Last updated on October 10, 2022
After you’ve defined your research question, it’s time to know, “Is secondary research qualitative or quantitative“. A secondary research study can be quantitative or qualitative. Therefore, secondary research can be conducted using qualitative or quantitative methods. After knowing this, the next step is to find some sources to help you answer that question. In this article, we’ll go over the process of secondary research with the help of some postgraduate dissertation examples and explain how it can help you reach your goals as a researcher.
Define your research question
Having a straightforward research question will help you stay focused as you conduct your research. It also helps you define your goal and identify the most appropriate methods for answering your research question.
The first step in determining a good research question is to consider whether an existing problem needs to be solved or whether it’s better to start from scratch with something novel and innovative. If there are already solutions available for this problem, what can make yours better?
If you’re not sure where to start with defining your research question, try starting with some of these ideas:
- Will my research find new or exciting discoveries about humans or animals?
- How does my work fit into this more extensive area of study? What makes it unique? How does it contribute new information that hasn’t been covered before (or hasn’t been covered well)?
- What am I passionate about, and how can I turn that passion into something productive through academia?
Search for secondary data and literature
You’ll need to search the library catalogue for secondary data and literature. The first place to start is the library’s databases, which are full of publications like journals, articles and books. These can be found by searching the library catalogue or using Google Scholar.
Searching for specific keywords will help you find relevant articles faster—for example: “Is secondary research qualitative or quantitative” or “gender differences” might give you more relevant results than just searching for “education” alone. You should also search for authors who have published papers on your topic; this will help you find more relevant sources quickly. Finally, don’t forget that some older papers may still be relevant today; so search by publication date too!
Analyse the reliability and validity of your sources
The next step is to check the reliability and validity of your sources. These criteria can help you identify the quality of any source, including academic papers and books, historical documents and newspaper articles. Reliability refers to whether a source measures what it claims to measure. For example, suppose you are looking for research on how much money an individual makes per month after graduating from college with a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science. In that case, you want your sources to measure this information using accurate data collection methods such as surveys or interviews. Validity refers to how well a study compares with other studies that use similar methods or procedures. In this case, for example, if one source says that people who have more degrees make more money than those who only have one degree (say an Associates degree), but another source says otherwise (that people who have more degrees make less money than those who only have one degree), then we know both sources are not valid because there is no way they could both be right at the same time!
The most reliable sources tend to come from peer-reviewed journals because they undergo rigorous review processes before publication; however, many non-peer reviewed journals also produce high-quality research papers which should be included in your analysis depending on how relevant they are.”
Present your findings in a structured way
- Use a structure that makes sense to you. Use the structure that will work best for you, whether it’s an outline, mind map, or something else.
- Use headings and subheadings. Organising your research findings into sections helps readers follow your ideas more quickly by indicating where each new idea begins. This also makes it easier for you to revise your work later.
- Use a table of contents as part of the written report to help organize your information orderly before submitting it for review by others (such as a thesis committee). The table of contents should be included on page 9 at the beginning of your formal presentation; this is where most people look first when they open up any kind of document to quickly get their bearings about what follows next within its pages.* Add bibliographic citations – references to sources used throughout this project – at least once per central section or subsection.* Write clearly and succinctly so readers do not get confused trying too hard. Just decipher what exactly was being said!”
Conclusion
This is an essential part of your research and should not be overlooked. To show that you have done thorough research, you must do your secondary research properly. The second step in this process involves finding relevant literature and data sources on the topic being researched. You can also look for postgraduate dissertation examples to be sure. This step can sometimes prove challenging due to the vast amount of information available on every topic imaginable. Still, some steps can help narrow things down as much as possible before beginning any search engine.
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