compiled or
written by other
researchers eg. books,
journals, newspapers
•Any reference must
be acknowledged

4. Primary Source
• Autobiographies
– An autobiography is when you write a
story or book about yourself.
• Example: Nelson Mandela wrote his
autobiography about events in his life
called “Long Walk to Freedom: The
Autobiography of Nelson Mandela.
This is a primary document because
he wrote his first hand experiences.

5. Primary Source
• Speeches are considered Primary
Sources.
▫ Examples of Speeches:
 Abraham Lincoln’s
“Gettysburg Address”
 Martin Luther King’s “I Have
a Dream”
 All of the President’s
Inauguration Speeches.

6. Primary Source
• Letters are considered primary
documents.
▫ Example: Soldiers during wars
wrote to their families about war
events they experienced. Those
letters are considered primary
sources.
▫ See example of Civil War
Letters

7. Secondary Source
• Biography
▫ Example: A biography is
when you write about
another person’s life.
Alice Fleming wrote a
biography on the life of
Martin Luther King Jr.
This is a secondary
document. It was written
about him after he died.

8. Primary or Secondary Sources?
• Newspaper and Magazine articles can be a
primary or secondary sources.
– If the article was written at the time
something happened, then it is a
primary source.
– Example: The articles written on
Barack Obama’s inauguration in 2009
are primary sources.
– However, if a reporter in 2009 wrote
about George Washington’s
inauguration using information written
by someone else (1789), that would be
a secondary source.

9. Secondary Source
• Think about it like this….
• If I tell you something, I am
the primary source. If you
tell someone else what I told
you, you are the secondary
source.

10. Secondary Source
• encyclopedias, history books (textbooks), etc.
are all secondary sources because they were
written “after” the these events occurred.

11. METHODS USED
TO COLLECT
PRIMARY SOURCE DATA
1. Interviews
2. Questionnaires
3. Survey
4. Experimentation
5. Case Study
6. Observation

12. Effective way
of gathering
information
INTERVIEW
Involves verbal
and non-verbal
communications
Can be conducted
face to face, by telephone,
online or through mail

13. The most common
data collection instrument
Survey
Questionnaire
Useful to collect
quantitative and qualitative
information
Should contain 3 elements:
1. Introduction – to explain the objectives
2. Instructions – must be clear, simple language & short
3. User-friendly – avoid difficult or ambiguous questions

14. 2 Basic Types of survey
questions:
1. Open-ended Questions
– Free-response
(Text Open End)
– Fill-in relevant
information
2. Close-ended Questions
A closed-ended question is a
question format that limits
respondents with a list of
answer choices from which
they must choose to answer
the question. Commonly these
type of questions are in the
form of multiple choices .

15. Observe verbal &
non-verbal communication,
surrounding atmosphere,
culture & situation
Observations
Need to keep
particular records of
the observations
Can be done through discussions,
observations of habits, customs,
review of documentation,
experiments