Overview

Research material is collected in two ways—some we gather firsthand (primary), and some we gather through the efforts of others (secondary). Chapter 9 covers primary research, the kind we collect through an original examination of the topic. While many college courses teach you to rely increasingly on secondary sources, such as books and articles found in your school library, primary research remains an invaluable method for collecting data, especially for making important workplace decisions.

Suppose you worked for a radio station that was considering switching from playing Top 40 music to an all-talk format. Before making such a drastic change, you'd want to predict as accurately as possible your chances for success. Secondary sources would certainly play an important role. You'd want to see how other stations around the country that had made a similar change had fared. You'd want to see whether such a change has happened in your area. But the most accurate information would come only from primary research—going out and asking people what they thought. To do so, you need to know what questions to ask, how to ask them, what methods are most effective, and what errors to avoid.

This chapter touches briefly on the information-gathering techniques and methods at your disposal. Put together, they are powerful tools. Applied consistently and conscientiously, they can yield valuable and bankable data, the kind that human safety and efficient social structures can rely on. Trains run on time. ATMs don't go out of service on a Friday night. Buildings are built to tested specifications monitored by a professional regulatory system. It all is dependent on technical writers, and more importantly, professional experts in different disciplines using technical writing to deliver their findings, findings that have work to do in the world. They must be dependable. They must perform a service.

Primary research allows students to seize the power of the research question, to be the detective who conducts original research. More schools are offering opportunities and funding for students to conduct such projects, even at the undergraduate level. Honors and senior capstone projects are terrific chances to conduct original, primary research while you are still in school, an invaluable experience.