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Primary Research: What It Is, Purpose & Methods + Examples

As we continue exploring the exciting research world, we’ll come across two primary and secondary data approaches. This article will focus on primary research – what it is, how it’s done, and why it’s essential. 

We’ll discuss the methods used to gather first-hand data and examples of how it’s applied in various fields. Get ready to discover how this research can be used to solve research problems , answer questions, and drive innovation.

What is Primary Research: Definition

Primary research is a methodology researchers use to collect data directly rather than depending on data collected from previously done research. Technically, they “own” the data. Primary research is solely carried out to address a certain problem, which requires in-depth analysis .

There are two forms of research:

• Primary Research
• Secondary Research

Businesses or organizations can conduct primary research or employ a third party to conduct research. One major advantage of primary research is this type of research is “pinpointed.” Research only focuses on a specific issue or problem and on obtaining related solutions.

For example, a brand is about to launch a new mobile phone model and wants to research the looks and features they will soon introduce. 

Organizations can select a qualified sample of respondents closely resembling the population and conduct primary research with them to know their opinions. Based on this research, the brand can now think of probable solutions to make necessary changes in the looks and features of the mobile phone.

Primary Research Methods with Examples

In this technology-driven world, meaningful data is more valuable than gold. Organizations or businesses need highly validated data to make informed decisions. This is the very reason why many companies are proactive in gathering their own data so that the authenticity of data is maintained and they get first-hand data without any alterations.

Here are some of the primary research methods organizations or businesses use to collect data:

1. Interviews (telephonic or face-to-face)

Conducting interviews is a qualitative research method to collect data and has been a popular method for ages. These interviews can be conducted in person (face-to-face) or over the telephone. Interviews are an open-ended method that involves dialogues or interaction between the interviewer (researcher) and the interviewee (respondent).

Conducting a face-to-face interview method is said to generate a better response from respondents as it is a more personal approach. However, the success of face-to-face interviews depends heavily on the researcher’s ability to ask questions and his/her experience related to conducting such interviews in the past. The types of questions that are used in this type of research are mostly open-ended questions . These questions help to gain in-depth insights into the opinions and perceptions of respondents.

Personal interviews usually last up to 30 minutes or even longer, depending on the subject of research. If a researcher is running short of time conducting telephonic interviews can also be helpful to collect data.

2. Online surveys

Once conducted with pen and paper, surveys have come a long way since then. Today, most researchers use online surveys to send to respondents to gather information from them. Online surveys are convenient and can be sent by email or can be filled out online. These can be accessed on handheld devices like smartphones, tablets, iPads, and similar devices.

Once a survey is deployed, a certain amount of stipulated time is given to respondents to answer survey questions and send them back to the researcher. In order to get maximum information from respondents, surveys should have a good mix of open-ended questions and close-ended questions . The survey should not be lengthy. Respondents lose interest and tend to leave it half-done.

It is a good practice to reward respondents for successfully filling out surveys for their time and efforts and valuable information. Most organizations or businesses usually give away gift cards from reputed brands that respondents can redeem later.

3. Focus groups

This popular research technique is used to collect data from a small group of people, usually restricted to 6-10. Focus group brings together people who are experts in the subject matter for which research is being conducted.

Focus group has a moderator who stimulates discussions among the members to get greater insights. Organizations and businesses can make use of this method, especially to identify niche markets to learn about a specific group of consumers.

4. Observations

In this primary research method, there is no direct interaction between the researcher and the person/consumer being observed. The researcher observes the reactions of a subject and makes notes.

Trained observers or cameras are used to record reactions. Observations are noted in a predetermined situation. For example, a bakery brand wants to know how people react to its new biscuits, observes notes on consumers’ first reactions, and evaluates collective data to draw inferences .

Primary Research vs Secondary Research – The Differences

Primary and secondary research are two distinct approaches to gathering information, each with its own characteristics and advantages. 

While primary research involves conducting surveys to gather firsthand data from potential customers, secondary market research is utilized to analyze existing industry reports and competitor data, providing valuable context and benchmarks for the survey findings.

Find out more details about the differences: 

1. Definition

• Primary Research: Involves the direct collection of original data specifically for the research project at hand. Examples include surveys, interviews, observations, and experiments.
• Secondary Research: Involves analyzing and interpreting existing data, literature, or information. This can include sources like books, articles, databases, and reports.

2. Data Source

• Primary Research: Data is collected directly from individuals, experiments, or observations.
• Secondary Research: Data is gathered from already existing sources.

3. Time and Cost

• Primary Research: Often time-consuming and can be costly due to the need for designing and implementing research instruments and collecting new data.
• Secondary Research: Generally more time and cost-effective, as it relies on readily available data.

4. Customization

• Primary Research: Provides tailored and specific information, allowing researchers to address unique research questions.
• Secondary Research: Offers information that is pre-existing and may not be as customized to the specific needs of the researcher.
• Primary Research: Researchers have control over the research process, including study design, data collection methods , and participant selection.
• Secondary Research: Limited control, as researchers rely on data collected by others.

6. Originality

• Primary Research: Generates original data that hasn’t been analyzed before.
• Secondary Research: Involves the analysis of data that has been previously collected and analyzed.

7. Relevance and Timeliness

• Primary Research: Often provides more up-to-date and relevant data or information.
• Secondary Research: This may involve data that is outdated, but it can still be valuable for historical context or broad trends.

Advantages of Primary Research

Primary research has several advantages over other research methods, making it an indispensable tool for anyone seeking to understand their target market, improve their products or services, and stay ahead of the competition. So let’s dive in and explore the many benefits of primary research.

• One of the most important advantages is data collected is first-hand and accurate. In other words, there is no dilution of data. Also, this research method can be customized to suit organizations’ or businesses’ personal requirements and needs .
• I t focuses mainly on the problem at hand, which means entire attention is directed to finding probable solutions to a pinpointed subject matter. Primary research allows researchers to go in-depth about a matter and study all foreseeable options.
• Data collected can be controlled. I T gives a means to control how data is collected and used. It’s up to the discretion of businesses or organizations who are collecting data how to best make use of data to get meaningful research insights.
• I t is a time-tested method, therefore, one can rely on the results that are obtained from conducting this type of research.

Disadvantages of Primary Research

While primary research is a powerful tool for gathering unique and firsthand data, it also has its limitations. As we explore the drawbacks, we’ll gain a deeper understanding of when primary research may not be the best option and how to work around its challenges.

• One of the major disadvantages of primary research is it can be quite expensive to conduct. One may be required to spend a huge sum of money depending on the setup or primary research method used. Not all businesses or organizations may be able to spend a considerable amount of money.
• This type of research can be time-consuming. Conducting interviews and sending and receiving online surveys can be quite an exhaustive process and require investing time and patience for the process to work. Moreover, evaluating results and applying the findings to improve a product or service will need additional time.
• Sometimes, just using one primary research method may not be enough. In such cases, the use of more than one method is required, and this might increase both the time required to conduct research and the cost associated with it.

Every research is conducted with a purpose. Primary research is conducted by organizations or businesses to stay informed of the ever-changing market conditions and consumer perception. Excellent customer satisfaction (CSAT) has become a key goal and objective of many organizations.

A customer-centric organization knows the importance of providing exceptional products and services to its customers to increase customer loyalty and decrease customer churn. Organizations collect data and analyze it by conducting primary research to draw highly evaluated results and conclusions. Using this information, organizations are able to make informed decisions based on real data-oriented insights.

QuestionPro is a comprehensive survey platform that can be used to conduct primary research. Users can create custom surveys and distribute them to their target audience , whether it be through email, social media, or a website.

QuestionPro also offers advanced features such as skip logic, branching, and data analysis tools, making collecting and analyzing data easier. With QuestionPro, you can gather valuable insights and make informed decisions based on the results of your primary research. Start today for free!

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Purdue Online Writing Lab Purdue OWL® College of Liberal Arts

What is Primary Research and How do I get Started?

Welcome to the Purdue OWL

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Primary research is any type of research that you collect yourself. Examples include surveys, interviews, observations, and ethnographic research. A good researcher knows how to use both primary and secondary sources in their writing and to integrate them in a cohesive fashion.

Conducting primary research is a useful skill to acquire as it can greatly supplement your research in secondary sources, such as journals, magazines, or books. You can also use it as the focus of your writing project. Primary research is an excellent skill to learn as it can be useful in a variety of settings including business, personal, and academic.

But I’m not an expert!

With some careful planning, primary research can be done by anyone, even students new to writing at the university level. The information provided on this page will help you get started.

What types of projects or activities benefit from primary research?

When you are working on a local problem that may not have been addressed before and little research is there to back it up.

When you are working on writing about a specific group of people or a specific person.

When you are working on a topic that is relatively new or original and few publications exist on the subject.

You can also use primary research to confirm or dispute national results with local trends.

What types of primary research can be done?

Many types of primary research exist. This guide is designed to provide you with an overview of primary research that is often done in writing classes.

Interviews: Interviews are one-on-one or small group question and answer sessions. Interviews will provide a lot of information from a small number of people and are useful when you want to get an expert or knowledgeable opinion on a subject.

Surveys: Surveys are a form of questioning that is more rigid than interviews and that involve larger groups of people. Surveys will provide a limited amount of information from a large group of people and are useful when you want to learn what a larger population thinks.

Observations: Observations involve taking organized notes about occurrences in the world. Observations provide you insight about specific people, events, or locales and are useful when you want to learn more about an event without the biased viewpoint of an interview.

Analysis: Analysis involves collecting data and organizing it in some fashion based on criteria you develop. They are useful when you want to find some trend or pattern. A type of analysis would be to record commercials on three major television networks and analyze gender roles.

Where do I start?

Consider the following questions when beginning to think about conducting primary research:

• What do I want to discover?
• How do I plan on discovering it? (This is called your research methods or methodology)
• Who am I going to talk to/observe/survey? (These people are called your subjects or participants)
• How am I going to be able to gain access to these groups or individuals?
• What are my biases about this topic?
• How can I make sure my biases are not reflected in my research methods?
• What do I expect to discover?

Primary Research: Methods and Best Practices

Introduction

What is the definition of primary research, what are examples of primary research, primary vs. secondary research, types of primary research, when to use primary research.

Conducting research involves two types of data: primary data and secondary data . While secondary research deals with existing data, primary research collects new data . Ultimately, the most appropriate type of research depends on which method is best suited to your research question .

While this article discusses the difference between primary and secondary research, the main focus is on primary research, the types of data collected through primary research, and considerations for researchers who conduct primary research.

Simply put, researchers conduct primary research to gather new information. When existing data cannot address the research inquiry at hand, the researcher usually needs to collect new data to meet their research objectives.

How do you identify primary research?

Primary research uses collected data that hasn't been previously documented. Primary research typically means collecting data straight from the source (e.g., interviewing a research participant, observing a cultural practice or phenomenon firsthand).

Note that other divides that you should also consider include that of collecting quantitative or qualitative data , and of conducting basic or applied research . Each of these dimensions informs and is informed by your research inquiry.

What are the advantages of primary research?

New data, particularly that which addresses a research gap, can contribute to a novel inquiry and prove compelling to the research audience. When a researcher conducts a literature review and generates a problem statement for their research, they can identify what new data needs to be collected and what primary research method can be used to collect it.

Primary research studies ultimately contribute to theoretical developments and novel insights that an analysis of existing data might not have identified. Research publications in some fields may place a premium on primary research for its potential to generate new scientific knowledge as a result.

What are the disadvantages of primary research?

Primary research is time-consuming and potentially expensive to conduct, considering the equipment and resources needed to collect new data as well as the time required to engage with the field and collect data.

Moreover, primary research relies on new data that has yet to be documented elsewhere, meaning that the research audience is less familiar with the primary data being presented. This might raise issues of transparency and research rigor (e.g., how does the audience know that the data they are shown is trustworthy?).

Primary research is common in various fields of research. Let's look at some typical examples of primary research in three different areas.

Education research

Teaching and learning is a field that relies on evidence-based data to make policy recommendations affecting teachers, learning materials, and even classroom requirements. As a result, there are countless methods for collecting relevant data on the various aspects of education.

Observations , interviews , and assessments are just some of the primary research methods that are employed when studying education contexts. Education research acknowledges the full variety of situated differences found in the diversity of learners and their schooling contexts. This makes collecting data that is relevant to the given context and research inquiry crucial to understanding teaching and learning.

Market research

Businesses often rely on primary research to understand the target market for their products and services. Since competing businesses tend not to share research on customer insights with each other, primary research collecting original data can be a necessity.

Focus groups , surveys , and user research are typical research tools employed by businesses. Within market research, the goal is typically to understand customers' preferences and use cases for specific products and services.

Cultural studies

Fields such as anthropology and sociology count on primary research for understanding cultures and communities. Ethnographic research acknowledges that thick description of cultures and phenomena is more meaningful than only generating universal theories, making the collection of primary data essential to understanding the full diversity of the social world.

Researchers examining culture often collect data through interviews, observations, and photovoice, among other research methods. These methods look at the social world through the eyes of the research participants to generate an immersive view of cultures and groups with which audiences may not be familiar.

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Primary research data stands in contrast to secondary research data, which is any data that has been previously collected and documented. In some situations, existing data may be abundant and available, making secondary research a more feasible approach to generating theory and identifying key insights.

Secondary research methods are employed in all fields of research. Market researchers conduct secondary research when there is already existing data about a target market. In particular, secondary market research might look at previous trends in the popularity of products to make predictions about the demand for new products.

Scholarly researchers can use secondary sources such as corpora, news articles, and online videos to make assertions about language and culture. Analytical approaches such as discourse analysis and content analysis can be well suited to analyzing data collected through secondary research methods.

Ultimately, primary and secondary research go hand in hand. The main function of research in building knowledge does not necessarily depend on the use of primary data collection . Rather, it is a matter of whether data needs to be collected in order to address your research inquiry, or relevant data already exists and you can access it.

There are many research methods used to collect data for primary research. The research method that works best for you depends on what you are looking to do with your research project.

This section lists some of the common primary data collection methods that researchers rely on.

One-on-one interviews are useful for capturing perspectives from research participants. Direct interactions can tell researchers what perspectives their research participants have and the thinking behind those perspectives.

Interview research is a complex and detailed methodology that includes several types of interviews to suit various research inquiries. Researchers can choose between structured interviews , semi-structured interviews , and unstructured interviews , depending on the nature of interaction they are looking to establish.

Focus groups

Focus groups are discussions that involve multiple research participants and are led by a moderator. Similar to interviews, the primary goal is to gather information about people's perspectives. Yet focus groups are distinct, because they can capture how people interact and build meaning when discussing a particular topic.

Market researchers may consider conducting a focus group discussion when they want to know more about how a particular group feels about a product or service. Researchers in linguistics and anthropology might be interested in observing how a group of people construct meaning with each other.

Observations

In research involving naturalistic inquiry and the social world, the researcher can gather information directly from the field through observational research methods . Primary data takes the form of field notes , audio and video recordings , their resulting transcripts , and even images of objects of interest.

For quantitative research inquiries, observation entails measuring the amount of activity or the frequency of particular phenomena. Qualitative observations look for patterns in cultural or social practices and document significant events in the field.

When the objective is to capture perspectives from large numbers of people, surveys are a good research method for collecting novel data. In-person questionnaires and online surveys can be used to quickly collect data at scale.

Surveys are used for conducting primary research in both quantitative and qualitative research . The structure of survey questions provide data that can be measured quantitatively, while open-ended survey responses require qualitative data analysis .

Experiments

While the above methods emphasize or are involved with naturalistic inquiry, experiments are a different form of primary research that is far more controlled. When you want to understand the relationship between various elements in a certain context (e.g., the effect of water and fertilizer on plant growth), a controlled experiment is a typical research approach to empirically establish scientific knowledge.

Experiments focus on a specific set of factors from the research phenomenon to understand causal relationships between variables. Experiments are a common primary research method in physical sciences, but they are also extensively used in psychology, education, and political science, among other areas.

The decision to conduct a primary or secondary study is a question of whether existing data is sufficient to satisfy the research inquiry at hand. Where data does not exist, primary research should be conducted.

Consider an example research study regarding ideal teaching methods in elementary school contexts in a developing country in Asia. Just because there is abundant data on the same topic in elementary schools in Western countries does not preclude the possibility of novel theoretical developments in schools in Asia. This becomes particularly important if insights based on existing data from other contexts may not be applicable to the present context.

Note that this does not mean that a secondary research study is any less novel than a primary study. Indeed, many fields and methodologies rely extensively on analyzing existing data. For example, studies that employ discourse analysis and content analysis typically (though not always) rely on existing sources of data to facilitate understanding of language use in real-world situations.

As a result, the choice between primary and secondary research can be seen as more of a practical consideration than a matter of a study's potential contribution to scientific knowledge. Novelty in research is as much about the data collection as it is about the resulting analysis. If you require data for your study where none exists, then data from primary research is your best option.

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Introduction to Primary Research: Observations, Surveys, and Interviews

Primary Research: Definitions and Overview

   How research is defined varies widely from field to field, and as you progress through your college career, your coursework will teach you much more about what it means to be a researcher within your field.* For example, engineers, who focus on applying scientific knowledge to develop designs, processes, and objects, conduct research using simulations, mathematical models, and a variety of tests to see how well their designs work. Sociologists conduct research using surveys, interviews, observations, and statistical analysis to better understand people, societies, and cultures. Graphic designers conduct research through locating images for reference for their artwork and engaging in background research on clients and companies to best serve their needs. Historians conduct research by examining archival materials—newspapers, journals, letters, and other surviving texts—and through conducting oral history interviews. Research is not limited to what has already been written or found at the library, also known as secondary research. Rather, individuals conducting research are producing the articles and reports found in a library database or in a book. Primary research, the focus of this essay, is research that is collected firsthand rather than found in a book, database, or journal.

   Primary research is often based on principles of the scientific method, a theory of investigation first developed by John Stuart Mill in the nineteenth century in his book Philosophy of the Scientific Method .  Although the application of the scientific method varies from field to field, the general principles of the scientific method allow researchers to learn more about the world and observable phenomena. Using the scientific method, researchers develop research questions or hypotheses and collect data on events, objects, or people that is measurable, observable, and replicable. The ultimate goal in conducting primary research is to learn about something new that can be confirmed by others and to eliminate our own biases in the process.

Essay Overview and Student Examples

     The essay begins by providing an overview of ethical considerations when conducting primary research, and then covers the stages that you will go through in your primary research: planning, collecting, analyzing, and writing. After the four stages comes an introduction to three common ways of conducting primary research in first year writing classes:

Observations . Observing and measuring the world around you, including observations of people and other measurable events.

Interviews . Asking participants questions in a one-on-one or small group setting.

Surveys . Asking participants about their opinions and behaviors through a short questionnaire.

In addition, we will be examining two student projects that used substantial portions of primary research:

    Derek Laan, a nutrition major at Purdue University, wanted to learn more about student eating habits on campus. His primary re-search included observations of the campus food courts, student behavior while in the food courts, and a survey of students’ daily food intake. His secondary research included looking at national student eating trends on college campuses, information from the United States Food and Drug Administration, and books on healthy eating.

    Jared Schwab, an agricultural and biological engineering major at Purdue, was interested in learning more about how writing and communication took place in his field. His primary research included interviewing a professional engineer and a student who was a senior majoring in engineering. His secondary research included examining journals, books, professional organizations, and writing guides within the field of engineering.

Ethics of Primary Research

   Both projects listed above included primary research on human participants; therefore, Derek and Jared both had to consider research ethics throughout their primary research process. As Earl Babbie writes in The Practice of Social Research , throughout the early and middle parts of the twentieth century researchers took advantage of participants and treated them unethically. During World War II, Nazi doctors performed heinous experiments on prisoners without their consent, while in the U.S., a number of medical and psychological experiments on caused patients undue mental and physical trauma and, in some cases, death. Because of these and other similar events, many nations have established ethical laws and guidelines for researchers who work with human participants. In the United States, the guidelines for the ethical treatment of human research participants are described in The Belmont Report , released in 1979. Today, universities have Institutional Review Boards (or IRBs) that oversee research. Students conducting research as part of a class may not need permission from the university’s IRB, although they still need to ensure that they follow ethical guidelines in research. The following provides a brief overview of ethical considerations:

• Voluntary participation . The Belmont Report suggests that, in most cases, you need to get permission from people before you involve them in any primary research you are conducting. If you are doing a survey or interview, your participants must first agree to fill out your survey or to be interviewed. Consent for observations can be more complicated, and is dis-cussed later in the essay.

Confidentiality and anonymity . Your participants may reveal embarrassing or potentially damaging information such as racist comments or unconventional behavior. In these cases, you should keep your participants’ identities anonymous when writing your results. An easy way to do this is to create a “pseudonym” (or false name) for them so that their identity is protected.

Researcher bias . There is little point in collecting data and learning about something if you already think you know the answer! Bias might be present in the way you ask questions, the way you take notes, or the conclusions you draw from the data you collect.

   The above are only three of many considerations when involving human participants in your primary research. For a complete under-standing of ethical considerations please refer to The Belmont Report .

   Now that we have considered the ethical implications of research, we will examine how to formulate research questions and plan your primary research project.

Planning Your Primary Research Project

   The primary research process is quite similar to the writing process, and you can draw upon your knowledge of the writing process to understand the steps involved in a primary research project. Just like in the writing process, a successful primary research project begins with careful planning and background research. This section first describes how to create a research timeline to help plan your research. It then walks you through the planning stages by examining when primary research is useful or appropriate for your first year composition course, narrowing down a topic, and developing research questions.

The Research Timeline

   When you begin to conduct any kind of primary research, creating a timeline will help keep you on task. Because students conducting primary research usually focus on the collection of data itself, they often overlook the equally important areas of planning (invention), analyzing data, and writing. To help manage your time, you should create a research timeline, such as the sample timeline presented here.

When Primary Research Is Useful or Appropriate

   In Evaluating Scientific Research: Separating Fact from Fiction , Fred Leavitt explains that primary research is useful for questions that can be answered through asking others and direct observation. For first year writing courses, primary research is particularly useful when you want to learn about a problem that does not have a wealth of published information. This may be because the problem is a recent event or it is something not commonly studied. For example, if you are writing a paper on a new political issue, such as changes in tax laws or healthcare, you might not be able to find a wealth of peer-reviewed research because the issue is only several weeks old. You may find it necessary to collect some of your own data on the issue to supplement what you found at the library. Primary research is also useful when you are studying a local problem or learning how a larger issue plays out at the local level. Although you might be able to find information on national statistics for healthy eating, whether or not those statistics are representative of your college campus is something that you can learn through primary research.

   However, not all research questions and topics are appropriate for primary research. As Fred Leavitt writes, questions of an ethical, philosophical, or metaphysical nature are not appropriate because these questions are not testable or observable. For example, the question “Does an afterlife exist?” is not a question that can be answered with primary research. However, the question “How many people in my community believe in an afterlife?” is something that primary research can answer.

Narrowing Your Topic

   Just like the writing process, you should start your primary research process with secondary (library) research to learn more about what is already known and what gaps you need to fill with your own data. As you learn more about the topic, you can narrow down your interest area and eventually develop a research question or hypothesis, just as you would with a secondary research paper.

Developing Research Questions or Hypotheses

   As John Stuart Mill describes, primary research can use both inductive and deductive approaches, and the type approach is usually based on the field of inquiry. Some fields use deductive reasoning , where researchers start with a hypothesis or general conclusion and then collect specific data to support or refute their hypothesis. Other fields use inductive reasoning , where researchers start with a question and collect information that eventually leads to a conclusion.

   Once you have spent some time reviewing the secondary research on your topic, you are ready to write a primary research question or hypothesis. A research question or hypothesis should be something that is specific, narrow, and discoverable through primary research methods. Just like a thesis statement for a paper, if your research question or hypothesis is too broad, your research will be unfocused and your data will be difficult to analyze and write about. Here is a set of sample research questions:

Poor Research Question : What do college students think of politics and the economy?

Revised Research Question : What do students at Purdue University believe about the current economic crisis in terms of economic recoverability?

   The poor research question is unspecific as to what group of students the researcher is interested in—i.e. students in the U.S.? In a particular state? At their university? The poor research question was also too broad; terms like “politics” and the “economy” cover too much ground for a single project. The revised question narrows down the topic to students at a particular university and focuses on a specific issue related to the economy: economic recoverability. The research question could also be rephrased as a testable hypothesis using deductive reasoning: “Purdue University college students are well informed about economic recoverability plans.” Because they were approaching their projects in an exploratory, inductive manner, both Derek and Jared chose to ask research questions:

Derek: Are students’ eating habits at Purdue University healthy or unhealthy? What are the causes of students’ eating behavior?

Jared: What are the major features of writing and communication in agricultural and biological engineering? What are the major controversies? 

   A final step in working with a research question or hypothesis is determining what key terms you are using and how you will define them. Before conducting his research, Derek had to define the terms “healthy” and “unhealthy”; for this, he used the USDA’s Food Pyramid as a guide. Similarly, part of what Jared focused on in his interviews was learning more about how agricultural and biological engineers defined terms like “writing” and “communication.” Derek and Jared thought carefully about the terms within their research questions and how these terms might be measured. 

Choosing a Data Collection Method 

    Once you have formulated a research question or hypothesis, you will need to make decisions about what kind of data you can collect that will best address your research topic. Derek chose to examine eating habits by observing both what students ate at lunch and surveying students about eating behavior. Jared decided that in-depth interviews with experienced individuals in his field would provide him with the best information.

   To choose a data collection method for your research question, read through the next sections on observations, interviews, and surveys.

Observations

   Observations have lead to some of the most important scientific discoveries in human history. Charles Darwin used observations of the animal and marine life at the Galapagos Islands to help him formulate his theory of evolution that he describes in On the Origin of Species . Today, social scientists, natural scientists, engineers, computer scientists, educational researchers, and many others use observations as a primary research method.

   Observations can be conducted on nearly any subject matter, and the kinds of observations you will do depend on your research question. You might observe traffic or parking patterns on campus to get a sense of what improvements could be made. You might observe clouds, plants, or other natural phenomena. If you choose to observe people, you will have several additional considerations including the manner in which you will observe them and gain their consent.

   If you are observing people, you can choose between two common ways to observe: participant observation and unobtrusive observation. Participant observation is a common method within ethnographic research in sociology and anthropology. In this kind of observation, a researcher may interact with participants and become part of their community. Margaret Mead, a famous anthropologist, spent extended periods of time living in, and interacting with, communities that she studied. Conversely, in unobtrusive observation, you do not interact with participants but rather simply record their behavior. Although in most circumstances people must volunteer to be participants in research, in some cases it is acceptable to not let participants know you are observing them. In places that people perceive as public, such as a campus food court or a shopping mall, people do not expect privacy, and so it is generally acceptable to observe without participant consent. In places that people perceive as private, which can include a church, home, classroom, or even an intimate conversation at a restaurant, participant consent should be sought. 

   The second issue about participant consent in terms of unobtrusive observation is whether or not getting consent is feasible for the study. If you are observing people in a busy airport, bus station, or campus food court, getting participant consent may be next to impossible. In Derek’s study of student eating habits on campus, he went to the campus food courts during meal times and observed students purchasing food. Obtaining participant consent for his observations would have been next to impossible because hundreds of students were coming through the food court during meal times. Since Derek’s research was in a place that participants would perceive as public, it was not practical to get their consent, and since his data was anonymous, he did not violate their privacy.

Eliminating Bias in Your Observation Notes

The ethical concern of being unbiased is important in recording your observations. You need to be aware of the difference between an observation (recording exactly what you see) and an interpretation (making assumptions and judgments about what you see). When you observe, you should focus first on only the events that are directly observable. Consider the following two example entries in an observation log:

• The student sitting in the dining hall enjoys his greasy, oil-soaked pizza. He is clearly oblivious of the calorie content and damage it may do to his body.
• The student sits in the dining hall. As he eats his piece of pizza, which drips oil, he says to a friend, “This pizza is good.”

The first entry is biased and demonstrates judgment about the event. First, the observer makes assumptions about the internal state of the student when she writes “enjoys” and “clearly oblivious to the calorie content.” From an observer’s standpoint, there is no way of ascertaining what the student may or may not know about pizza’s nutritional value nor how much the student enjoys the pizza. The second entry provides only the details and facts that are observable.

   To avoid bias in your observations, you can use something called a “double-entry notebook.” This is a type of observation log that encourages you to separate your observations (the facts) from your feelings and judgments about the facts.

• Observations Thoughts
• The student sits in the dining hall. As he eats his piece of pizza, which drips oil, he says to a friend, "this pizza is good."  It seems like the student really enjoys the high-calorie-content pizza. 
• I observed cash register #1 for 15 minutes. During that time, 22 students paid for meals. Of those 22 students, 15 grabbed a candy bar or granola bar. 3 of the 22 students had a piece of fruit on their plate Fruit is less accessible than candy bars (it is further back in the dining court). Is this why more students are reaching for candy bars?

Figure 3: Two sample entries from a double-entry notebook.

   Observations are only one strategy in collecting primary research. You may also want to ask people directly about their behaviors, beliefs, or attitudes—and for this you will need to use surveys or interviews.

Surveys and Interviews: Question Creation

Sometimes it is very difficult for a researcher to gain all of the necessary information through observations alone. Along with his observations of the dining halls, Derek wanted to know what students ate in a typical day, and so he used a survey to have them keep track of their eating habits. Likewise, Jared wanted to learn about writing and communication in engineering and decided to draw upon expert knowledge by asking experienced individuals within the field.

   Interviews and surveys are two ways that you can gather information about people’s beliefs or behaviors. With these methods, the information you collect is not first-hand (like an observation) but rather “self-reported” data, or data collected in an indirect manner. William Shadish, Thomas Cook, and Donald Campbell argued that people are inherently biased about how they see the world and may report their own actions in a more favorable way than they may actually behave. Despite the issues in self-reported data, surveys and interviews are an excellent way to gather data for your primary research project.

Survey or Interview? 

How do you choose between conducting a survey or an interview? It depends on what kind of information you are looking for. You should use surveys if you want to learn about a general trend in people’s opinions, experiences, and behavior. Surveys are particularly useful to find small amounts of information from a wider selection of people in the hopes of making a general claim. Interviews are best used when you want to learn detailed information from a few specific people. Interviews are also particularly useful if you want to interview experts about their opinions, as Jared did. In sum, use interviews to gain de-tails from a few people, and surveys to learn general patterns from many people.

Writing Good Questions

One of the greatest challenges in conducting surveys and interviews is writing good questions. As a researcher, you are always trying to eliminate bias, and the questions you ask need to be unbiased and clear. Here are some suggestions on writing good questions:

Ask about One Thing at a Time

A poorly written question can contain multiple questions, which can confuse participants or lead them to answer only part of the question you are asking. This is called a “double-barreled question” in journalism. The following questions are taken from Jared’s research:

Poor question: What kinds of problems are being faced in the field today and where do you see the search for solutions to these problems going?

Revised question #1: What kinds of problems are being faced in the field today?

Revised question #2: Where do you see the search for solutions to these problems going?

Avoid Leading Questions

A leading question is one where you prompt the participant to respond in a particular way, which can create bias in the answers given:

Leading question: The economy is clearly in a crisis, wouldn’t you agree?

Revised question: Do you believe the economy is currently in a crisis? Why or why not?

Understand When to Use Open and Closed Questions

Closed questions, or questions that have yes/no or other limited responses, should be used in surveys. However, avoid these kinds of questions in interviews because they discourage the interviewee from going into depth. The question sample above, “Do you believe the economy currently is in a crisis?” could be answered with a simple yes or no, which could keep a participant from talking more about the issue. The “why or why not?” portion of the question asks the participant to elaborate. On a survey, the question “Do you believe the economy currently is in a crisis?” is a useful question because you can easily count the number of yes and no answers and make a general claim about participant responses.

Write Clear Questions

When you write questions, make sure they are clear, concise, and to the point. Questions that are too long, use unfamiliar vocabulary, or are unclear may confuse participants and you will not get quality responses.

Now that question creation has been addressed, we will next examine specific considerations for interviews and surveys.

Interviews, or question and answer sessions with one or more people, are an excellent way to learn in-depth information from a person for your primary research project. This section presents information on how to conduct a successful interview, including choosing the right person, ways of interviewing, recording your interview, interview locations, and transcribing your interview.

Choosing the Right Person

One of the keys to a successful interview is choosing the right person to interview. Think about whom you would like to interview and whom you might know. Do not be afraid to ask people you do not know for interviews. When asking, simply tell them what the interview will be about, what the interview is for, and how much time it will take. Jared used his Purdue University connection to locate both of the individuals that he ended up interviewing—an advanced Purdue student and a Purdue alum working in an Engineering firm.

Face-to-Face and Virtual Interviews

When interviewing, you have a choice of conducting a traditional, face-to-face interview or an interview using technology over the Internet. Face-to-face interviews have the strength that you can ask follow-up questions and use non-verbal communication to your advantage. Individuals are able to say much more in a face-to-face interview than in an email, so you will get more information from a face-to-face interview. However, the Internet provides a host of new possibilities when it comes to interviewing people at a distance. You may choose to do an email interview, where you send questions and ask the person to respond. You may also choose to use a video or audio conferencing program to talk with the person virtually. If you are choosing any Internet-based option, make sure you have a way of recording the interview. You may also use a chat or instant messaging program to interview your participant—the benefit of this is that you can ask follow-up questions during the interview and the interview is already transcribed for you. Because one of his interviewees lived several hours away, Jared chose to interview the Purdue student face-to-face and the Purdue alum via email.

Finding a Suitable Location

If you are conducting an in-person interview, it is essential that you find a quiet place for your interview. Many universities have quiet study rooms that can be reserved (often found in the university library). Do not try to interview someone in a coffee shop, dining hall, or other loud area, as it is difficult to focus and get a clear recording.

Recording Interviews

One way of eliminating bias in your research is to record your interviews rather than rely on your memory. Recording interviews allows you to directly quote the individual and re-read the interview when you are writing. It is recommended that you have two recording devices for the interview in case one recording device fails. Most computers, MP3 players, and even cell phones come with recording equipment built in. Many universities also offer equipment that students can check out and use, including computers and recorders. Before you record any interview, be sure that you have permission from your participant.

Transcribing Your Interview

Once your interview is over, you will need to transcribe your interview to prepare it for analysis. The term transcribing means creating a written record that is exactly what was said—i.e. typing up your interviews. If you have conducted an email or chat interview, you already have a transcription and can move on to your analysis stage.

Other than the fact that they both involve asking people questions, interviews and surveys are quite different data collection methods. Creating a survey may seem easy at first, but developing a quality survey can be quite challenging. When conducting a survey, you need to focus on the following areas: survey creation, survey testing, survey sampling, and distributing your survey.

Survey Creation: Length and Types of Questions

One of the keys to creating a successful survey is to keep your survey short and focused. Participants are unlikely to fill out a survey that is lengthy, and you’ll have a more difficult time during your analysis if your survey contains too many questions. In most cases, you want your survey to be something that can be filled out within a few minutes. The target length of the survey also depends on how you will distribute the survey. If you are giving your survey to other students in your dorm or classes, they will have more time to complete the survey. Therefore, five to ten minutes to complete the survey is reasonable. If you are asking students as they are walking to class to fill out your survey, keep it limited to several questions that can be answered in thirty seconds or less. Derek’s survey took about ten minutes and asked students to describe what they ate for a day, along with some demographic information like class level and gender.

   Use closed questions to your advantage when creating your survey. A closed question is any set of questions that gives a limited amount of choices (yes/no, a 1–5 scale, choose the statement that best describes you). When creating closed questions, be sure that you are accounting for all reasonable answers in your question creation. For example, asking someone “Do you believe you eat healthy?” and providing them only “yes” and “no” options means that a “neutral” or “undecided” option does not exist, even though the survey respondent may not feel strongly either way. Therefore, on closed questions you may find it helpful to include an “other” category where participants can fill in an answer. It is also a good idea to have a few open-ended questions where participants can elaborate on certain points or earlier responses. How-ever, open-ended questions take much longer to fill out than closed questions. 

Survey Creation: Testing Your Survey

To make sure your survey is an appropriate length and that your questions are clear, you can “pilot test” your survey. Prior to administering your survey on a larger scale, ask several classmates or friends to fill it out and give you feedback on the survey. Keep track of how long the survey takes to complete. Ask them if the questions are clear and make sense. Look at their answers to see if the answers match what you wanted to learn. You can revise your survey questions and the length of your survey as necessary.

Sampling and Access to Survey Populations

“Sampling” is a term used within survey research to describe the subset of people that are included in your study. Derek’s first research question was: “Are students’ eating habits at Purdue University healthy or unhealthy?” Because it was impossible for Derek to survey all 38,000 students on Purdue’s campus, he had to choose a representative sample of students. Derek chose to survey students who lived in the dorms because of the wide variety of student class levels and majors in the dorms and his easy access to this group. By making this choice, however, he did not account for commuter students, graduate students, or those who live off campus. As Derek’s case demonstrates, it is very challenging to get a truly representative sample.

   Part of the reason that sampling is a challenge is that you may find difficulty in finding enough people to take your survey. In thinking about how get people to take your survey, consider both your everyday surroundings and also technological solutions. Derek had access to many students in the dorms, but he also considered surveying students in his classes in order to reach as many people as possible. Another possibility is to conduct an online survey. Online surveys greatly increase your access to different kinds of people from across the globe, but may decrease your chances of having a high survey response rate. An email or private message survey request is more likely to be ignored due to the impersonal quality and high volume of emails most people receive.

Analyzing and Writing About Primary Research

Once you collect primary research data, you will need to analyze what you have found so that you can write about it. The purpose of analyzing your data is to look at what you collected (survey responses, interview answers to questions, observations) and to create a cohesive, systematic interpretation to help answer your research question or examine the validity of your hypothesis.

   When you are analyzing and presenting your findings, remember to work to eliminate bias by being truthful and as accurate as possible about what you found, even if it differs from what you expected to find. You should see your data as sources of information, just like sources you find in the library, and you should work to represent them accurately.

The following are suggestions for analyzing different types of data.

If you’ve counted anything you were observing, you can simply add up what you counted and report the results. If you’ve collected descriptions using a double-entry notebook, you might work to write thick descriptions of what you observed into your writing. This could include descriptions of the scene, behaviors you observed, and your overall conclusions about events. Be sure that your readers are clear on what were your actual observations versus your thoughts or interpretations of those observations.

If you’ve interviewed one or two people, then you can use your summary, paraphrasing, and quotation skills to help you accurately describe what was said in the interview. Just like in secondary research when working with sources, you should introduce your interviewees and choose clear and relevant quotes from the interviews to use in your writing. An easy way to find the important information in an interview is to print out your transcription and take a highlighter and mark the important parts that you might use in your paper. If you have conducted a large number of interviews, it will be helpful for you to create a spreadsheet of responses to each question and compare the responses, choosing representative answers for each area you want to describe.

Surveys can contain quantitative (numerical) and qualitative (written answers/descriptions) data. Quantitative data can be analyzed using a spreadsheet program like Microsoft Excel to calculate the mean (average) answer or to calculate the percentage of people who responded in a certain way. You can display this information in a chart or a graph and also describe it in writing in your paper. If you have qualitative responses, you might choose to group them into categories and/or you may choose to quote several representative responses.

Writing about Primary Research

In formal research writing in a variety of fields, it is common for research to be presented in the following format: introduction/background; methods; results; discussions; conclusion. Not all first year writing classes will require such an organizational structure, although it is likely that you will be required to present many of these elements in your paper. Because of this, the next section examines each of these in depth.

Introduction (Review of Literature)

The purpose of an introduction and review of literature in a research paper is to provide readers with information that helps them under-stand the context, purpose, and relevancy of your research. The introduction is where you provide most of your background (library) research that you did earlier in the process. You can include articles, statistics, research studies, and quotes that are pertinent to the issues at hand. A second purpose in an introduction is to establish your own credibility (ethos) as a writer by showing that you have researched your topic thoroughly. This kind of background discussion is required in nearly every field of inquiry when presenting research in oral or written formats.

   Derek provided information from the Food and Drug Administration on healthy eating and national statistics about eating habits as part of his background information. He also made the case for healthy eating on campus to show relevancy:

Currently Americans are more overweight than ever. This is coming at a huge cost to the economy and government. If current trends in increasing rates of overweight and obesity continue it is likely that this generation will be the first one to live shorter lives than their parents did. Looking at the habits of university students is a good way to see how a new generation behaves when they are living out on their own for the first time.

Describing What You Did (Methods)

When writing, you need to provide enough information to your readers about your primary research process for them to understand what you collected and how you collected it. In formal research papers, this is often called a methods section. Providing information on your study methods also adds to your credibility as a writer. For surveys, your methods would include describing who you surveyed, how many surveys you collected, decisions you made about your survey sample, and relevant demographic information about your participants (age, class level, major). For interviews, introduce whom you interviewed and any other relevant information about interviewees such as their career or expertise area. For observations, list the locations and times you observed and how you recorded your observations (i.e. double-entry notebook). For all data types, you should describe how you analyzed your data.

The following is a sample from Jared about his participants:

In order to gain a better understanding of the discourse community in environmental and resource engineering, I interviewed Anne Dare, a senior in environmental and natural resource engineering, and Alyson Keaton an alumnus of Purdue University. Alyson is a current employee of the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS), which is a division of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Here is a sample from Derek’s methods section:

I conducted a survey so that I could find out what students at Purdue actually eat on a typical day. I handed out surveys asking students to record what they ate for a day . . . I received 29 back and averaged the results based on average number of servings from each food group on the old food guide pyramid. The group included students from the freshman to the graduate level and had 8 women and 21 men respond.

Describing Your Study Findings (Results)

In a formal research paper, the results section is where you describe what you found. The results section can include charts, graphs, lists, direct quotes, and overviews of findings. Readers find it helpful if you are able to provide the information in different formats. For example, if you have any kind of numbers or percentages, you can talk about them in your written description and then present a graph or chart showing them visually. You should provide specific details as supporting evidence to back up your findings. These details can be in the form of direct quotations, numbers, or observations.

Jared describes some of his interview results:

Alyson also mentioned the need for phone conversation. She stated, “The phone is a large part of my job. I am communicating with other NRCS offices daily to find out the status of our jobs.” She needs to be in constant contact in order to insure that everything is running smoothly. This is common with those overseeing projects. In these cases, the wait for a response to an email or a memo can be too long to be effective.

Interpreting What You Learned (Discussion)

In formal research papers, the discussion section presents your own interpretation of your results. This may include what you think the results mean or how they are useful to your larger argument. If you are making a proposal for change or a call to action, this is where you make it. For example, in Derek’s project about healthy eating on campus, Derek used his primary research on students’ unhealthy eating and observations of the food courts to argue that the campus food courts needed serious changes. Derek writes, “Make healthy food options the most accessible in every dining hall while making unhealthy foods the least. Put nutrition facts for everything that is served in the dining halls near the food so that students can make more informed decisions on what to eat.”

   Jared used the individuals he interviewed as informants that helped him learn more about writing in agricultural and biological engineering. He integrated the interviews he conducted with secondary research to form a complete picture of writing and communication in agricultural and biological engineering. He concludes:

Writing takes so many forms, and it is important to know about all these forms in one way or another. The more forms of writing you can achieve, the more flexible you can be. This ability to be flexible can make all the difference in writing when you are dealing with a field as complex as engineering.

Primary Research and Works Cited or References Pages

The last part of presenting your primary research project is a works cited or references page. In general, since you are working with data you collected yourself, there is no source to cite an external source. Your methods section should describe in detail to the readers how and where the data presented was obtained. However, if you are working with interviews, you can cite these as “personal communication.” The MLA and APA handbooks both provide clear listings of how to cite personal communication in a works cited/references page.

This essay has presented an overview to three commonly used methods of primary research in first year writing courses: observations, interviews, and surveys. By using these methods, you can learn more about the world around you and craft meaningful written discussions of your findings.

• Primary research techniques show up in more places than just first year writing courses. Where else might interviews, surveys, or observations be used? Where have you seen them used?
• The chapter provides a brief discussion of the ethical considerations of research. Can you think of any additional ethical considerations when conducting primary research? Can you think of ethical considerations unique to your own research project?
• Primary research is most useful for first year writing students if it is based in your local community or campus. What are some current issues on your campus or in your community that could be investigated using primary research methods?
• In groups or as a class, make a list of potential primary research topics. After each topic on the list, consider what method of inquiry (observation, interview, or survey) you would use to study the topic and answer why that method is a good choice.

Suggested Resources

For more information on the primary methods of inquiry described here, please see the following sources:

Works Cited

This essay was written by Dana Lynn Driscoll and was published as a chapter in Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing , Volume 2, a peer-reviewed open textbook series for the writing classroom. This work is licensed under the Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0) . Please keep this information on this material if you use, adapt, and/or share it.  

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Everything you need to know about primary research

Last updated

28 February 2023

Reviewed by

Miroslav Damyanov

They might search existing research to find the data they need—a technique known as secondary research .

Alternatively, they might prefer to seek out the data they need independently. This is known as primary research.

Analyze your primary research

Bring your primary research together inside Dovetail and uncover actionable insights

• What is primary research?

During primary research, the researcher collects the information and data for a specific sample directly.

Types of primary research

Primary research can take several forms, depending on the type of information studied. Here are the four main types of primary research:

Observations

Focus groups

When conducting primary research, you can collect qualitative or quantitative data (or both).

Qualitative primary data collection provides a vast array of feedback or information about products and services. However, it may need to be interpreted before it is used to make important business decisions.

Quantitative primary data collection , on the other hand, involves looking at the numbers related to a specific product or service.

• What types of projects can benefit from primary research?

Data obtained from primary research may be more accurate than if it were obtained from previous data samples.

Primary research may be used for

Salary guides

Industry benchmarks

Government reports

Any information based on the current state of the target, including statistics related to current information

Scientific studies

Current market research

Crafting user-friendly products

Primary research can also be used to capture any type of sentiment that cannot be represented statistically, verbally, or through transcription. This may include tone of voice, for example. The researcher might want to find out if the subject sounds hesitant, uncertain, or unhappy.

• Methods for conducting primary research

Your methods for conducting primary research may vary based on the information you’re looking for and how you prefer to interact with your target market.

Surveys are a method to obtain direct information and feedback from the target audience. Depending on the target market’s specific needs, they can be conducted over the phone, online, or face-to-face.

Observation

In some cases, primary research will involve watching the behaviors of consumers or members of the target audience.

Communication with members of the target audience who can share direct information and feedback about products and services.

Test marketing

Explore customer response to a product or marketing campaign before a wider release.

Competitor visits

Competitor visits allow you to check out what competitors have to offer to get a better feel for how they interact with their target markets. This approach can help you better understand what the market might be looking for.

This involves bringing a group of people together to discuss a specific product or need within the industry. This approach could help provide essential insights into the needs of that market.

Usability testing

Usability testing allows you to evaluate a product’s usability when you launch a live prototype. You might recruit representative users to perform tasks while you observe, ask questions, and take notes on how they use your product.

• When to conduct primary research

Primary research is needed when you want first-hand information about your product, service, or target market. There are several circumstances where primary research may be the best strategy for getting the information you need.

You might use it to:

Understand pricing information, including what price points customers are likely to purchase at. 

Get insight into your sales process. For example, you might look at screenshots of a sales demo, listen to audio recordings of the sales process, or evaluate key details and descriptions. 

Learn about problems your consumers might be having and how your business can solve them.

Gauge how a company feels about its competitors. For example, you might want to ask an e-tailer if they plan to offer free shipping to compete with Amazon, Walmart, and other major retailers.

• How to get started with primary research

Step one: Define the problem you’re trying to answer. Clearly identify what you want to know and why it’s important. Does the customer want you to perform the “usual?” This is often the case if they are new, inexperienced, or simply too busy and want to have the task taken care of.

Step two: Determine the best method for getting those answers. Do you need quantitative data , which can be measured in multiple-choice surveys? Or do you need more detailed qualitative data , which may require focus groups or interviews?

Step three: Select your target. Where will you conduct your primary research? You may already have a focus group available; for example, a social media group where people already gather to discuss your brand.

Step four: Compile your questions or define your method. Clearly set out what information you need and how you plan to gather it.

Step five: Research!

• Advantages of primary research

Primary research offers a number of potential advantages. Most importantly, it offers you information that you can’t get elsewhere.

It provides you with direct information from consumers who are already members of your target market or using your products.

You are able to get feedback directly from your target audience, which can allow you to immediately improve products or services and provide better support to your target market.

Primary data is current. Secondary sources may contain outdated data.

Primary data is reliable. You will know what methods you used and how the data relates to your research because you collected it yourself.

• Disadvantages of primary research

You might decide primary research isn’t the best option for your research project when you consider the disadvantages.

Primary research can be time-consuming. You will have to put in the time to collect data yourself, meaning the research may take longer to complete.

Primary research may be more expensive to conduct if it involves face-to-face interactions with your target audience, subscriptions for insight platforms, or participant remuneration.

The people you engage with for your research may feel disrupted by information-gathering methods, so you may not be able to use the same focus group every time you conduct that research.

It can be difficult to gather accurate information from a small group of people, especially if you deliberately select a focus group made up of existing customers. 

You may have a hard time accessing people who are not already members of your customer base.

Biased surveys can be a challenge. Researchers may, for example, inadvertently structure questions to encourage participants to respond in a particular way. Questions may also be too confusing or complex for participants to answer accurately.

Despite the researcher’s best efforts, participants don’t always take studies seriously. They may provide inaccurate or irrelevant answers to survey questions, significantly impacting any conclusions you reach. Therefore, researchers must take extra caution when examining results.

Conducting primary research can help you get a closer look at what is really going on with your target market and how they are using your product. That research can then inform your efforts to improve your services and products.

What is primary research, and why is it important?

Primary research is a research method that allows researchers to directly collect information for their use. It can provide more accurate insights into the target audience and market information companies really need.

What are primary research sources?

Primary research sources may include surveys, interviews, visits to competitors, or focus groups.

What is the best method of primary research?

The best method of primary research depends on the type of information you are gathering. If you need qualitative information, you may want to hold focus groups or interviews. On the other hand, if you need quantitative data, you may benefit from conducting surveys with your target audience.

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Primary research: everything you need to know.

19 min read If you want to produce high-quality research, you need to understand what primary research is and how it can benefit your business. Find out how you can use primary research and its various methods to acquire the data you need and create valuable, insightful reports that aid you and your audience.

Market research has quickly become the star player for brands and businesses around the globe, netting them the insights they need, right when they need them.

From understanding industry challenges and future trends to customer satisfaction and product performance, market research is paving the way for organizations and empowering them to create content, products, services, and offers that truly resonate.

And it all starts with one thing: primary research. A research methodology that enables researchers to uncover and answer specific questions about issues, challenges, trends, or otherwise.

In this guide, we’re going to cover everything you need to know about primary research and how you can use it to benefit your business.

What is primary research?

Put simply, primary research is any type of research you collect yourself or commission on your behalf. This could be anything from surveys and interviews to observations and ethnographic research (studying participants in their real-life environment).

Most researchers will use primary research to supplement data from secondary sources, such as journals, magazines, website articles, and books. By using primary research methods alongside secondary research , researchers can validate and support their findings with additional, new data.

You don’t have to be an expert to conduct primary research or collect data from it — chances are you’ve done some of it already. Think back to when you may have been asked to carry out a project at school. If you did the research (or asked mom or dad), e.g. interviewing experts, and using data from journals, you’ve collected and used both primary and secondary data .

That example might be a little simplistic, but the concept still applies. There are, of course, plenty of methods to choose from, so understanding what they are and how they work will help you execute research campaigns.

Now, when you conduct primary research, you typically gather two basic types of information:

• Exploratory.  This research is general and open-ended . It typically involves lengthy interviews with individuals or a specific group.
• Specific . This research is more precise and problem-oriented. It involves structured, formal interviews.

Then there’s the question of qualitative research and quantitative research ; what kind of data do you want to capture? Do you want to understand the emotions and behaviors behind people’s actions or to put precise figures against certain issues? Another thing to consider.

In the next section, we’re going to go through the types of primary research methods, the advantages of primary research, and then how you can do it for your brand or business .

What are the types of primary research methods?

There are lots of different ways to carry out primary research, more notable methods are interviews and surveys — but what about observations, analyses, and focus groups ?

We’re all familiar with interviews. This research method usually involves one-on-one or small group sessions, conducted over the phone or in a face-to-face environment. Interviews are great for collecting large amounts of data from a small sample of subjects, or when specific information needs to be extracted from experts.

For example, for a piece on developing more sustainable energy sources, a journalist would choose to interview a subject matter expert to extract the primary research they need. Not only is the information more authoritative and accurate, but it’s also more compelling.

Be aware though, direct interaction can alter people’s opinions. For interviews and focus groups, it’s best to get an expert to manage and read the room to avoid skewing results.

Another industry staple. Though much more rigid compared to interviews (with predefined questions and themes), surveys are a great way to reach a target market and collect relevant data at scale. Surveys will typically provide a limited amount of information from a large group of people (as there are only so many questions you can ask before respondents get bored).

To get the most value out of surveys, it’s worth defining your audience and questions well in advance. Try to think of key themes that you want to explore and what you want to get out of the data collected.

For example, a supermarket might send out a survey to their customers on customer satisfactio n, asking questions about the overall in-store experience, the online experience, what customers would like to see, and more. Because it’s issued at scale, the supermarket can get a good understanding of what their larger customer base thinks.

Worried about your questions? Here’s how you can write great ones .

Transform your research and gain deeper insight with best-practice surveys

If you want to run world-class research or need help with research questions, look no further than Qualtrics CoreXM .

Designed to eliminate historic research inefficiencies, CoreXM is a single platform designed to get you breakthrough insights faster and more cost-effectively.

It empowers market researchers to centralize insights, leverage advanced analytics and automation to improve research quality, and scale effectiveness with a flexible management model (Research Services).

We can even help you to produce survey templates for free, no matter the type of research. Just check out our library.

Observations

While it might be the most arduous form of field research, observation is arguably the most impartial as there’s no interaction between the researcher and the subject. As such, this approach removes or reduces bias that could be encountered during an interview or survey, as the subject’s actions are not influenced by other factors.

For instance, a sports car manufacturer might want to see how their vehicles are used in real-world scenarios and if there are any limitations on the customer. This could be a case of visiting a race track or car showroom to see how customers use the vehicles.

Focus groups

This method is great for gathering data on particular topic areas. Sitting between interviews and surveys, focus groups allow you to engage a small group of people, e.g. subject matter experts.

More informal than interviews but more professional than surveys, they’re a great way to gain insight and valuable information on customers, pain points, and other areas of interest in your industry.

For example, a technology manufacturer might put together a focus group to discuss technology adoption amongst 24-36-year-olds ahead of a new product launch . Through this focus group, they can learn more about how 24-36-year-olds purchase and engage with new tech solutions .

Research services

While the process of gathering data is relatively straightforward, making sense of it (and having the right skills to turn it into insight) can be tough.

This is precisely why so many brands and businesses turn to research services. According to our data, 97% of market research is outsourced. This allows brands and businesses to gain access to relevant information for truly original research.

Though a more modern form (and approach) to primary research, research services enable brands and businesses to collect data and analyze it very quickly. But the main benefit? Expertise.

With research services you get a team of experts who know exactly what research questions to ask and how to turn survey responses into actionable insight. They know how to get the right respondents and the ideal sample sizes, as well as leverage primary research and secondary research data to build comprehensive, revealing reports.

At Qualtrics, we have a team of experts who can streamline your research process for both primary and secondary research, helping to uncover insights in days, not weeks. L.

What are the advantages of primary research?

Now you know about the main ways to collect data, what are the benefits of these primary research methods?

First and foremost, and perhaps most importantly, primary research delivers accurate, relevant, and up-to-date information, enabling you to identify emerging trends in customer behavior , discover unmet needs, and close gaps across the experience journey . There’s real value in being able to identify what comes next — and only primary research can give you a real-time view of what your prospects and customers need as the world changes around them.

Also, as you have full control of the approach, data collection and analysis, it can be far more efficient and cost-effective than others.

Lastly, the information belongs to you or your organization. You may choose to release the information to enhance your position in your market or industry or keep it private to avoid giving competitors an advantage .

Create better experiences

From a customer perspective, it offers many advantages and provides detailed information on how you can improve products, services, and experiences. By taking their market surveys in-house and using the Qualtrics XM Platform™ , Samsung collects, analyzes, and acts on insights gathered at every touchpoint. The team at Samsung can get studies up and running in an hour and quickly implement findings to transform their product, service, and customer experiences.

Develop engaging content

From a content perspective, this kind of first-hand data offers a plethora of opportunities. You can begin to create trend reports, answer the most pertinent prospect and customer questions, highlight key issues, and much more. Every voice matters and ensuring your research is inclusive is vital.

What are the disadvantages of primary research?

Costs can potentially spiral out of control if you feel that your results are inconclusive or that you want to change the data gathering method.

It can also be time-consuming, especially if you require a large sample size or don’t have the in-house expertise for the analysis. Data gathering is one thing — drawing insights and formulating conclusions is another. The time required to effectively plan, carry out, and scrutinize the data is often greater than the time it takes to conduct secondary research.

Lastly, accuracy. You have to account for potential bias — skewing the results — and poorly worded questions . There are ways to eliminate bias from your surveys, such as:

• including more open-ended questions
• making respondents feel comfortable
• using both qualitative and quantitative techniques
• using an impartial way to gather data

Primary vs secondary market research

The key difference between them is that you collect primary research first hand (often for a specific purpose, e.g. a trends report), while secondary research comes from pre-existing studies, materials, websites, or articles.

Secondary research methods are more about desk research. You scour reputable journals, articles, websites, and studies to find the information you need to either support a point or build your project around.

Most market research will start with secondary research to understand what the issues are or what prospects and customers are searching for online. This could be using Google Analytics to identify the key issues and trends in 2021 and then using primary research to get more information and delve deeper into them.

We would urge you to look at the primary vs secondary research debate a different way: both can be used in conjunction to support and validate points. Incorporating high-quality secondary research data into your reports can provide wider perspectives and show readers that your thoughts don’t exist in a vacuum.

Find out more about the differences between primary and secondary research.

How can businesses use primary research?

Competitor analysis . Trend reporting . Customer satisfaction. There’s no limit to the uses of primary research for businesses, particularly now as it becomes more difficult to gather information from prospects and customers.

One of the most effective ways to use primary research is for industry analysis and content campaigns. Let’s say you produce a report on current trends in automotive. From the data, you find that the key concerns for automotive manufacturers are:

• The skills gap and need for new technologies to support production
• Sustainability and shifting operations rapidly
• Supply chain efficiency and utilizing a dual supply chain (local and global)
• Customer demand and expectations of new-age vehicles

Now not only do these concerns make for great headlines, but you can also build entire campaigns around the data you find. Suddenly, rather than just one report sharing information and not making real use of the insight, you can create blogs, ebooks, webinars, opinion articles, commentary, and much more.

Primary research is the gift that keeps on giving — and that’s precisely why more and more organizations are creating annual reports on the state of their industry or market.

As well as providing unique insight and content campaign opportunities, primary research establishes credibility… and very quickly. If you produce an annual report and none of your competitors are doing the same (or their reports lack the granularity and focus your prospects and customers require), you demonstrate expertise and become the go-to for real insight.

How can primary research support marketing?

As the gift that keeps on giving, primary research lays a foundation for marketing campaigns and long-term strategy.

Most research is top-of-the-funnel (TOFU) — or at least designed to be as such. Market research reports are inherently about raising awareness of an issue or problem — that’s where businesses can extract the most value.

For your marketing team, the issues raised in the report can become the headlines for blogs and commentary. They can then create content to help readers solve those issues, referencing what your business does in the process (but only if it’s relevant). Finally, marketing can steer readers of the report content towards other assets of interest, gradually nurturing readers to a point that they’re sales-ready.

Here are just a few things you can get out of primary research reports:

• Opinion articles
• Sales collateral
• Infographics
• Executive summary reports per industry

Conducting primary research

Getting started with primary research is simple thanks to the tools and software available today, and most of the time it starts with a simple online survey.

No matter what research you want to conduct, there are survey solutions and templates to meet your needs.

But before we go into the technicalities, let’s focus on the fundamentals of conducting research:

• Have a subject in mind. What issues do you want to cover?
• Validate that subject based on secondary research. What are people searching for or need answers to?
• Draft a research question (or problem statement) and revise as necessary. What will be your main question or the purpose of the study?
• Agree on the goals and objectives of the project. What do you hope to achieve?
• Create a timeline and set deadlines. Is everyone aligned?
• Choose your research methods and tools (e.g. face-to-face interviews or online surveys). What’s the best way to get the information you need?
• Work out your ideal sample size (smaller or larger population?). If you need help working out your ideal sample size, check out our calculator!
• Think qualitative or quantitative (a mixture of both generally works well). Do you want to know the reason behind responses or just get conclusive numerical data?
• Develop a questionnaire and have it peer-reviewed. Are your questions as good as they can be and do they support your problem statement?
• Test your questionnaire. What better way to ensure that it works and delivers the right insight?
• Select a delivery method. How do you want to distribute your questionnaire? Online? Offline?
• Analyze the results. Do you have the right tools, skills, and resources to glean insights from the data you receive?

This is certainly a condensed structure for conducting primary research, but it should work nonetheless. The main thing is starting the right way — have the right subject in mind and validate it.

Recent research trumps everything else

When you have the means to conduct research frequently and at scale, the more recent or ‘fresh’ it is, the more valuable the insights.

Of course, not every brand or business is in a position to undertake primary or even secondary market research every year. This could be due to budgetary constraints, poor insights from previous research, or a lack of in-house expertise.

But regardless of the issue, the power of primary research is well-documented and apparent, and it gives you the means to create profound and compelling content for your target audience.

Start your next research project the right way

If any of the above issues sound familiar, we can help. At Qualtrics, we specialize in market research and gleaning insights from data to create breakthrough experiences. From designing your study and finding respondents, to fielding it and reporting the results — we can help you every step of the way.

As well as that, we know how you can get more ROI from your market research and have put together a simple guide to show you.  

In this guide, discover how you can:

• Improve ROI through speed, agility, and consolidation of your research functions
• Get insights faster without sacrificing data quality
• Adjust how you conduct research to be more nimble

Download your copy for free using the button below.

Free eBook: Maximize ROI from your market research with our guide

Related resources

Market intelligence 10 min read, marketing insights 11 min read, ethnographic research 11 min read, qualitative vs quantitative research 13 min read, qualitative research questions 11 min read, qualitative research design 12 min read, primary vs secondary research 14 min read, request demo.

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UMGC Effective Writing Center Primary Research and the Research Process

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The Role of Primary Research

Primary vs. Secondary Research

First, let’s distinguish between secondary and primary research:

• Secondary research is information that has been published.
• Primary research is new information gathered by you. 

The most common example of primary research is your direct observation and reporting. Primary research also includes interviews (face-to-face, phone, email), questionnaires (surveys), and experiments—all of which would be accompanied by your analysis, which is also a part of primary research.

Why Is Primary Research Important?

Primary research provides information that is more directly related to what or whom you are studying than secondary research. For example, if you are writing about the prevalence of concussions on your community’s youth football teams, you would conduct primary research because

• First, you’re unlikely to find previously published (secondary research) reports about concussions on your particular community's teams, so you have to generate the information yourself.
• Second, the best way to learn about this specific issue is to talk directly to the team’s coaches, parents, and players—not through a third party. In doing primary research, you often function like a newspaper reporter who goes out and gets the story firsthand.
• Third, you can compare what you discover about your local teams (your primary research) to what has been published in other studies (secondary research).

Most workplace research projects contain a combination of secondary and primary research.

Examples of Primary Research for Specific Topics

Regardless of your topic, your writing will almost always benefit by the addition of primary research, unless the assignment or task specifies otherwise. In the work place, primary research is often the focus of what you write. Here are some typical topics for the work place or community with suggestions for the role primary research could play.

Topic: Alternatives to Email

Today most everyone suffers from email overload. Let's say you have found an application that provides a more efficient way to communicate. You want to purchase and implement it in your work place. Your first task will be to establish the extent to which email is a problem and then to demonstrate how the other application could help.

Primary research opportunities:

• number of emails received/sent in your office daily or weekly
• surveys of employees to determine their time spent dealing with email
• screen captures of alternative applications and how they would help the situation

Topic: Paperless Office

If you were to propose to your office manager a transition to a paperless office, you would first need to show why the status quo (dependence on hard-copy documents) is a problem. Then you would present the benefits of transition to paperless.

• number of hard-copy documents, the cost and maintenance of machines that produce them
• photos of clutter caused by hard-copy documents and photos of the spaces needed to store them
• survey of employees on the time they spend making hard copies and filing them
• survey of employees on their preferences—paperless or hard copy.

Topic: Community Playground

As a parent, you've had it. Your townhouse community needs to renovate its shabby, unsafe playground. Before any plans are drawn up or equipment purchased, your first task is to convincingly document the need for the renovation:

• photos of the current playground, highlighting its negative features
• interviews with residents and their children
• photos of well-done playgrounds at other townhouse communities
• telephone survey of contractors and their estimates for renovation

Topic: Office Recycling

It's embarrassing in this day and age that your small town is not recycling, not to mention failing in its civic responsibilities. You are determined to institute a recycling program. First, you would document the mess and waste caused by not recycling, then you would show the benefits of recycling and examples of clean, efficient recycling facilities in towns similar to yours.

• interviews with citizens about their attitudes toward recycling
• photos of recyclable materials in landfills
• collection of data on amount of recyclable waste thrown out in one day at your town's landfill
• photos of recycling stations at other towns

How to Choose and Filter Research Topics

An ancient Chinese proverb tells us, the longest journey begins with the first step. Never has that saying been more true than when it comes to writing a research paper.

Your first step in writing a paper is to choose and filter your topic. This critical first step will determine how long it will take you to reach your goal of a polished paper. A bad step at this point could send you over a cliff. That's why it's best to follow a series of steps as you focus and narrow a research topic that will let you produce your best writing.

Ethics and Primary Research

To conduct some forms of primary research, professional researchers, including college teachers, must normally receive permission from an institutional review board. These boards often evaluate research proposals on the basis of principles originally set out in the Belmont Report of 1979.

You may be surprised to learn that, even though you are conducting primary research for a class project, you still must abide by certain ethical guidelines. These imply that you:

Get Permission. Receiving "informed consent" to study someone includes ensuring that the subject knows the risks and benefits of participating and gives consent legally and voluntarily. Permission is not required for materials publically available.

Agree on Anonymity. This is important when using data from interviews, surveys and observations, unless agreed otherwise. "Confidentiality" means that, unless agreed otherwise, an individual's identify cannot be determined using the details you publish.

Do No Harm. As an ethical researcher you are bound to consider any potential negative effects on the individual of what you publish. These effects can range from embarrassment, to job loss, to physical endangerment.

Seek Approval. It's always wiser and more ethical to receive permission than to apologize for not doing so, whether that permission comes from a boss, company public affairs or human resources department, or an individual.

Dan Connelly has a  short and informative YouTube video  on this topic.

Use of Primary Research

Whenever you focus on a specific issue in a specific work place or community, some form of primary research will be needed to establish and document the status quo and, most likely, will also be helpful in the presentation of recommendations and solutions. Most of all, primary research shows your direct, active involvement and provides a level of authenticity to your writing that is not possible when relying solely on secondary research.

Why So Much #$%! Research?

Actually, that’s an intelligent question. It's another way of asking why so much importance is placed on the ability to use research materials when writing in college. The answer is simple: because an adult professional conducts some form of research and analysis of research virtually every work day.

You may be asked to:

• evaluate a new inventory program for possible purchase
• determine the relationship between an employee's case load and client outcome
• compare your company’s price structure to a competitor’s
• find the best location for opening a new satellite office
• select the best cell phone service for your staff or family

As you prepare your research writing assignments, get feedback for each step of this process--from your teacher, coworkers, or classmates. Your goal is to carefully complete each step so that one of the most important truths about writing is revealed to you:

Each step builds upon the one before it. One misstep can compromise the end product.

However, the flip side of that coin is much shinier: The writer who works methodically through the five steps of the process—and especially the writer who solicits feedback from places like the  Effective Writing Center —is much more likely to have an outstanding outcome.

Great Links:

• The Research Process - Online Guide to Writing and Research
• Secrets of My Research Success

Primary Research Methods May Include:

• Questionnaires
• Focus Groups
• Telephone Surveys
• Test Marketing

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10.3: Planning Your Primary Research Project

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The primary research process is quite similar to the writing process, and you can draw upon your knowledge of the writing process to understand the steps involved in a primary research project. Just like in the writing process, a successful primary research project begins with careful planning and background research. This section first describes how to create a research timeline to help plan your research. It then walks you through the planning stages by examining when primary research is useful or appropriate for your first year composition course, narrowing down a topic, and developing research questions.

The Research Timeline

When you begin to conduct any kind of primary research, creating a timeline will help keep you on task. Because students conducting primary research usually focus on the collection of data itself, they often overlook the equally important areas of planning (invention), analyzing data, and writing. To help manage your time, you should create a research timeline, such as the sample timeline presented here. 

Fig. 1: The Research Process

Fig. 2: A sample timeline for Jared’s research project.

When Primary Research Is Useful or Appropriate

In Evaluating Scientific Research: Separating Fact from Fiction , Fred Leavitt explains that primary research is useful for questions that can be answered through asking others and direct observation. For first year writing courses, primary research is particularly useful when you want to learn about a problem that does not have a wealth of published information. This may be because the problem is a recent event or it is something not commonly studied. For example, if you are writing a paper on a new political issue, such as changes in tax laws or healthcare, you might not be able to find a wealth of peer-reviewed research because the issue is only several weeks old. You may find it necessary to collect some of your own data on the issue to supplement what you found at the library. Primary research is also useful when you are studying a local problem or learning how a larger issue plays out at the local level. Although you might be able to find information on national statistics for healthy eating, whether or not those statistics are representative of your college campus is something that you can learn through primary research.

However, not all research questions and topics are appropriate for primary research. As Fred Leavitt writes, questions of an ethical, philosophical, or metaphysical nature are not appropriate because these questions are not testable or observable. For example, the question “Does an afterlife exist?” is not a question that can be answered with primary research. However, the question “How many people in my community believe in an afterlife?” is something that primary research can answer.

Narrowing Your Topic

Just like the writing process, you should start your primary research process with secondary (library) research to learn more about what is already known and what gaps you need to fill with your own data. As you learn more about the topic, you can narrow down your interest area and eventually develop a research question or hypothesis, just as you would with a secondary research paper.

Developing Research Questions or Hypotheses

As John Stuart Mill describes, primary research can use both inductive and deductive approaches, and the type approach is usually based on the field of inquiry. Some fields use deductive reasoning, where researchers start with a hypothesis or general conclusion and then collect specific data to support or refute their hypothesis. Other fields use inductive reasoning , where researchers start with a question and collect information that eventually leads to a conclusion.

Once you have spent some time reviewing the secondary research on your topic, you are ready to write a primary research question or hypothesis. A research question or hypothesis should be something that is specific, narrow, and discoverable through primary research methods. Just like a thesis statement for a paper, if your research question or hypothesis is too broad, your research will be unfocused and your data will be difficult to analyze and write about. Here is a set of sample research questions:

Poor Research Question: What do college students think of politics and the economy?

Revised Research Question: What do students at Purdue University believe about the current economic crisis in terms of economic recoverability?

The poor research question is unspecific as to what group of students the researcher is interested in—i.e. students in the U.S.? In a particular state? At their university? The poor research question was also too broad; terms like “politics” and the “economy” cover too much ground for a single project. The revised question narrows down the topic to students at a particular university and focuses on a specific issue related to the economy: economic recoverability. The research question could also be rephrased as a testable hypothesis using deductive reasoning: “Purdue University college students are well informed about economic recoverability plans.” Because they were approaching their projects in an exploratory, inductive manner, both Derek and Jared chose to ask research questions:

Derek: Are students’ eating habits at Purdue University healthy or unhealthy? What are the causes of students’ eating behavior?

Jared: What are the major features of writing and communication in agricultural and biological engineering? What are the major controversies?

A final step in working with a research question or hypothesis is determining what key terms you are using and how you will define them. Before conducting his research, Derek had to define the terms “healthy” and “unhealthy”; for this, he used the USDA’s Food Pyramid as a guide. Similarly, part of what Jared focused on in his interviews was learning more about how agricultural and biological engineers defined terms like “writing” and “communication.” Derek and Jared thought carefully about the terms within their research questions and how these terms might be measured.

Choosing a Data Collection Method

Once you have formulated a research question or hypothesis, you will need to make decisions about what kind of data you can collect that will best address your research topic. Derek chose to examine eating habits by observing both what students ate at lunch and surveying students about eating behavior. Jared decided that in-depth interviews with experienced individuals in his field would provide him with the best information.

To choose a data collection method for your research question, read through the next sections on observations, interviews, and surveys.

27 Real Primary Research Examples

Primary research is a type of academic research that involves collecting new and original data to conduct a study.

Examples of primary research include studies that collect data through interviews, questionnaires, original text analysis, observation, surveys, focus groups, case studies, and ethnography.

It is the opposite of secondary research which involves looking at existing data to identify trends or new insights. Both secondary and primary research are legitimate forms of academic research.

Primary Research Examples

1. interviews.

Interviews involve approaching relevant people and asking them questions to gather their thoughts and opinions on a topic. This can take the form of structured, semi-strutured, and unstructured interviews.

Structured interviews generally do not involve back-and-forth discussion between the researcher and the research participant, while semi-structured and unstructured interviews involve the interviewer asking follow-up questions to dig deeper and elicit more insights.

2. Questionnaires and Surveys

Questionnaires are text-based interviews where a set of questions are written down by the researchers and sent to the research participants. The participants fill out the questionnaires and return them to the researcher.

The researcher then anonymizes the data and analyzes it by looking for trends and patterns across the dataset. They may do this manually or use research tools to find similarities and differences in the responses of the research participants.

A simple questionnaire can take the form of a Likert scale which involves asking a research participant to circle their opinion on a set of pre-determined responses (e.g. ‘Very Likely, Likely, Unlikely, Very Unlikely’). Other questionnaires require participants to write detailed paragraphs responding to questions which can then be analyzed.

One benefit of surveys over interviews is that it’s easier to gather large datasets.

3. Control Group Analysis

Control group analyses involve separating research participants into two groups: the control group and the experimental group.

An intervention is applied to the experimental group. Researchers then observe the results and compare them to the control group to find out the effects of the intervention.

This sort of research is very common in medical research. For example, a new pill on the market might be used on two groups of sick patients to see whether the pill was effective in improving one group’s condition. If so, it may receive approval to go into the market.

4. Observation Studies

Observational studies involve the researchers entering a research setting and recording their naturalistic observations of what they see. These observations can then form the basis of a thesis.

Longer-term observation studies where the researcher is embedded in a community are called ethnographic studies.

Tools for observation studies include simple pen-and-paper written vignettes about a topic, recording with the consent of research participants, or using field measuring devices.

Observational studies in fields like anthropology can lead to rich and detailed explanations of complex phenomena through a process called thick description . However, they’re inherently qualitative, subjective , and small-case studies that often make it difficult to make future predictions or hard scientific findings.

Another research limitation is that the presence of the researcher can sometimes affect the behavior of the people or animals being observed.

Go Deeper: 15 Ethnography Examples

5. Focus Groups

Focus groups are similar to interviews, but involve small groups of research participants interacting with the interviewer and, sometimes, one another.

Focus group research is common, for example, in political research, where political parties commission independent research organizations to collect data about the electorate’s perceptions of the candidates. This can help inform them of how to more effectively position the candidate in advertising and press stops.

The biggest benefit of focus group studies is that they can gather qualitative information from a wider range of research participants than one-to-one interviews. However, the downside is that research participants tend to influence each others’ responses.

See More: Examples of Focus Groups

6. Online Surveys

Online surveys are similar in purpose to offline questionnaires and surveys, but have unique benefits and limitations.

Like offline surveys and questionnaires, they can be in the form of written responses, multiple choice, and Likert scales.

However, they have some key benefits including: capacity to cast a wide net, ease of snowball sampling, and ease of finding participants.

These strengths also present some potential weaknesses: poorly designed online surveys may be corrupted if the sample is not sufficiently vetted and only distributed to non-representative sample sets (of course, this can be offset, depending on the study design).

7. Action Research

Action research involves practitioners conducting just-in-time research in an authentic setting to improve their own practice. The researcher is an active participant who studies the effects of interventions.

It sits in contrast to other forms of primary research in this list, which are mostly conducted by researchers who attempt to detach themselves from the subject of study. Action research, on the other hand, involves a researcher who is also a participant.

Action research is most commonly used in classrooms, where teachers take the role of researchers to improve their own teaching and learning practices. However, action research can be used in other fields as well, particularly healthcare and social work.

Go Deeper: 21 Action Research Examples

8. Discourse and Textual Analysis

Discourse and textual analyses are studies of language and text. They could involve, for example, the collection of a selection of newspaper articles published within a defined timeframe to identify the ideological leanings of the newspapers.

This sort of analysis can also explore the language use of media to study how media constructs stereotypes. The quintessential example is the study of gender identities is Disney texts, which has historically shown how Disney texts promote and normalize gender roles that children could internalize.

Textual analysis is often confused as a type of secondary research. However, as long as the texts are primary sources examined from scratch, it should be considered primary research and not the analysis of an existing dataset.

Go Deeper: 21 Discourse Analysis Examples

9. Multimodal, Visual, and Semiotic Analysis

Discourse and textual analyses traditionally focused on words and written text. But with the increasing presence of visual texts in our lives, scholars had to come up with primary research studies that involved the analysis of multimodal texts .

This led to studies such as semiotics and multimodal discourse analysis. This is still considered primary research because it involves the direct analysis of primary data (such as pictures, posters, and movies).

While these studies tend to borrow significantly from written text analysis, they include methods such as social semiotic to explore how signs and symbols garner meaning in social contexts. This enables scholars to examine, for example, children’s drawings through to famous artworks.

Often, primary research is a more highly-regarded type of research than secondary research because it involves gathering new data.

However, secondary research should not be discounted: the synthesis, categorization, and critique of an existing corpus of research can reveal excellent new insights and help to consolidate academic knowledge and even challenge longstanding assumptions .

References for the mentioned studies (APA Style)

Atack, L., & Rankin, J. (2002). A descriptive study of registered nurses’ experiences with web‐based learning. Journal of Advanced Nursing , 40 (4), 457-465.

Baughcum, A. E., Burklow, K. A., Deeks, C. M., Powers, S. W., & Whitaker, R. C. (1998). Maternal feeding practices and childhood obesity: a focus group study of low-income mothers. Archives of pediatrics & adolescent medicine , 152 (10), 1010-1014.

Calvert, M., & Sheen, Y. (2015). Task-based language learning and teaching: An action-research study. Language Teaching Research , 19 (2), 226-244.

Coker, D. L., Farley-Ripple, E., Jackson, A. F., Wen, H., MacArthur, C. A., & Jennings, A. S. (2016). Writing instruction in first grade: An observational study. Reading and Writing , 29 (5), 793-832.

Cossrow, N. H., Jeffery, R. W., & McGuire, M. T. (2001). Understanding weight stigmatization: A focus group study. Journal of nutrition education , 33 (4), 208-214.

Costello, J. (2006). Dying well: nurses’ experiences of ‘good and bad’deaths in hospital. Journal of advanced nursing , 54 (5), 594-601.

Deckx, L., Mitchell, G., Rosenberg, J., Kelly, M., Carmont, S. A., & Yates, P. (2019). General practitioners’ engagement in end-of-life care: a semi-structured interview study. BMJ Supportive & Palliative Care .

Drew, C. (2013). Elitism for sale: Promoting the elite school online in the competitive educational marketplace. Australian Journal of Education , 57 (2), 174-184.

Erdener, M. A., & Knoeppel, R. C. (2018). Parents’ Perceptions of Their Involvement in Schooling. International Journal of Research in Education and Science , 4 (1), 1-13.

Felicia, O. (2021). A social semiotic analysis of gender power in Nigeria’s newspaper political cartoons. Social Semiotics , 31 (2), 266-281.

Gardner, C. D., Trepanowski, J. F., Del Gobbo, L. C., Hauser, M. E., Rigdon, J., Ioannidis, J. P., … & King, A. C. (2018). Effect of low-fat vs low-carbohydrate diet on 12-month weight loss in overweight adults and the association with genotype pattern or insulin secretion: the DIETFITS randomized clinical trial. Jama , 319 (7), 667-679.

Groves, M. M., & Zemel, P. C. (2000). Instructional technology adoption in higher education: An action research case study. International Journal of Instructional Media , 27 (1), 57.

Gullifer, J., & Tyson, G. A. (2010). Exploring university students’ perceptions of plagiarism: A focus group study. Studies in Higher Education , 35 (4), 463-481.

Karlsson, J., & Juslin, P. N. (2008). Musical expression: An observational study of instrumental teaching. Psychology of music , 36 (3), 309-334.

Liu, D., Huang, Y., Huang, C., Yang, S., Wei, X., Zhang, P., … & Zhang, H. (2022). Calorie restriction with or without time-restricted eating in weight loss. New England Journal of Medicine , 386 (16), 1495-1504.

Martin, F., & Bolliger, D. U. (2018). Engagement matters: Student perceptions on the importance of engagement strategies in the online learning environment. Online Learning , 22 (1), 205-222.

Munro, M. (2018). House price inflation in the news: a critical discourse analysis of newspaper coverage in the UK. Housing Studies , 33 (7), 1085-1105.

O’bannon, B. W., & Thomas, K. (2014). Teacher perceptions of using mobile phones in the classroom: Age matters!. Computers & Education , 74 , 15-25.

Olsen, M., Udo, C., Dahlberg, L., & Boström, A. M. (2022). Older Persons’ Views on Important Values in Swedish Home Care Service: A Semi-Structured Interview Study. Journal of Multidisciplinary Healthcare , 15 , 967.

Ravn, I. M., Frederiksen, K., & Beedholm, K. (2016). The chronic responsibility: a critical discourse analysis of Danish chronic care policies. Qualitative Health Research , 26 (4), 545-554.

Sacks, F. M., Bray, G. A., Carey, V. J., Smith, S. R., Ryan, D. H., Anton, S. D., … & Williamson, D. A. (2009). Comparison of weight-loss diets with different compositions of fat, protein, and carbohydrates. New England Journal of Medicine , 360 (9), 859-873.

Saltmarsh, S., Chapman, A., Campbell, M., & Drew, C. (2015). Putting “structure within the space”: Spatially un/responsive pedagogic practices in open-plan learning environments. Educational Review , 67 (3), 315-327.

Samaras, G., Bonoti, F., & Christidou, V. (2012). Exploring children’s perceptions of scientists through drawings and interviews. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences , 46 , 1541-1546.

Sengul, K. (2019). Critical discourse analysis in political communication research: a case study of right-wing populist discourse in Australia. Communication Research and Practice , 5 (4), 376-392.

Smahel, D., Machackova, H., Mascheroni, G., Dedkova, L., Staksrud, E., Ólafsson, K., … & Hasebrink, U. (2020). EU Kids Online 2020: Survey results from 19 countries.

Stawarz, K., Preist, C., & Coyle, D. (2019). Use of smartphone apps, social media, and web-based resources to support mental health and well-being: online survey. JMIR mental health , 6 (7), e12546.Towns, M. H., Kreke, K., & Fields, A. (2000). An action research project: Student perspectives on small-group learning in chemistry. Journal of Chemical Education , 77 (1), 111.

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• Primary Research | Definition, Types, & Examples

Primary Research | Definition, Types, & Examples

Published on 15 January 2023 by Tegan George .

Primary research is a research method that relies on direct data collection , rather than relying on data that’s already been collected by someone else. In other words, primary research is any type of research that you undertake yourself, firsthand, while using data that has already been collected is called secondary research.

Primary research is often used in qualitative research , particularly in survey methodology, questionnaires, focus groups, and various types of interviews . While quantitative primary research does exist, it’s not as common.

Table of contents

When to use primary research, types of primary research, examples of primary research, advantages and disadvantages of primary research, frequently asked questions.

Primary research is any research that you conduct yourself. It can be as simple as a 2-question survey, or as in-depth as a years-long longitudinal study . The only key is that data must be collected firsthand by you.

Primary research is often used to supplement or strengthen existing secondary research. It is usually exploratory in nature, concerned with examining a research question where no preexisting knowledge exists. It is also sometimes called original research for this reason.

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Primary research can take many forms, but the most common types are:

• Surveys and questionnaire
• Observational studies
• Interviews and focus groups
• Surveys and questionnaires

Surveys and questionnaires collect information about a group of people by asking them questions and analyzing the results. They are a solid choice if your research topic seeks to investigate something about the characteristics, preferences, opinions, or beliefs of a group of people.

Surveys and questionnaires can take place online, in person, or through the mail. It is best to have a combination of open-ended and closed-ended questions, and how the questions are phrased matters. Be sure to avoid leading questions, and ask any related questions in groups, starting with the most basic ones first.

Observational studies are an easy and popular way to answer a research question based purely on what you, the researcher, observes. If there are practical or ethical concerns that prevent you from conducting a traditional experiment , observational studies are often a good stopgap.

There are three types of observational studies: cross-sectional studies , cohort studies, and case-control studies. If you decide to conduct observational research, you can choose the one that’s best for you. All three are quite straightforward and easy to design – just beware of confounding variables and observer bias creeping into your analysis.

Similarly to surveys and questionnaires, interviews and focus groups also rely on asking questions to collect information about a group of people. However, how this is done is slightly different. Instead of sending your questions out into the world, interviews and focus groups involve two or more people – one of whom is you, the interviewer, who asks the questions.

There are 3 main types of interviews:

• Structured interviews ask predetermined questions in a predetermined order.
• Unstructured interviews are more flexible and free-flowing, proceeding based on the interviewee’s previous answers.
• Semi-structured interviews fall in between, asking a mix of predetermined questions and off-the-cuff questions.

While interviews are a rich source of information, they can also be deceptively challenging to do well. Be careful of interviewer bias creeping into your process. This is best mitigated by avoiding double-barreled questions and paying close attention to your tone and delivery while asking questions.

Alternatively, a focus group is a group interview, led by a moderator. Focus groups can provide more nuanced interactions than individual interviews, but their small sample size means that external validity is low.

Primary research can often be quite simple to pursue yourself. Here are a few examples of different research methods you can use to explore different topics.

Primary research is a great choice for many research projects, but it has distinct advantages and disadvantages.

Advantages of primary research

Advantages include:

• The ability to conduct really tailored, thorough research, down to the ‘nitty-gritty’ of your topic . You decide what you want to study or observe and how to go about doing that.
• You maintain control over the quality of the data collected, and can ensure firsthand that it is objective, reliable , and valid .
• The ensuing results are yours, for you to disseminate as you see fit. You maintain proprietary control over what you find out, allowing you to share your findings with like-minded individuals or those conducting related research that interests you for replication or discussion purposes.

Disadvantages of primary research

Disadvantages include:

• In order to be done well, primary research can be very expensive and time consuming. If you are constrained in terms of time or funding, it can be very difficult to conduct your own high-quality primary research.
• Primary research is often insufficient as a standalone research method, requiring secondary research to bolster it.
• Primary research can be prone to various types of research bias . Bias can manifest on the part of the researcher as observer bias , Pygmalion effect , or demand characteristics . It can occur on the part of participants as a Hawthorne effect or social desirability bias .

The 3 main types of primary research are:

Exploratory research explores the main aspects of a new or barely researched question.

Explanatory research explains the causes and effects of an already widely researched question.

There are several methods you can use to decrease the impact of confounding variables on your research: restriction, matching, statistical control, and randomisation.

In restriction , you restrict your sample by only including certain subjects that have the same values of potential confounding variables.

In matching , you match each of the subjects in your treatment group with a counterpart in the comparison group. The matched subjects have the same values on any potential confounding variables, and only differ in the independent variable .

In statistical control , you include potential confounders as variables in your regression .

In randomisation , you randomly assign the treatment (or independent variable) in your study to a sufficiently large number of subjects, which allows you to control for all potential confounding variables.

A questionnaire is a data collection tool or instrument, while a survey is an overarching research method that involves collecting and analysing data from people using questionnaires.

When conducting research, collecting original data has significant advantages:

• You can tailor data collection to your specific research aims (e.g., understanding the needs of your consumers or user testing your website).
• You can control and standardise the process for high reliability and validity (e.g., choosing appropriate measurements and sampling methods ).

However, there are also some drawbacks: data collection can be time-consuming, labour-intensive, and expensive. In some cases, it’s more efficient to use secondary data that has already been collected by someone else, but the data might be less reliable.

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A Complete Guide to Primary and Secondary Research in UX Design

To succeed in UX design, you must know what UX research methods to use for your projects.

This impacts how you:

• Understand and meet user needs
• Execute strategic and business-driven solutions
• Differentiate yourself from other designers
• Be more efficient in your resources
• Innovate within your market

Primary and secondary research methods are crucial to uncovering this. The former is when you gather firsthand data directly from sources, while the latter synthesizes existing data and translates them into insights and recommendations.

Let's dive deep into each type of research method and its role in UX research.

If you are still hungry to learn more, specifically how to apply it practically in the real world, you should check out Michael Wong's UX research course . He teaches you  the exact process and tactics he used that helped him build a UX agency that generated over $10M+ million in revenue.

What is p rimary research in UX design

Primary UX research gathers data directly from the users to understand their needs, behaviors, and preferences.

It's done through interviews, surveys, and observing users as they interact with a product.

Primary research in UX: When and why to use it

Primary research typically starts at the start of a UX project. This is so that the design process is grounded in a deep understanding of user needs and behaviors.

By collecting firsthand information early on, teams can tailor their designs to address real user problems.

Here are the reasons why primary research is important in UX design: ‍

1. It fast-tracks your industry understanding

Your knowledge about the industry may be limited at the start of the project. Primary research helps you get up to speed because you interact directly with real customers. As a result, this allows you to work more effectively.

Example: Imagine you're designing an app for coffee lovers. But you're not a coffee drinker yourself. Through user interviews, you learn how they prefer to order their favorite drink, what they love or hate about existing coffee apps, and their "wishlist" features by talking directly to them.

This crucial information will guide you on what to focus on in later stages when you do the actual designing. ‍

2. You'll gain clarity and fill knowledge gaps

There are always areas we know less about than we'd like. Primary research helps fill these gaps by observing user preferences and needs directly.

Example: Let's say you're working on a website for online learning. You might assume that users prefer video lessons over written content, but your survey results show that many users prefer written material because they can learn at their own pace.

With that in mind, you'll prioritize creating user-friendly design layouts for written lessons. ‍

3. You get to test and validate any uncertainties

When unsure about a feature, design direction, or user preference, primary research allows you to test these elements with real users.

This validation process helps you confidently move forward since you have data backing your decisions.

Example: You're designing a fitness app and can't decide between a gamified experience (with points and levels) or a more straightforward tracking system.

By prototyping both options and testing them with a group of users, you discover that the gamified experience concept resonates more.

Users are more motivated when they gain points and progress levels. As a result, you pivot to designing a better-gamified experience.

Types of primary research methods in UX design

Here's a detailed look at common primary research methods in UX:

1. User interviews

• What is it: User interviews involve one-on-one conversations with users to gather detailed insights, opinions, and feedback about their experiences with a product or service.
• Best used for: Gathering qualitative insights on user needs, motivations, and pain points.
• Tools: Zoom and Google Meet for remote interviews; Calendly for scheduling; Otter.ai for transcription. ‍
• What is it: Surveys are structured questionnaires designed to collect quantitative data on user preferences, behaviors, and demographics.
• Best used for: Collecting data from many users to identify patterns and trends.
• Tools: Google Forms, SurveyMonkey, and Typeform for survey creation; Google Sheets and Notion for note taking. ‍

3. Usability testing

• What is it: Usability testing involves observing users interact with a prototype or the actual product to identify usability issues and areas for improvement.
• Best used for: Identifying and addressing usability problems.
• Tools: FigJam, Lookback.io , UserTesting, Hotjar for conducting and recording sessions; InVision, Figma for prototype testing; Google Sheets to log usability issues and track task completion rates. ‍

4. Contextual inquiry

• What is it: This method involves observing and interviewing users in their natural environment to understand how they use a product in real-life situations.
• Best used for: Gaining deep insights into user behavior and the context in which a product is used.
• Tools: GoPro or other wearable cameras for in-field recording; Evernote for note-taking; Miro for organizing insights. ‍

5. Card sorting

• What is it: Card sorting is when users organize and categorize content or information.
• Best used for: Designing or evaluating the information architecture of a website or application.
• Tools: FigJam, Optimal Workshop, UXPin, and Trello for digital card sorting; Mural for collaborative sorting sessions. ‍

6. Focus groups

• What is it: Group discussions with users that explore their perceptions, attitudes, and opinions about a product.
• Best used for: Gathering various user opinions and ideas in an interactive setting.
• Tools: Zoom, Microsoft Teams for remote focus groups; Menti or Slido for real-time polling and feedback. ‍

7. Diary studies

• What is it: A method where users record their experiences, thoughts, and frustrations while interacting with a product over a certain period of time.
• Best used for: Understanding long-term user behavior, habits, and needs.
• Tools: Dscout, ExperienceFellow for mobile diary entries; Google Docs for simple text entries. ‍

8. Prototype testing

• What is it: Prototype testing is when users evaluate the usability and design of early product prototypes with users.
• Best used for: Identifying usability issues and gathering feedback on design concepts
• Tools: Figma for creating and sharing prototypes; Maze for unmoderated testing and analytics. ‍

9. Eye-tracking

• What is it: A method that analyzes where and how long users look at different areas on a screen.
• Best used for: Understanding user attention, readability, and visual hierarchy effectiveness.
• Tools: Tobii, iMotions for hardware; Crazy Egg for website heatmaps as a simpler alternative. ‍

10. A/B testing

• What is it: A/B testing compares two or more versions of a webpage or app feature to determine which performs better in achieving specific goals.
• Best used for: Making data-driven decisions on design elements that impact user behavior.
• Tools: Optimizely, Google Optimize for web-based A/B testing; VWO for more in-depth analysis and segmentation. ‍

11. Field studies

• What is it: Research done in real-world settings to observe and analyze user behavior and interactions in their natural environment.
• Best used for: Gaining insights into how products are used in real-world contexts and identifying unmet user needs.
• Tools: Notability, OneNote for note-taking; Voice Memos for audio recording; Trello for organizing observations. ‍

12. Think-aloud protocols

• What is it: A method involves users verbalizing their thought process while interacting with a product. It helps uncover their decision-making process and pain points.
• Best used for: Understanding user reasoning, expectations, and experiences when using the product.
• Tools: UsabilityHub, Morae for recording think-aloud sessions; Zoom for remote testing with screen sharing.

Challenges of primary research in UX

Here are the obstacles that UX professionals may face with primary research:

• Time-consuming : Primary research requires significant planning, conducting, and analyzing. This is particularly relevant for methods that involve a lot of user interaction.
• Resource intensive : A considerable amount of resources is needed, including specialized tools or skills for data collection and analysis.
• Recruitment difficulties : Finding and recruiting suitable participants willing to put in the effort can be challenging and costly.
• Bias and validity : The risk of bias in collecting and interpreting data highlights the importance of carefully designing the research strategy. This is so that the findings are accurate and reliable. ‍

What is secondary research in UX design

Once primary research is conducted, secondary research analyzes and converts this data into insights. They may also find common themes and ideas and convert them into meaningful recommendations.

Using journey maps, personas, and affinity diagrams can help them better understand the problem.

Secondary research also involves reviewing existing research, published books, articles, studies, and online information. This includes competitor websites and online analytics to support design ideas and concepts. ‍

Secondary research in UX: Knowing when and why to use it

Secondary research is a flexible method in the design process. It fits in both before and after primary research.

At the project's start, looking at existing research and what's already known can help shape your design strategy. This groundwork helps you understand the design project in a broader context.

After completing your primary research, secondary research comes into play again. This time, it's about synthesizing your findings and forming insights or recommendations for your stakeholders.

Here's why it's important in your design projects:

1. It gives you a deeper understanding of your existing research

Secondary research gathers your primary research findings to identify common themes and patterns. This allows for a more informed approach and uncovers opportunities in your design process.

Example: When creating personas or proto-personas for a fitness app, you might find common desires for personalized workout plans and motivational features.

This data shapes personas like "Fitness-focused Fiona," a detailed profile that embodies a segment of your audience with her own set of demographics, fitness objectives, challenges, and likes. ‍

2. Learn more about competitors

Secondary research in UX is also about leveraging existing data in the user landscape and competitors.

This may include conducting a competitor or SWOT analysis so that your design decisions are not just based on isolated findings but are guided by a comprehensive overview. This highlights opportunities for differentiation and innovation.

Example: Suppose you're designing a budgeting app for a startup. You can check Crunchbase, an online database of startup information, to learn about your competitors' strengths and weaknesses.

If your competitor analysis reveals that all major budgeting apps lack personalized advice features, this shows an opportunity for yours to stand out by offering customized budgeting tips and financial guidance. ‍

Types of secondary research methods in UX

1. competitive analysis.

• What is it: Competitive analysis involves systematically comparing your product with its competitors in the market. It's a strategic tool that helps identify where your product stands about the competition and what unique value proposition it can offer.
• Best used for: Identifying gaps in the market that your product can fill, understanding user expectations by analyzing what works well in existing products, and pinpointing areas for improvement in your own product.
• Tools: Google Sheets to organize and visualize your findings; Crunchbase and SimilarWeb to look into competitor performance and market positioning; and UserVoice to get insights into what users say about your competitors.

2. Affinity mapping

• What is it: A collaborative sorting technique used to organize large sets of information into groups based on their natural relationships.
• Best used for: Grouping insights from user research, brainstorming sessions, or feedback to identify patterns, themes, and priorities. It helps make sense of qualitative data, such as user interview transcripts, survey responses, or usability test observations.
• Tools: Miro and FigJam for remote affinity mapping sessions.

3. Customer journey mapping

• What is it: The process of creating a visual representation of the customer's experience with a product or service over time and across different touchpoints.
• Best used for: Visualizing the user's path from initial engagement through various interactions to the final goal.
• Tools: FigJam and Google Sheets for collaborative journey mapping efforts.

4. Literature and academic review

• What is it: This involves examining existing scholarly articles, books, and other academic publications relevant to your design project. The goal is to deeply understand your project's theoretical foundations, past research findings, and emerging trends.
• Best used for: Establishing a solid theoretical framework for your design decisions. A literature review can uncover insights into user behavior and design principles that inform your design strategy.
• Tools: Academic databases like Google Scholar, JSTOR, and specific UX/UI research databases. Reference management tools like Zotero and Mendeley can help organize your sources and streamline the review process.

Challenges of secondary research in UX design

These are the challenges that UX professionals might encounter when carrying out secondary research:

• Outdated information : In a world where technology changes fast, the information you use must be current, or it might not be helpful.
• Challenges with pre-existing data : Using data you didn't collect yourself can be tricky because you have less control over its quality. Always review how it was gathered to avoid mistakes.
• Data isn't just yours : Since secondary data is available to everyone, you won't be the only one using it. This means your competitors can access similar findings or insights.
• Trustworthiness : Look into where your information comes from so that it's reliable. Watch out for any bias in the data as well. ‍

The mixed-method approach: How primary and secondary research work together

Primary research lays the groundwork, while secondary research weaves a cohesive story and connects the findings to create a concrete design strategy.

Here's how this mixed-method approach works in a sample UX project for a health tech app:

Phase 1: Groundwork and contextualization

• User interviews and surveys (Primary research) : The team started their project by interviewing patients and healthcare providers. The objective was to uncover the main issues with current health apps and what features could enhance patient care.
• Industry and academic literature review (Secondary research) : The team also reviewed existing literature on digital health interventions, industry reports on health app trends, and case studies on successful health apps. ‍

Phase 2: Analysis and strategy formulation

• Affinity mapping (Secondary research) : Insights from the interviews and surveys were organized using affinity mapping. It revealed key pain points like needing more personalized and interactive care plans.
• Competitive benchmarking (Secondary research) : The team also analyzed competitors’ apps through secondary research to identify common functionalities and gaps. They noticed a lack of personalized patient engagement and, therefore, positioned their app to fill this void in the market. ‍

Phase 3: Design and validation

• Prototyping (Secondary research) : With a good grasp of what users need and the opportunities in the market, the startup created prototypes. These prototypes include AI-powered personalized care plans, reminders for medications, and interactive tools to track health.
• Usability testing (Primary research) : The prototypes were tested with a sample of the target user group, including patients and healthcare providers. Feedback was mostly positive, especially for the personalized care plans. This shows that the app has the potential to help patients get more involved in their health. ‍

Phase 4: Refinement and market alignment

• Improving design through iterations: The team continuously refined the app's design based on feedback from ongoing usability testing.
• Ongoing market review (Secondary research) : The team watched for new studies, healthcare reports, and competitors' actions. This helped them make sure their app stayed ahead in digital health innovation. ‍

Amplify your design impact and impress your stakeholders in 10+ hours

Primary and secondary research methods are part of a much larger puzzle in UX research.

However, understanding the theoretical part is not enough to make it as a UX designer nowadays.

The reason?

UX design is highly practical and constantly evolving. To succeed in the field, UX designers must do more than just design.

They understand the bigger picture and know how to deliver business-driven design solutions rather than designs that look pretty.

Sometimes, the best knowledge comes from those who have been there themselves. That's why finding the right mentor with experience and who can give practical advice is crucial.

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• 5. Appendix A: Approach and Methods
• 6. Appendix B: Other AHRQ Programs Relevant for Primary Care Research Audiences
• 7.  Appendix C: Additional Tables by Topic Area
• 8. Appendix D: Grant Summaries
• P1: Does A New Care Model Improve Care for Patients with Acute Kidney Injury After Hospital Discharge?
• P2: Using an Electronic Screening Tool to Identify Adolescents at Risk for STIs
• P3: Using Veterans Health Administration Data to Understand How Primary Care Team Configuration and Stability Impact Quality
• P4: Impacts of Changes in Payment Policy on Access to Primary Care for People with Lower Incomes
• P5: Assessing the Impact of the Affordable Care Act on Reproductive Health Care
• P6: Understanding the Combined Impact of Healthcare Delivery and Payment Reform Models
• P7: Understanding the Relationship Between Proximity and Utilization of Patient-Centered Medical Homes
• P8: Do Telemedicine Visits Provide Similar Quality and Safety as In-Person Visits?
• P9: Using a Mobile Health Tool to Improve Patient-Centered Care for Patients with Type 2 Diabetes
• P10: Improving Clinical-Community Linkages in Primary Care for Patients with Multiple Chronic Conditions
• P11: Identifying Ways to Improve Preventive Care for Children
• P12: Using a Televideo-based Training Model for Providers to Expand Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder in Rural New Mexico
• P13: Developing a Prediction Model to Identify Health Clinics at High-Risk for Clinician Burnout
• P14: Is Telehealth Effective for Providing Nurse-Led Healthcare to Vulnerable Populations in Colorado?
• Emerging Research Spotlights
• S1: Developing a Dashboard To Help Clinical Teams Prioritize and Manage Vulnerable Patients
• S2: Using EHR-Based Simulations to Reduce Diagnostic Errors in Ambulatory Care Settings
• S3: Implementing and Evaluating the Use of a Mobile Health Tool to Help Address Medication Non-Adherence
• S4: Does Support for CDS Implementation Increase the Use of Patient-Centered Care To Treat Chronic Pain in Primary Care
• S5: Developing a Mobile Tool to Improve Self-Care and Shared Decision-Making for Patients with Chronic Conditions
• S6: Can an Electronic Shared Decision-Making Tool Increase the Uptake of Collaborative Care...
• S7: Identifying How to Improve Health Outcomes for Children in Foster Care
• S8: Understanding How Nurse Practitioners Increase Access to Primary Care
• S9: Using Integrated Social and Medical Risk Data Dashboards To Improve Chronic Disease Management and Prevention
• S10: Enhancing a Mobile Health App for Patient Asthma Symptom Monitoring During the COVID-19 Pandemic
• 9. References

For the primary care research projects active in 2021 and 2022 (128 grants and 12 contracts), AHRQ has invested a total of $220.8 million across the multiple years of grant funding (spanning fiscal years 2016-2027). This included $199.8 million for grants and $21.0 million for contracts.

In 2021 and 2022 alone, AHRQ committed $99.4 million to new primary care research projects that will continue into 2027 (including $92.5 million for grants and $6.9 million for contracts). This funding included:

• $2 million in funding from the first NCEPCR appropriation made in fiscal year 2022 (including $0.5 million in grants and $1.5 million in contracts).
• $42.8 million in funding from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Trust Fund (PCORTF) (including $39.6 million in grants and $3.2 million in contracts).
• $22.6 million in funding from General Health Services Research appropriation (including $20.4 million in grants and $2.2 million in contracts).
• $21.6 million in grant funding from Patient Safety appropriation.
• $6.7 million in grant funding from Digital Healthcare Research appropriation.
• $3.7 million in grant funding from the COVID-19 appropriation.

This investment supports a large body of work that is leading to significant impacts on primary care and progress on behalf of the American public.

In this section of the report, we provide analysis across the 128 grants and 12 contracts identified as primary care research projects, to better understand this body of work and AHRQ's investment. (See About This Report for the definition of primary care relevant research, and details about how we identified this list of projects).

Primary Care Grants and Cooperative Agreements

There were a total of 128 primary care related grants and cooperative agreements with active AHRQ funding during fiscal years (FYs) 2021 and 2022. Of these, 124 were unique, 2 were for additional funding to existing grants to answer questions related to COVID, and 2 were non-competing continuations of existing grants. Below we describe the distribution of grants and cooperative agreements (from here on referred to collectively as "grants") by funding mechanism, awardee institutions, topic areas, and other attributes.

Funding Mechanisms

Of AHRQ's 124 unique primary care grants, 120 were research focused and 4 were conference grants. Of the 120 research focused grants, 13 (or 10%) were career development or “K” awards and 2 grants were R36 Dissertation Awards. The specific funding mechanism and the number of each type are shown in Exhibit 1.

Exhibit 1. Number and Percentage of Primary Care Grants, by Mechanism (N = 124)

The proportion of grants by funding mechanism, after both career development grants and conference grants have been removed, is depicted in Exhibit 2.

Exhibit 2. Proportion of Research Grants by Mechanism (N=107)

The 124 grants were distributed across 66 institutions located in 30 states across the country. The map in Exhibit 3 depicts the distribution of awards across the U.S., with the size of the dots on the map indicating the number in a particular area.

Exhibit 3. Map of Grant Recipients *

*Dots indicate grants by zip code, where larger dots equal a greater number of grants in the area.

Among the institutions that received AHRQ grants (as depicted in Exhibit 4, below), we found that the majority (72%) were academic institutions, followed by medical systems (15%), research institutes (9%), and non-profit organizations (5%). Of the academic institutions, 69% were public, and 31% were private.

Exhibit 4. Awardee Types (N=124)

Almost half of the 66 institutions held more than one AHRQ primary care grant during this period, as shown in Exhibit 5.

Exhibit 5. Grantee Institutions with Multiple Grants (names as shown in grant application)

Topic areas, key topic areas.

To further understand AHRQ’s primary care grants, we categorized each grant across key topic areas of interest to AHRQ, as well as additional areas of focus. When we look at the topic area that best describes each grant, we find that the largest proportion of projects aligned with Practice and Quality Improvement (27%); followed by Healthcare Systems and Infrastructure, including payment (19%); Digital Healthcare (18%); and Person-Centered Care (14%). A smaller proportion of projects primarily aligned with Behavioral Health (7%), Health Equity (6%), Primary Care Workforce (3%), or Public Health and Community Integration (2%). The full distribution across grants is displayed in Exhibit 6.

Exhibit 6. Research Grants by Main Topic Area (N=124)

However, most of the grants include some focus on multiple topic areas. When we look at the top three topic areas addressed across each grant, we see a slightly different story, as shown in Exhibit 7. For example, when we look at all of the projects that align with a topic, the largest proportion of projects align with Digital Healthcare (48%), followed closely by Practice and Quality Improvement (44%). We also see that the percentage of grants with a focus on Health Equity went up dramatically (from 6% to 26%). The percentage of grants with a focus on Behavioral Health (14%), Public Health and Community Integration (7%), and Primary Care Workforce (4%) remain low relative to other topic areas. Given AHRQ’s interest in these topics, additional grant funding could be warranted in these areas.

Exhibit 7. Number of Grants by All Topic Areas (N=124)

We also identified several additional areas of focus across the grants, as described in Exhibit 8. A relatively large percentage of grants (24%) were related to Patient Safety, while a similar percentage of grants looked at each of the other additional topic areas.

Exhibit 8. Number of Grants by Additional Areas of Focus (N=124)

Setting, Geography, and Populations

Finally, we collected information about the practice type, geographical settings (e.g., rural, or urban practices, or region of interest), and patient population for the AHRQ primary care grants. Unfortunately, we did not have this information across grants, so we cannot share precise numbers or compare percentages. However, we can report that the grants researched care provided in a wide range of provider settings, including community health centers; federally qualified health centers; small, independent practices; clinics in large health centers; ambulatory care centers; urgent care centers; community pharmacies; and Veteran's Health Administration facilities. In addition, funded grants studied primary care throughout the U.S. as well as in frontier, rural, and urban geographical settings and in widely diverse patient populations, including children and adolescents; women; older adults; people with limited English proficiency or low literacy; low income or medically underserved populations; people from racial and ethnic minority groups; uninsured people; Medicaid, Medicare, and dual-eligible beneficiaries; Veterans; and clinicians.

Publications

Through National Library of Medicine searches, our team identified 516 published papers acknowledging 82 of the 128 primary care AHRQ grants as of February 2024. Exhibit 9 shows the journals with the most publications from this set.

Exhibit 9. Ten Most Common Journals for Publications from AHRQ Primary Care Grants

In addition, AHRQ identified another 100 articles with primary care relevant content from other AHRQ funded sources (e.g., non-primary care grants).

Primary Care Contracts

The 12 primary care related contracts funded by AHRQ in 2021 and 2022 were led by nine organizations, including two universities (Johns Hopkins University and Oregon Health & Science University), five research and consulting firms (Abt Global, National Opinion Research Center [NORC], RAND Corporation, Research Triangle Institute International [RTI], and Westat Inc.), one member association (The Association for Prevention Teaching and Research), and a non-profit society of scholars (National Academy of Sciences). Information about each of these contracts is included in Exhibit 10.

Exhibit 10. AHRQ's Primary Care Related Contracts active during 2021 and 2022

AHRQ has developed many resources and materials to support primary care research and primary care clinician practice, as described in the following sections of this report. Many of these resources were developed through contracts.

Internet Citation: 2. Overview of AHRQ's Recent Investments in Primary Care Research. Content last reviewed April 2024. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. https://www.ahrq.gov/ncepcr/reports/2024-annual-report/overview.html

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Home » Primary Data – Types, Methods and Examples

Primary Data – Types, Methods and Examples

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Primary Data

Definition:

Primary Data refers to data that is collected firsthand by a researcher or a team of researchers for a specific research project or purpose. It is original information that has not been previously published or analyzed, and it is gathered directly from the source or through the use of data collection methods such as surveys, interviews, observations, and experiments.

Types of Primary Data

Types of Primary Data are as follows:

Surveys are one of the most common types of primary data collection methods. They involve asking a set of standardized questions to a sample of individuals or organizations, usually through a questionnaire or an online form.

Interviews involve asking open-ended or structured questions to a sample of individuals or groups in person, over the phone, or through video conferencing. They can be conducted in a one-on-one setting or in a focus group.

Observations

Observations involve systematically recording the behavior or activities of individuals or groups in a natural or controlled setting. This type of data collection is often used in fields such as anthropology, sociology, and psychology.

Experiments

Experiments involve manipulating one or more variables and observing the effects on an outcome of interest. They are commonly used in scientific research to establish cause-and-effect relationships.

Case studies

Case studies involve in-depth analysis of a particular individual, group, or organization. They typically involve collecting a variety of data, including interviews, observations, and documents.

Action research

Action research involves collecting data to improve a specific practice or process within an organization or community. It often involves collaboration between researchers and practitioners.

Formats of Primary Data

Some common formats for primary data collection include:

• Textual data : This includes written responses to surveys or interviews, as well as written notes from observations.
• Numeric data: Numeric data includes data collected through structured surveys or experiments, such as ratings, rankings, or test scores.
• Audio data : Audio data includes recordings of interviews, focus groups, or other discussions.
• Visual data: Visual data includes photographs or videos of events, behaviors, or phenomena being studied.
• Sensor data: Sensor data includes data collected through electronic sensors, such as temperature readings, GPS data, or motion data.
• Biological data : Biological data includes data collected through biological samples, such as blood, urine, or tissue samples.

Primary Data Analysis Methods

There are several methods that can be used to analyze primary data collected from research, including:

• Descriptive statistics: Descriptive statistics involve summarizing and describing the characteristics of the data collected, such as mean, median, mode, and standard deviation.
• Inferential statistics: Inferential statistics involve making inferences about a population based on a sample of data. This can include techniques such as hypothesis testing and confidence intervals.
• Qualitative analysis: Qualitative analysis involves analyzing non-numerical data, such as textual data from interviews or observations, to identify themes, patterns, or trends.
• Content analysis: Content analysis involves analyzing textual data to identify and categorize specific words or phrases, allowing researchers to identify themes or patterns in the data.
• Coding : Coding involves categorizing data into specific categories or themes, allowing researchers to identify patterns and relationships in the data.
• Data visualization : Data visualization involves creating graphs, charts, and other visual representations of data to help researchers identify patterns and relationships in the data.

Primary Data Gathering Guide

Here are some general steps to guide you in gathering primary data:

• Define your research question or problem: Clearly define the purpose of your research and the specific questions you want to answer.
• Determine the data collection method : Decide which primary data collection method(s) will be most appropriate to answer your research question or problem.
• Develop a data collection instrument : If you are using surveys or interviews, create a structured questionnaire or interview guide to ensure that you ask the same questions of all participants.
• Identify your target population : Identify the group of individuals or organizations that will provide the data you need to answer your research question or problem.
• Recruit participants: Use various methods to recruit participants, such as email, social media, or advertising.
• Collect the data : Conduct your survey, interview, observation, or experiment, ensuring that you follow your data collection instrument.
• Verify the data : Check the data for completeness, accuracy, and consistency. Resolve any missing data or errors.
• Analyze the data: Use appropriate statistical or qualitative analysis techniques to interpret the data.
• Draw conclusions: Use the results of your analysis to answer your research question or problem.
• Communicate your findings : Share your results through a written report, presentation, or publication.

Examples of Primary Data

Some real-time examples of primary data are:

• Customer surveys: When a company collects data through surveys or questionnaires, they are gathering primary data. For example, a restaurant might ask customers to rate their dining experience.
• Market research : Companies may conduct primary research to understand consumer trends or market demand. For instance, a company might conduct interviews or focus groups to gather information about consumer preferences.
• Scientific experiments: Scientists may gather primary data through experiments, such as observing the behavior of animals or testing new drugs on human subjects.
• Traffic counts: Traffic engineers might collect primary data by monitoring the flow of cars on a particular road to determine how to improve traffic flow.
• Consumer behavior : Companies may use primary data to track consumer behavior, such as how customers use a product or interact with a website.
• Social media analytics : Companies can collect primary data by analyzing social media metrics such as likes, comments, and shares to understand how their customers are engaging with their brand.

Applications of Primary Data

Primary data is useful in a wide range of applications, including research, business, and government. Here are some specific applications of primary data:

• Research : Primary data is essential for conducting scientific research, such as in fields like psychology, sociology, and biology. Researchers collect primary data through experiments, surveys, and observations.
• Marketing : Companies use primary data to understand customer needs and preferences, track consumer behavior, and develop marketing strategies. This data is typically collected through surveys, focus groups, and other market research methods.
• Business planning : Primary data can inform business decisions such as product development, pricing strategies, and expansion plans. For example, a company may gather primary data on the buying habits of its customers to decide what products to offer and how to price them.
• Public policy: Primary data is used by government agencies to develop and evaluate public policies. For example, a city government might use primary data on traffic patterns to decide where to build new roads or improve public transportation.
• Education : Primary data is used in education to evaluate student performance, identify areas of need, and develop curriculum. Teachers may gather primary data through assessments, observations, and surveys to improve their teaching methods and help students succeed.
• Healthcare : Primary data is used by healthcare professionals to diagnose and treat illnesses, track patient outcomes, and develop new treatments. Doctors and researchers collect primary data through medical tests, clinical trials, and patient surveys.
• Environmental management: Primary data is used to monitor and manage natural resources and the environment. For example, scientists and environmental managers collect primary data on water quality, air quality, and biodiversity to develop policies and programs aimed at protecting the environment.
• Product testing: Companies use primary data to test new products before they are released to the market. This data is collected through surveys, focus groups, and product testing sessions to evaluate the effectiveness and appeal of the product.
• Crime prevention : Primary data is used by law enforcement agencies to identify crime hotspots, track criminal activity, and develop crime prevention strategies. Police departments may collect primary data through crime reports, surveys, and community meetings to better understand the needs and concerns of the community.
• Disaster response: Primary data is used by emergency responders and disaster management agencies to assess the impact of disasters and develop response plans. This data is collected through surveys, interviews, and observations to identify the needs of affected populations and allocate resources accordingly.

Purpose of Primary Data

The purpose of primary data is to gather information directly from the source, without relying on secondary sources or pre-existing data. This data is collected through research methods such as surveys, interviews, experiments, and observations. Primary data is valuable because it is tailored to the specific research question or problem at hand and is collected with a specific purpose in mind. Some of the main purposes of primary data include:

• To answer research questions: Researchers use primary data to answer specific research questions, such as understanding consumer preferences, evaluating the effectiveness of a program, or testing a hypothesis.
• To gather original information : Primary data provides new and original information that is not available from other sources. This data can be used to make informed decisions, develop new products, or design new programs.
• To tailor research methods: Primary data collection methods can be customized to fit the research question or problem. This allows researchers to gather the most relevant and accurate information possible.
• To control the quality of data: Researchers have greater control over the quality of primary data, as they can design and implement the data collection methods themselves. This reduces the risk of errors or biases that may be present in secondary data sources.
• To address specific populations : Primary data can be collected from specific populations, such as customers, patients, or students. This allows researchers to gather data that is directly relevant to their research question or problem.

When to use Primary Data

Primary data should be used when the specific information required for a research question or problem cannot be obtained from existing data sources. Here are some situations where primary data would be appropriate to use:

• When no secondary data is available: Primary data should be collected when there is no existing data available that addresses the research question or problem.
• When the available secondary data is not relevant: Existing secondary data may not be specific or relevant enough to address the research question or problem at hand.
• When the research requires specific information : Primary data collection allows researchers to gather information that is tailored to their specific research question or problem.
• When the research requires a specific population: Primary data can be collected from specific populations, such as customers, patients, or employees, to provide more targeted and relevant information.
• When the research requires control over the data collection process: Primary data allows researchers to have greater control over the data collection process, which can ensure the data is of high quality and relevant to the research question or problem.
• When the research requires current or up-to-date information: Primary data collection can provide more current and up-to-date information than existing secondary data sources.

Characteristics of Primary Data

Primary data has several characteristics that make it unique and valuable for research purposes. These characteristics include:

• Originality : Primary data is collected for a specific research question or problem and is not previously published or available in any other source.
• Relevance : Primary data is collected to directly address the research question or problem at hand and is therefore highly relevant to the research.
• Accuracy : Primary data collection methods can be designed to ensure the data is accurate and reliable, reducing the risk of errors or biases.
• Timeliness: Primary data is collected in real-time or near real-time, providing current and up-to-date information for the research.
• Specificity : Primary data can be collected from specific populations, such as customers, patients, or employees, providing targeted and relevant information.
• Control : Researchers have greater control over the data collection process, allowing them to ensure the data is collected in a way that is most relevant to the research question or problem.
• Cost : Primary data collection can be more expensive than using existing secondary data sources, as it requires resources such as personnel, equipment, and materials.

Advantages of Primary Data

There are several advantages of using primary data in research. These include:

• Specificity : Primary data collection can be tailored to the specific research question or problem, allowing researchers to gather the most relevant and targeted information possible.
• Control : Researchers have greater control over the data collection process, which can ensure the data is of high quality and relevant to the research question or problem.
• Timeliness : Primary data is collected in real-time or near real-time, providing current and up-to-date information for the research.
• Flexibility : Primary data collection methods can be adjusted or modified during the research process to ensure the most relevant and useful data is collected.
• Greater depth : Primary data collection methods, such as interviews or focus groups, can provide more in-depth and detailed information than existing secondary data sources.
• Potential for new insights : Primary data collection can provide new and unexpected insights into a research question or problem, which may not have been possible using existing secondary data sources.

Limitations of Primary Data

While primary data has several advantages, it also has some limitations that researchers need to be aware of. These limitations include:

• Time-consuming: Primary data collection can be time-consuming, especially if the research requires collecting data from a large sample or a specific population.
• Limited generalizability: Primary data is collected from a specific population, and therefore its generalizability to other populations may be limited.
• Potential bias: Primary data collection methods can be subject to biases, such as social desirability bias or interviewer bias, which can affect the accuracy and reliability of the data.
• Potential for errors: Primary data collection methods can be prone to errors, such as data entry errors or measurement errors, which can affect the accuracy and reliability of the data.
• Ethical concerns: Primary data collection methods, such as interviews or surveys, may raise ethical concerns related to confidentiality, privacy, and informed consent.

About the author

Muhammad Hassan

Researcher, Academic Writer, Web developer

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Research Opportunity Announcement: Integrating Clinical Research into Primary Care Settings through Network Research Hubs – A Pilot (OT2)

Research Opportunity Announcement Overview

Purpose and Scope

Phased Approach

Definitions

Eligibility

Application Responsiveness

Application Requirements

Objective Review

Special Award Terms

Research Opportunity Announcement Overview #announcementoverview

ROA Number: OTA-24-016

• ROA Posting: May 6, 2024
• Technical Webinar 1: 12pm EDT on May 14, 2024
• Technical Webinar 2: 12pm EDT on May 22, 2024
• Submission Deadline: Complete applications must be submitted under OTA-24-016 via NIH eRA Commons ASSIST no later than 5:00pm EDT on June 14, 2024. Late applications submitted to this ROA will not be accepted.

Brief Overview of the Research Opportunity: The purpose of this limited competition research opportunity announcement (ROA) is to invite applications by organizations currently affiliated with and participating in specific existing clinical research networks --to serve as “Network Research Hubs” and establish the infrastructure to conduct clinical research in primary care settings. This opportunity is limited to organizations that focus on serving rural communities and are part of or funded by: NIH Institutional Development Award Clinical and Translational Research (IDeA-CTR) awards, the NIH Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) Program, and/or the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute’s (PCORI) Patient-Centered Clinical Research Network (PCORnet).

Award Mechanism: This funding opportunity will use the Other Transactions Authority (OTA) governed by 42 U.S. Code § 282 (n)(1)(b) to issue Other Transaction (OT) awards. OT awards are not grants, cooperative agreements, or contracts and use an OTA, provided by law. Policies and terms for individual OTs may vary between awards. Each award is therefore issued with a specific agreement which is negotiated with the recipient, and which may be expanded, modified, partnered, not supported, or later discontinued based on program needs, changing research landscape, performance and or availability of funds.

Anticipated Awards and Budget: NIH anticipates 2-5 awards will be issued through this ROA in FY24. NIH intends to allocate a total of approximately $5M in FY24 and approximately $20M in FY25 to fund Network Research Hubs during the two-year pilot phase, contingent on programmatic objectives, performance and availability of funds. After the two-year pilot phase, individual awards may be terminated, extended, or curtailed based on programmatic objectives, performance, and availability of funds.

Contact Information: [email protected]    

Background #background

In recent years, the U.S. has experienced trending declines in health that are disproportionately occurring in medically underserved and disadvantaged populations. Many of these sectors are also often underrepresented in clinical research. When study demographics don’t match the demographics of those impacted by the illness or condition under investigation, the results may have limited generalizability, leading to evidence gaps and further compounding health disparities. A major barrier to participating in clinical research is lack of access to or availability of clinical studies. In addition, the majority of Americans have never talked to their doctor about participating in research. There is a critical need to extend research participation opportunities to communities often underrepresented in clinical research, and to integrate those opportunities into settings where people seek care.

Therefore, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is planning to establish a coordinated infrastructure that integrates innovative research into routine clinical care in primary care settings. Through this effort, NIH will:

• Pilot and implement infrastructure to support primary care-based clinical research in mission areas across all NIH Institutes and Centers (ICs) spanning prevention and treatment and with a focus on health equity and whole person health;
• Establish a foundation for sustained engagement with communities underrepresented in clinical research (e.g., individuals who live in rural environments, racial and ethnic minority groups, older adults, persons experiencing challenging social determinants of health and related experiences);
• Implement innovative study designs that address common health issues, including disease prevention; and  
• Utilize a full range of clinical research designs as appropriate, including dissemination and implementation research, to inform clinical practice 

NIH envisions this infrastructure will facilitate and accelerate research advances for adoption and implementation into everyday clinical care, improving health outcomes, and advancing health equity for all Americans.

The infrastructure NIH will pilot and implement is anticipated to include the following components:

• Providing oversight of the studies/protocols and site and study selection 
• Providing statistical and data management support  
• Developing innovative clinical study designs and implementation strategies to minimize burden on participants and providers in primary care settings  
• Operations Center – conducting site feasibility assessments, site agreements/contracting, and coordination of study operations (protocol development; compliance with Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Office of Human Research Protections (OHRP) regulatory and participant protection requirements; communications; training; auditing; quality assurance; and data monitoring)  
• Independent Review and Monitoring Boards - including Data and Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB), Observational Study Monitoring Board (OSMB), and the Central Institutional Review Board (IRB)  
• Network Research Hubs – leveraging existing research networks and partnerships with Clinical Sites to conduct clinical research in primary care settings   
• Community Engagement – providing support, advice, and resources, in part through partnerships with existing entities, to facilitate sustained participant and community engagement, community-driven research, and integration of studies in primary and community care settings 
• Industry Partnerships – engaging for-profit partners for collaborative knowledge sharing and potential participation in/use of the infrastructure

Purpose and Scope #purposeandscope

The purpose of this research opportunity announcement (ROA) is to invite applications by existing clinical research networks – as well organizations currently affiliated with and participating in specific existing clinical research networks – to serve as “Network Research Hubs” as part of a larger infrastructure (comprising the components described above) supporting research in primary care settings. These Network Research Hubs must be actively part of (i.e., active funding/award) one or more of the following: NIH Institutional Development Award Clinical and Translational Research (IDeA-CTR) awards, the NIH Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) Program, and/or the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute’s (PCORI) Patient-Centered Clinical Research Network (PCORnet). The Network Research Hubs will serve to expand accrual efforts of select existing NIH-funded studies and develop and conduct new studies with a focus on engaging underrepresented populations, particularly those in rural or underserved areas, and enhancing study inclusivity. Bringing clinical research studies to individuals in their own communities, informed by those communities, and improving clinical research inclusivity will facilitate the generation of a more broadly applicable evidence base that contributes to improved patient outcomes and health equity for all Americans. 

Objectives #objectives

Network Research Hubs will be responsible for:

• Provide clinical research leadership and oversight for clinical studies at all sites supported by and/or partnering with the Network Research Hub, including Clinical Sites.  
• Participate in select existing studies/trials conducted by NIH-funded investigators. Identify and recruit primary care-providing organizations to serve as Clinical Sites for study accrual, supporting the particular needs of each site (e.g., assembling and/or mentoring local research team(s), training providers and clinical staff, assuring protocol adherence, ensuring adequacy of human subjects protections) in collaboration with the Operations Center.
• Accurately identify, screen, recruit and enroll eligible participants for clinical research studies, meeting or exceeding demographic representation and study inclusivity targets as agreed upon with the Scientific and Medical Director and/or the Scientific Committee.
• Implement strategies for culturally appropriate and inclusive study participation, including ensuring study interventions and measures are clinically meaningful and adapted for different populations, as appropriate.
• Provide complete, accurate, and timely collection and entry of high-quality data and biosamples into data management system and repositories as required by the protocol, Scientific Medical Director, and/or Scientific Committee.
• Track and report trial and performance data (e.g., recruitment, retention, adverse events) by site on a regular and frequent basis as required by the clinical studies, the Scientific and Medical Director, Scientific Committee, and/or data and safety monitoring plans.
• If successful with enhancing accrual of an existing NIH-funded study, develop new study ideas (interventional or observational) for consideration by the Scientific and Medical Director, Scientific Committee, and Operations Center that reflect the clinical needs and priorities of the applicant’s community base. These ideas for new studies will require external funding sources to cover study costs not supported by the components of the coordinated infrastructure.
• Respond to information requests for study feasibility assessments (e.g., accessible study population, enrollment estimates, resources available) during research planning and protocol development.
• Identify health disparities and care disparities and needs of the local population of clinical sites for research planning and prioritization.
• Participate in data analysis, development of results, and dissemination efforts as appropriate.
• Ensure that aggregate research results and/or final study findings are shared with study participants through effective communications.
• Work collaboratively with and through individuals and communities on a continuum of practices from outreach to shared decision making to build trust, foster meaningful bi-directional relationships, and identify and address the health needs and priorities of those individuals and communities. 
• Increase and sustain the involvement of research participants, patients, patient advocates, and community organizations as partners in research, including research planning and prioritization.
• Operationalize and sustain engagement from the onset of research activities and through various culturally appropriate approaches to create awareness, provide education, develop and perform targeted recruitment and enrollment activities, and mobilize knowledge of the benefits of the research.
• Leverage existing resources and expand community partnerships (e.g., safety-net health systems, other health systems, grassroots organizations, public health departments, community and faith-based organizations, schools or childcare settings, Tribal organizations and agencies) to increase access to clinical studies.
• Manage unintended consequences and/or breaks in community relationships.
• Evaluate engagement efforts for continuous improvement and sustainability.
• Share approaches and strategies for effective community engagement and build a community of practice.
• In coordination with the Scientific Committee and Scientific and Medical Director, apply and execute innovations across the landscape of clinical research to minimize burden of research on participants and clinical staff. Innovations may include activities such as: leveraging electronic health records for recruitment, randomization, and data collection; leveraging digital health technologies to reduce research burden and facilitate incorporation of diverse precision measurements into participant monitoring and clinical outcomes assessments; aligning clinical care and research workflows; implementing point-of-care trial, pragmatic, and decentralized approaches in study designs.
• Optimize study designs to increase research equity and accessibility in real world health care settings while maintaining scientific rigor.
• Through alignment of research and clinical workflows, facilitate clinical sites movement towards a learning healthcare system, accelerating the adoption and implementation of evidence into clinical practice.
• Accept and implement policies and procedures established and/or approved by the Scientific and Medical Director, Scientific Committee, Operations Director, and/or additional governance structures established as the infrastructure is further developed.
• Contribute to the development of policies and procedures by participating in Working Groups or Sub-Committees of the Scientific Committee and other governing bodies established as the infrastructure is further developed.
• Actively participate and cooperate with quality assurance, study oversight, and study monitoring efforts.
• Interact and collaborate with other federal and non-federal primary care and clinical research networks and entities (e.g., the NIH Community Engagement Alliance (CEAL), Federally Qualified Healthcare Centers (FQHCs), the NIH Collaboratory, IDeA-CTRs, CTSAs, PCORnet), to leverage existing resources and partnerships, as appropriate.
• Work collaboratively with all other components of the coordinated infrastructure.
• Participate in cross-site and cross-component/cross-effort meetings to foster relationship building and enhance partnerships. 
• Identify, track, and consolidate challenges and successes and share best/promising practices to integrating research in primary care settings for scalability and sustainability.

Phased Approach to Launching Studies and Building the Infrastructure #phasedapproach

NIH is planning to launch this effort as a two-year pilot. The first year of the pilot will involve selecting and funding Network Research Hubs through this ROA to support participation in select existing NIH-funded studies that are agreed upon between the applicant and NIH (in coordination with NIH-funded investigators as needed) during negotiations of a potential award. These initial studies may be interventional or observational and are expected to be reasonably suitable for primary care settings. It is expected that the select existing NIH-funded studies will have infrastructure to support operational aspects (e.g., central IRB, data management) for new sites, but resources available and needed will be negotiated prior to award.

If the Network Research Hub is successful in enhancing participant accrual into an existing study, they may potentially expand in year two with new research in coordination with the other components of the infrastructure. In order to leverage the coordinated research infrastructure described above, these new research concepts will require approval by the Scientific and Medical Director, and Operations Director and funding from external sources for all study aspects not covered by the coordinated infrastructure described above (e.g., specific interventions, additional clinical research staff). Before ramping up to an implementation phase in year three, NIH will conduct an evaluation of the program to assess which approaches and efforts are working. NIH may expand, pivot, and/or sunset awards and/or components based on the results.

Definitions #definitions

This announcement follows the definitions for Clinical Trial-Related Terms below in addition to those in the NIH glossary for clinical trial-related terms: https://grants.nih.gov/policy/clinical-trials/glossary-ct.htm.

Additional key terms are defined below:

Central Institutional Review Board (Central IRB) : A centralized approach to human subject protection through a process that streamlines IRB review of selected NIH-sponsored trials for institutions across the country by relying on national experts to ensure trials are reviewed efficiently and with the highest ethical and quality standards.

Clinical Research Network : Collaborative groups of researchers and/or clinicians and that come together in partnership with healthcare systems to identify important clinical questions and design clinical studies to answer them, with coordinated support to manage regulatory, financial, scientific, and/or operational aspects of the research.

Clinical Site : A primary care practice, community health center, hospital, or other health services institution where participants are identified, screened, recruited, and/or enrolled in research conducted by the Network Research Hub.

Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC) : As defined by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), public and private non-profit health care organizations that meet certain criteria under the Medicare and Medicaid Programs. FQHCs include:

• Nonprofit entities that receive a grant, or funding from a grant, under section 330 of the Public Health Service Act to provide primary health services and other related services to a population that is medically underserved;
• FQHC “Look-Alikes” – nonprofit entities certified by the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as meeting the requirements for receiving a grant under section 330 of the Public Health Service Act but are not grantees; and
• Outpatient health programs or facilities operated by a Tribe or Tribal organization under the Indian Self-Determination Act or by an urban Indian organization receiving funds under Title V of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act.

Medically Underserved Area/Population (MUA/P) : As defined by HRSA, MUAs may be a whole county or a group of contiguous counties, a group of county or civil divisions or a group of urban census tracts in which residents have a shortage of personal health services; MUPs may include groups of persons who face economic, cultural or linguistic barriers to health care.

Milestones : Objective, measurable events that are indicative of project progress occurring as proposed in the application.

Network Research Hub : An institution/organization with an established organizational structure and scientific and statistical leadership for developing, implementing, and analyzing multi-institutional clinical studies/trials.

Other Transactions Authority (OTA) : A unique type of authority that allows an agency to enter into a legal agreement with a recipient organization that is not a contract, grant, or cooperative agreement (Learn more about OTAs on the NIH website) .

Partnership : An association of two or more individuals or entities with a commitment to an ongoing relationship to work toward common goals as established.

Primary Care: As defined by HRSA, the provision of integrated, accessible health services by clinicians who are accountable for addressing a large majority of personal health care needs, developing a sustained partnership with patients, and practicing in the context of family and community.

Primary Care Setting : As defined by HRSA, a setting with integrated, accessible health care services by clinicians who are accountable for addressing a large majority of personal health care needs, developing a sustained partnership with patients, and practicing in the context of family and community. These don’t meet the criteria:

• Emergency departments
• Inpatient hospital settings
• Ambulatory surgical centers
• Independent diagnostic testing facilities
• Skilled nursing facilities
• Inpatient rehabilitation facilities

Research Opportunity Announcement (ROA) : Used to solicit applications for programs using Other Transactions Authority.

Rural: For the purposes of this ROA, rural areas are defined according to the Office of Management and Budget and Federal Office of Rural Health Policy (FORHP) definitions, where primary Rural-Urban Commuting Area (RUCA) codes between 4 and 10 correspond to rural areas and primary RUCA codes 1-3 correspond to urban areas.

Rural Health Clinic: An entity certified by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. A rural health clinic provides outpatient services to a non-urban area with an insufficient number of health care practitioners.

Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) : As defined by the CDC, SDOH are the nonmedical factors that influence health outcomes. They are the conditions in which people are born, grow, work, live and age, and the wider set of forces and systems (e.g., economic policies and systems, development agendas, social norms, social policies, racism, climate change, and political systems) shaping the conditions of daily life.

Eligibility #eligibility

Eligible applicants are limited to organizations that are lead or funded partner organizations of one or more of the following clinical research networks: the NIH IDeA-CTRs, NIH CTSA, and/or PCORI PCORnet. For the purposes of this ROA, organizations with IDeA-CTR and CTSA awards or sub-awards in no-cost-extensions are eligible to apply. In addition, applicant organizations must be located in a state/jurisdiction where at least 25% of its census tracts are defined as rural using the Revised 2010 RUCA Codes.

Non-domestic (non-U.S.) Entities (Foreign Institutions) are not eligible to apply. Non-domestic (non-U.S.) components of U.S. Organizations are not eligible to apply. Foreign components, as defined in the NIH Grants Policy Statement, are not allowed.

Higher Education Institutions

• Public/State Controlled Institutions of Higher Education
• Private Institutions of Higher Education
• Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs)
• Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) 
• Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs)
• Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions
• Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISIs)

Nonprofits Other Than Institutions of Higher Education

• Nonprofits with 501(c)(3) IRS Status (Other than Institutions of Higher Education)
• Nonprofits without 501(c)(3) IRS Status (Other than Institutions of Higher Education)

For-Profit Organizations

• Small Businesses
• For-Profit Organizations (Other than Small Businesses)

Governments

• State Governments
• County Governments
• City or Township Governments
• Special District Governments
• American Indian/Native American Tribal Governments (Federally Recognized)
• American Indian/Native American Tribal Governments (Other than Federally Recognized)
• Independent School Districts
• Public Housing Authorities/American Indian Housing Authorities
• Native American Tribal Organizations (Other than Federally recognized tribal governments)
• Faith-based or Community-based Organizations
• Regional Organizations

Application Responsiveness #responsiveness

Applications will undergo a responsiveness screening conducted by NIH program staff. Applications that are deemed nonresponsive will be withdrawn and will no longer be in consideration for funding. Examples of projects that will be considered unresponsive to this announcement include the following:

• Applications that do not meet the “Eligibility” requirements specified above.
• Applications from organizations that are not actively participating as lead or a funded partner in one or more of the following clinical research networks: IDeA-CTRs, CTSA, and/or PCORnet in the United States,
• Applications proposing partnerships only with Clinical Sites that do not meet the definition of primary care settings.
• Applications proposing support for routine patient care unrelated to human subjects research.
• Applications proposing animal or in vitro research.

Application Requirements #applicationrequirements

All application components should be uploaded in eRA Commons in searchable PDF format with a font size of 11 or 12 point and font type of Calibri, Aptos, Arial, or Times New Roman. Margins must be 1-inch wide (top, bottom, left, and right). The components of the application should be loaded as separate attachments and should be titled as specified in each section below (title included in parentheses following each section). Guidance for OT application submission can be found on the NIH website.

Cover ( “Cover.pdf”, 2 page maximum )

• Number and title of this Research Opportunity Announcement
• Application Title 
• Principal Investigator(s) (PI) first and last name, title, organization, mailing address, email address and phone number. If multiple PIs are named, the Contact PI is clearly identified. 
• Name and address of the partnering Clinical Sites with a contact for each (full name, email address)
• Recipient Business Official/Signing Official first and last name, title, organization, mailing address, email address and phone number 
• First and last name of other key personnel, their title, institutional affiliation, and email address

Abstract ( “Abstract.pdf”, no more than 250 words )

A brief summary of the application.

Specific Aims ( “Specific Aims.pdf”, 1 page maximum )

Provide a cogent overview, at a high level, of the capabilities and proposed plans to carry out the objectives of a Network Research Hub as part of a coordinated infrastructure supporting clinical research in primary care settings. Include how the work of the Network Research Hub will increase the accessibility of clinical research and improve health equity.

Project Plan ( “Project Plan.pdf”, 16 pages maximum )

Applications must include a Project Plan that clearly and fully demonstrates the applicant’s capabilities, understanding, and experience to accomplish the objectives of the Network Research Hubs.

Technical Approach ( 6 pages maximum )

Section A: Overview and Organization

• Outline the overall organization of the Network Research Hub and partnering Clinical Sites, and briefly describe the collective strengths of the team. Include how the Network Research Hub is actively participating in and/ or affiliated with one of the following clinical research networks: NIH IDeA-CTRs, NIH CTSA, PCORI’s PCORnet. 
• Provide a diagram (and/or map) showing the geographical relationships between all entities included in the application. The rural participant catchment area is not limited to the applicant organization’s state. 
• List the underrepresented populations that could be served by the Network Research Hub. Define the community or communities the Network Research Hub will serve.
• Describe plans to collaborate with NIH-funded investigators, other Network Research Hubs, and the other components of the coordinated infrastructure. Share how the Network Research Hub plans to contribute to the development of policies and procedures and abide by them as they are established.

Subsection B. Developing and Implementing Studies and Use of Innovative Designs

• Identify areas of research that the Network Research Hub would like to pursue if successful with implementing expansion of an initial, existing NIH-funded study. Include a description of the criteria to be used and process by which studies will be identified that are priorities of and/or co-developed by their community.
• Explain how the Network Research Hub’s research interests and/or proposed research agenda will improve scientific knowledge, develop a more broadly applicable clinical evidence base, and improve clinical practice.
• Describe innovative/novel solutions to address challenges with integrating research into primary care settings and to minimize the burden of research on participants and clinical staff. Share the team’s expertise and experience with operationalizing these solutions. 
• Briefly describe processes the applicant will use to ensure compliance with regulations for research involving human subjects, and that study teams obtain and maintain sufficient proficiency level regarding the conduct of clinical research in coordination with the Operations Center.

Subsection C. Participant and Community Engagement

• Illustrate the team’s expertise in implementing related plans through recent examples and experiences.
• Clearly describe how the Network Research Hub will solicit and understand the challenges and health needs of their community.
• Highlight flexibilities in study designs, features, and engagement plans that can be adapted to meet the needs of a variety of participant groups and community partners, including those that are underrepresented in research.
• Describe how the Network Research Hub will contribute to the development of a community of practice in community engagement.

Primary Care Research Experience (6 pages maximum)

• Study title, type/design, research question(s) addressed, and target and actual total enrollment over time
• Partnerships with organizations providing care in primary care settings.
• Total enrollment by site
• Demographic breakdown of enrolled participants by race/ethnicity, sex, age, rural vs non-rural, and at least one other measure of social determinants of health (SDOH)
• How the data and/or results were shared and disseminated (including if shared with research participants)
• List additional previous relationships and/or partnerships with the proposed Clinical Sites to provide evidence supporting the likelihood of successful collaborations on future research.

Environment and Resources (3 pages maximum) 

List and describe the salient features of the facilities and other resources available for use by the proposed Network Research Hub. 

• Describe the resources available to facilitate carrying out the objectives of a Network Research Hub.
• Characterize the proposed Clinical Sites: describe the collective catchment area of the potential research participants through geographic boundaries, quantify the proportion of the catchment area as being rural vs urban in alignment with primary RUCA codes between 1-3 as defining urban areas and 4-10 as defining rural areas, and share any unique features to facilitate accrual of populations underrepresented in research.

Leadership Plan (1 pages maximum)

A brief leadership plan should be presented which identifies and describes the governance of the Research and Clinical Sites, chain of responsibility for decision making, and process for conflict resolution. The plan should describe how the leadership will contribute to the success of and collaboration within the infrastructure and the implementation of clinical studies with a focus on underrepresented populations. A succession plan with identification of a substitute/back-up lead investigator candidate should be included, if possible, to assure programmatic continuity.

Budget ( “Budget.pdf”, no page limitations )

The Budget must demonstrate estimated baseline costs of adding a select and limited number of primary care Clinical Sites to existing studies conducting clinical research in primary care settings, where the operational aspects of the study are supported by other NIH awards. Budgets are expected to be negotiated as the initial study is selected in coordination with NIH before an award is issued. Cost sharing is allowable.

Applicants shall assume a budget period of 12 months initially, and an additional 12-month option period during the 2-year pilot of this infrastructure for research in primary care settings. Funding for core support will be reimbursable, but costs per participant is expected to be funded based on study accrual milestones. Towards the end of the initial budget period, NIH will conduct an evaluation of the program to assess which approaches and efforts are working; NIH may continue, expand, pivot, and/or sunset awards and/or award components based on the results, infrastructure needs and/or congressional appropriations.

Study budgets should include funds for the community partners to be fully engaged and successfully participate in research prioritization, design and implementation.

Provide the overall expected cost for expanding research enrollment in primary care settings including but not limited to each of the following categories: 

• Personnel 
• Equipment 
• Travel 
• Subawards/subcontracts/consultants 
• Other direct costs 
• Total cost (with indirect costs included) 
• Proposed Cost Share contribution (if applicable)

Applicants must provide a budget justification for all budget items. Subrecipients/subaward budgets must include a breakdown of costs and a budget justification. Applicants should provide one budget and budget justification per institution or organization in the application.

Additional information to include in the submission

List of Key Personnel (“Key Personnel.pdf”, 1 page maximum)

Provide a list of key personnel that will significantly contribute to the objectives of the Network Research Hub. Provide their first name, last name, title, institutional affiliation, and email address.

Biosketches of Key Personnel (“Biosketch.pdf”, 3 page maximum per individual)

Provide a biosketch of each named key individual appearing in the Key Personnel List. The information in the biosketch should include the name and position title, education/training (including institution, degree, date (or expected date) of degree, and field; list of positions and employment in chronological order (including dates); list of relevant publications, proposed level of effort and a personal statement that briefly describes the individual’s role in the project and why they are well-suited for this role. Providing successful examples from past work on similar infrastructure building projects as appropriate to illustrate the relevant experience is desired. The format used for an NIH grant application is acceptable: https://grants.nih.gov/grants/forms/biosketch.htm .  

Letters of Interest/Support (1 page maximum per institution or organization)

A letter from the applicant's current affiliated clinical research network(s) (e.g., the director of the network coordinating center, administrative core, other authorized representative) should provide assurance that the proposed Network Research Hub is active and in good standing with the affiliated clinical research network. In addition, letters of interest and support should be provided from an authorized official from each of the proposed Clinical Sites and should include references to or direct evidence of prior research partnership or relationship with the Network Research Hub.

Appendix of Data Characterizing the Research and Clinical Sites’ Catchment Area (no page limit)

Data used to characterize the catchment area as rural or non-rural may be included to verify the catchment area descriptions in the Project Plan.

Objective Review #objectivereview

The intent of the objective review is to evaluate the strengths and the weaknesses of the proposed Network Research Hub and how well they would meet the objectives of a Network Research Hub. Applications will not be evaluated against each other during the review process but rather on their own individual merit.

Objective review will involve the submission of written critiques by subject matter experts documenting the strengths and weaknesses of responsive applications against the Review Criteria described below and interactive individual discussions between those experts and NIH program staff. The subject matter experts will include NIH staff and/or other federal staff.

Applications may be triaged for review based on the proposed catchment area of potential research participants, with applications with catchment areas characterized by >50% of the population being from rural areas, as defined by primary RUCA codes between 4-10 , receiving priority for review.

NIH will NOT provide feedback on applications, except as a part of follow-up on an as-needed basis as time permits. NIH will not accept an appeal of the objective review or funding decision outcomes.

Review Criteria:

Potential Contribution to the Coordinated Infrastructure for Supporting Research in Primary Care Settings

The approach of proposed Research Site has a high likelihood of meeting the objectives of a Network Research Hub. The applicant has described adequate plans for collaboration with other components of the coordinated infrastructure. The proposed activities involve engagement following a comprehensive framework, facilitating early and sustained engagement with a diverse group of individuals and communities, especially those that are underrepresented in research. Plans to engage the community they serve will successfully support a community-driven research agenda. Leadership plans, support from existing clinical research networks, and support from Clinical Site partners demonstrate a high commitment to the success of the proposed Network Research Hub.

Capabilities and Experience

The applicant has a demonstrated track record of successfully implementing research in primary care settings in the recent past. Prior experience showcases the ability to access and partner with underrepresented individuals in clinical research. Evidence of prior partnerships or relationships with proposed Clinical Sites has been provided. Key personnel have sufficient and relevant expertise to support the activities of the Network Research Hub.

Resources and Environment

The Network Research Hub is currently participating in and affiliated with one or more clinical research networks (NIH IDeA-CTRs, NIH CTSA, and/or PCORI PCORnet), that will increase site readiness to rapidly launch as a new site for existing NIH-funded studies. The catchment area of the Network Research Hub and its Clinical Sites will provide a high likelihood of facilitating engagement and study accrual of populations underrepresented in research (with a priority on individuals in rural communities).

Award Negotiation and Selection Information

Based on the identified strengths and weaknesses, NIH will determine whether an application will be selected for negotiation and/or award. NIH may select up to six viable applications to move forward in negotiations for a potential award, based on the objective review. Negotiations will involve identification of the initial study already funded by NIH to which the Network Research Hub will serve as an additional enrollment site. Coordination with the NIH-funded investigators and/or NIH program staff overseeing those studies will be required in order to understand the needs and existing support for the studies and to develop a final budget and milestone plan for the Network Research Hub. Final award selection will involve assessment of applications with successful negotiations and review and approval by NIH leadership and development of objective milestones as agreed upon by NIH and the applicant.

The level of funding for any award(s) made will depend on the negotiated studies and milestones and availability of funds.

Special Award Terms #Special Award Terms  

The complete terms and conditions of each OT award issued under this ROA are subject to negotiation and will be contained in the Agreement entered between NIH and award recipient. This Special Award Terms section is provided for informational purposes only in order to provide prospective applicants with an understanding of key expectations and terms that may differ from traditional NIH award mechanisms. All terms and conditions of award will flow down to any partners (e.g., subrecipients, collaborators) participating in the OT award.  

Lower Tier Agreements  

Award recipients will be expected to issue sub-awards to entities identified in their applications and approved by NIH under this ROA. Any changes to sub-awards must be in consultation with NIH prior to adding or removing partners.

Milestone-Based Workplan 

A milestone-based workplan will be requested and negotiated prior to award for inclusion in the OT Agreement. The workplan should include a description of operational milestones, completion criteria, and expected start and completion dates.

Enhancing Diversity, Equity, Inclusivity, and Accessibility in the Research Community

Award recipients will be encouraged to diversify their staff populations to facilitate engagement with diverse research partners and to enhance the participation of individuals from groups that are underrepresented in the biomedical, clinical, behavioral and social sciences, such as those defined in Notice of NIH’s Interest in Diversity ( https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-20-031.html ).

Program Governance   The Network Research Hubs will be part of a program consisting of a coordinated infrastructure involving the following governance and components:   

• establishing the vision, mission, strategic objectives, and goals of the coordinated infrastructure to be carried out by a Scientific and Medical Director (SMD) and Operations Director.
• ensuring the supported work appropriately and equitably supports and prioritizes the needs of all NIH ICs. 
• monitoring and evaluating the progress of the infrastructure, its efficiency and effectiveness, and that its outputs align with the vision and mission.
• providing oversight of the studies/protocols and site and study selection, 
• managing/coordinating the Central Institutional Review Board (IRB), 
• providing statistical and data management support, 
• collaborating with sites to develop innovations on clinical study design and implementation to minimize burden on participants and providers in primary care settings, 
• facilitating sustained engagement with key partners through a community advisory board, and
• other functions as the governance and structure of the Clinical Science Center is further developed.
• conducting site feasibility assessments
• facilitating Clinical Site agreements/contracting,
• coordination of study operations (protocol development; compliance with Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Office of Human Research Protections (OHRP) regulatory and participant protection requirements,
• quality assurance, and 
• data monitoring.

OT Agreement Governance 

Other Transactions (OT) are a special type of legal instrument other than contracts, grants or cooperative agreements. Generally, these awarding instruments are not subject to the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR ), nor to grant regulations unless otherwise noted for certain provisions in the terms and conditions of award. They are, however, subject to the OT authorities that govern the initiative and/or programs as well as applicable legislative mandates. NIH and its components, including the Office of Strategic Coordination (OSC), have been authorized by Congress to use them. They provide considerable flexibility to the government to establish policies for the awards, so the policies and terms for individual OT awards may vary between awards. Each award is therefore issued with a specific Agreement, which is negotiated with the recipient and details terms and conditions for that specific award. Program and administrative policies and the terms and conditions of individual awards are intended to supplement, rather than substitute for, governing statutory and regulatory requirements. Awards or a specified subset of awards also may be subject to additional requirements, such as those included in executive orders and appropriations acts (including the other transaction legislation cited in the Agreement), as well as all terms and conditions cited in the Agreement and its attachments, conditions on activities and expenditure of funds in other statutory or regulatory requirements, including any revisions in effect as of the beginning date of the next funding segment. The terms and conditions of the resulting OT awards are intended to be compliant with governing statutes.

For the awards funded under this ROA, NIH will engage in negotiations and all agreed upon terms and conditions will be incorporated into the Agreement. Either a bilateral agreement or a Notice of Award (NoA) will be used as the official Agreement. The signature of the Signing Official in the application certifies that the organization complies, or intends to comply, with all applicable terms and conditions, policies, certifications, and assurances referenced (and, in some cases, included) in the application instructions.

Award Administration Roles and Responsibilities

Other Transactions Agreements Officer (OTAO) 

• is responsible for legally committing funds on behalf of the Federal government and that OT actions taken are in the best interest of the government
• administers, manages, and closes out awards
• oversees the management of award records
• receives and acts on requests for NIH approval; the only NIH official authorized to change the funding, duration, or other terms and conditions of award

Other Transactions Agreements Specialist (OTAS) 

• serves as the first line contact for OT correspondence with applicants/recipients for administrative and financial aspects of the award

Other Transactions Program Official (OTPO) 

• provides the day-to-day programmatic oversight of individual awards 
• seeks guidance and advice as appropriate from subject matter experts for various disease areas and/or clinical trial oversight (e.g., medical monitoring)
• documents programmatic decisions related to an OT
• upholds government regulations on the appropriate use of federal funds
• conducts timely review of reports, inspection of deliverables, and other mechanisms to monitor and evaluate performance of the OT recipients
• serves on the OT Team, which includes developing ROAs and contributing to the development of OT award terms and conditions
• maintains certifications to serve as OTPO
• coordinates with other NIH Program Officers when partnering on other NIH-funded projects

Subject Matter Experts

• assist the OTPO in scientific and technical discussions with awardees
• review reports and discuss progress towards milestones and deliverables
• provide recommendations to the OTPO based on progress reviews
• attend face-to-face awardee meetings, as necessary
• attend site visits, as necessary

The terms and conditions of each award will address this criterion as appropriate based upon the final negotiated terms and agreed upon budget.

Human Subjects Research

All applications for work that will involve engagement in Human Subjects Research (as defined in 45 CFR § 46)( https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-45/subtitle-A/subchapter-A/part-46 ) must provide documentation of one or more current Assurance of Compliance with federal regulations for human subject protection, including at least a Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office of Human Research Protection (OHRP), Federal Wide Assurance ( https://www.hhs.gov/ohrp/index.html ). All research involving Human Subjects must be reviewed and approved by an Institutional Review Board (IRB), as applicable under 45 CFR § 46 ( https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-45/subtitleA/subchapter-A/part-46 ) and/or 21 CFR § 56 ( https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-21/chapter-I/subchapter-A/part-56 ).

The entity’s Human Subjects Research protocol must include a detailed description of the research plan, study population, risks and benefits of study participation, recruitment and consent process, data collection, and data analysis. Award recipients must comply with all applicable laws, regulations, and policies for NIH-funded work. This includes, but is not limited to, laws, regulations, and policies regarding the conduct of Human Subjects research, such as the U.S. federal regulations protecting human subjects in research (e.g., 45 CFR § 46, 21 CFR § 50, § 56, § 312, § 812) and any other equivalent requirements of the applicable jurisdiction.

The informed consent document utilized in human subject research funded by NIH must comply with all applicable laws, regulations, and policies, including but not limited to U.S. federal regulations protecting human subjects in research (45 CFR§ 46 ( https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-45/subtitle-A/subchapter-A/part-46 ) and, as applicable, 21 CFR § 50 ( https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-21/chapter-I/subchapter-A/part-50 ). The protocol package submitted to the IRB must contain evidence of completion of appropriate Human Subject Research training by all investigators and key personnel who will be involved in the design or conduct of NIH funded human subject research. Funding cannot be used toward human subject research until all approvals are granted.

Intellectual Property

Specific terms with respect to intellectual property will be negotiated at the time of award; however, any negotiation will consider other laws (as relevant) that affect the government’s issue and handling of intellectual property, such as the Bayh-Dole Act (35.U.S.C. 200-212); the Trade Secrets Act (18U.S.C. 1905) the Freedom of Information Act (5 U.S.C. 552); 10 U.S.C. 130; 28 U.S.C. 1498; 35 U.S.C. 205 and 207-209; and the Lanham Act, partially codified at 15 U.S.C.1114 and 1122.

Payment  

The OT award will use the Payment Management System (PMS) operated by the DHHS Program Support Center. Payments by PMS are made on a reimbursement basis unless otherwise specified in the terms of the Agreement.

Management Systems and Procedures 

Recipient organizations are expected to have systems, policies, and procedures in place by which they manage funds and activities. Recipients may use their existing systems to manage OT award funds and activities as long as they are consistently applied regardless of the source of funds and across their business functions. To ensure that an organization is committed to compliance, recipient organizations are expected to have in use clearly delineated roles and responsibilities for their organization’s staff, both programmatic and administrative; written policies and procedures; training; management controls and other internal controls; performance assessment; administrative simplifications; and information sharing.

Financial Management System Standards 

Recipients must have in place accounting and internal control systems that provide for appropriate monitoring of other transaction accounts to ensure that obligations and expenditures are congruent with programmatic needs and are reasonable, allocable, and allowable. A list of unallowable costs will be included in the terms and conditions of the award. In addition, the systems must be able to identify unobligated balances, accelerated expenditures, inappropriate cost transfers, and other inappropriate obligation and expenditure of funds, and recipients must notify NIH when problems are identified. A recipient’s failure to establish adequate control systems constitutes a material violation of the terms of the award.

Property Management System Standards 

Recipients may use their own property management policies and procedures for property purchased, constructed, or fabricated as a direct cost using NIH OT award funds. The terms and conditions of award will address this criterion as appropriate based upon the final negotiated and agreed upon budget. Procurement System Standards and Requirements Recipients may acquire a variety of goods or services in connection with an OT award-supported project, ranging from those that are routinely purchased goods or services to those that involve substantive programmatic work. Recipients must acquire goods and services under OT awards in compliance with the organizations established policies and procedures. The terms and conditions of each award will address this criterion as appropriate based on the final negotiated and agreed upon budget.

Organizational Conflicts of Interest (OCIs)  

Applicants are required to identify and disclose all facts relevant to potential OCIs involving subrecipients, consultants, etc. Under this section, the proposer is responsible for providing this disclosure with each Detailed Plan. The disclosure must include the PI/Collaborators’, and as applicable, proposed members’ OCI mitigation plan. The OCI mitigation plan must include a description of the actions the proposer has taken, or intends to take, to prevent the existence of conflicting roles that might bias the proposer’s judgment and to prevent the proposer from having an unfair competitive advantage. The government will evaluate OCI mitigation plans to avoid, neutralize, or mitigate potential OCI issues before award issuance and to determine whether it is in the government’s interest to grant a waiver.

The government will only evaluate OCI mitigation plans for proposals that are determined selectable. The government may require applicants to provide additional information to assist the government in evaluating the proposer’s OCI mitigation plan. If the government determines that a proposer failed to fully disclose an OCI or failed to reasonably provide additional information requested by the government to assist in evaluating the proposer’s OCI mitigation plan, the government may reject the Detailed Plan and withdraw it from consideration for award.

Monitoring 

Recipients are responsible for managing the day-to-day operations of OT award-supported activities using their established controls and policies. However, to fulfill their role in regard to the stewardship of federal funds, the program team will monitor their OT awards to identify potential problems and areas where technical assistance might be necessary. This active monitoring is accomplished through review of reports and correspondence, audit reports, site visits and other information, which may be requested of the recipient. The names and contact information of the individuals responsible for monitoring the programmatic and business management aspects of awards will be provided to the recipient at the time of award.

Monitoring of a project or activity will continue for as long as NIH retains a financial interest in the project or activity as a result of property accountability, audit, and other requirements that may continue for a period of time after the OT award is administratively closed out and NIH is no longer providing active OT award support.

Audit 

NIH OT recipients for the Program are subject to the audit requirements of OMB 2 CFR 200, Subpart F- Audit Requirements, as implemented by DHHS 45 CFR Subpart F. In general, 45 CFR 75, Subpart F-Audit Requirements requires a state government, local government, or non-profit organization (including institutions of higher education).  

For-profit organizations have two options regarding the type of audit that will satisfy the audit requirements. The recipient either may have (1) a financial-related audit (as defined in, and in accordance with, the Government Auditing Standards (commonly known as the “Yellow Book”), GPO stock 020-000-00-265-4, of a particular award in accordance with Government Auditing Standards, in those cases where the recipient receives awards under only one DHHS program, or (2) an audit that meets the requirements of 45 CFR 75, Subpart F-Audit Requirements.

This page last reviewed on May 6, 2024

Research Technician, Center for Regenerative Medicine

Research tech.

• 1 Boston Medical Center Place, Boston, Massachusetts

Position: Research Technician, Center for Regenerative Medicine (CReM)        

Location: Boston, MA

Schedule: 40 hours per week

POSITION SUMMARY :

The candidate will work closely with the Mostoslavsky lab members to support the different research projects. Primary responsibilities will include iPSCs culture for maintenance and expansion, basic characterization using PCR, cDNA preparation, Real-time PCR and immunostaining. The Research Technician will also assist with the creation of various genetically modified iPSC lines using genome-editing technologies (CRISPR/Cas9) for the study of developmental biology and disease modeling.

JOB RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Performs experiments, techniques and molecular biological procedures (such as Western blotting, ELISA, tissue cultures, protein analysis, cloning, sequencing, isolating, etc.) according to established protocols.
• Assists with husbandry, collects samples; maintains data records. Performs animal dissections and muscle physiology experiments.
• Utilizes advanced techniques, analyzes data, and assists in designing experiments.  Researches/develops alternate testing methods and techniques as required to further the research study.
• Performs audits and quality checks of data and samples. Presents weekly written report and answers questions regarding the performance of the experiments and the integrity of the data.
• Performs research literature searches as needed and assists with writing manuscripts. Assists with IRB filings and other grant-related documentation.
• Responsible for laboratory’s chemical inventory and biohazard safety compliance.  Ensure proper handling, storing and freezing of specimens and supplies, disposes of waste according to policy and ensures proper use of equipment and facilities.
• Maintains appropriate laboratory inventory and requisitions related supplies as needed.
• Provides technical supervision and guidance to students and visiting researchers.  Trains new laboratory employees in safety, routine experiments, and daily laboratory operations. Ensures that all laboratory users are properly trained in standard operating procedures and equipment specific requirements. Coordinates/shares effective experimental protocols with other lab users.

JOB REQUIREMENTS

• Bachelor's degree is required.
• College level courses in biology, chemistry, molecular biology, cell biology and/or laboratory sciences are also required.

EXPERIENCE:

• At least one year of cell culture experience with excellent sterile technique is essential.
• One year experience in a laboratory setting preferred.
• Background in molecular biology and familiarity with routine laboratory tasks are highly desirable.

KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS:

• Knowledge of safe handling procedures of hazardous materials.
• Good computer skills, including data entry and use of spreadsheet and/or database.
• Strong organizational skills and ability to prioritize tasks as dictated by the research schedule.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills to exchange information with Principal Investigator and other members of the laboratory.
• Knowledge of basic laboratory techniques, (e.g. pipetting, use of microbalance), serial dilutions. Previous experience with animal studies and safe handling is beneficial.
• General understanding of translational and clinical research and the federal requirements for ethical patient treatment.

This position is grant funded through 9/3/2025. There may be opportunity beyond this grant funding for position integration into ongoing operations.

JOB BENEFITS:

• Competitive pay
• Tuition reimbursement and tuition remission programs
• Highly subsidized medical, dental, and vision insurance options
• Career Advancement/Professional Development: Access a wealth of ongoing training and development opportunities that will not only enhance your skills but also expand your knowledge base especially for individuals pursuing careers in medicine or biomedical research.
• Pioneering Research: Engage in groundbreaking research projects that are driving the forefront of biomedical science.

ABOUT THE DEPARTMENT:

As the primary teaching hospital for Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine and BU schools of public health and dentistry, intellectual rigor shapes our inquiries. Our research is led by a belief that skin color, zip code, and financial circumstances shouldn’t dictate health.

Boston Medical Center is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. If you need accommodation for any part of the application process because of a medical condition or disability, please send an e-mail to  [email protected]  or call 617-638-8582 to let us know the nature of your request.

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EEO & Accommodation Statement Boston Medical Center is an equal employment/affirmative action employer. We ensure equal employment opportunities for all, without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression or any other non-job-related characteristic. If you need accommodation for any part of the application process because of a medical condition or disability, please send an e-mail to [email protected] or call 617-638-8582 to let us know the nature of your request

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Primary Research

Local History, Closer to Home

Women’s History Month

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New: Articles from The Bostonian in the late nineteenth century describing the state of women’s clubs in Boston and around the country.

African Americans in Antebellum Boston

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The Civic Engagement of the Antebellum African-Americans of Boston’s Beacon Hill and West End, 1848-1855

The time of the Fugitive Slave Law in Boston saw a tremendous outpouring of bravery by ordinary citizens. This student-developed project focused on the predominantly African-American neighborhood of Boston’s Beacon Hill and West End to connect a variety of biographical sources and in many ways bring these individuals to life.

The “What Ever Happened to…” Project

We’re excited to announce this venture aimed at integrating the efforts of high schools, historical societies and anyone interested in local history. A collaboration of these institutions and interested people in Essex and Middlesex Counties will help curate documentary evidence and pictures pertaining to a range of topics.  We started with Essex County, and have now expanded the scope of the project to include Middlesex County.  Phase one of our search begins with two areas that we have already made a great deal of progress on: Slave Gravestones , and Child Apprentices in the Colonial Era .  (Later we will be looking at One Room School Houses, “Ten-Footer” Shoe Shops, and Poorhouses & Workhouses). Are you interested in being a part of this digital document collaboration?  Click on the projects below, and join us.

Children Bound Out

Slave Gravestones

Ten Footer Shoe Shops

One-room schoolhouses, poorhouses and workhouses, boston overseers of the poor.

Called "the documentary record of the most comprehensive public approach to the relief of poverty in colonial and revolutionary America", The Eighteenth Century Records of the Boston Overseers of the Poor, edited by Eric G. Nellis and Anne Decker … [Continue reading]

Student Research

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Grantee Research Project Results

OVERVIEW INFORMATION

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Office of Science Advisor, Policy and Engagement Office of Research and Development Science to Achieve Results (STAR) Program

COASTAL ECOSYSTEMS CLIMATE RESILIENCE

This funding opportunity is closed and is for reference purposes only. 

This is the initial announcement of this funding opportunity .

Funding Opportunity Number:  EPA-G2024-STAR-C1

Assistance Listing Number : 66.509

Solicitation Opening Date:  March 13, 2024 Solicitation Closing Date:  May 1, 2024 :   11:59:59 pm Eastern Time

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), as part of its Science to Achieve Results (STAR) program, aims to promote scientific progress towards the understanding of coastal ecosystem resilience by seeking applications proposing research to 1) characterize, quantify, and define indicators or metrics of resilience for various types of coastal ecosystems, especially those ecosystems that have climate mitigation and adaptation and/or blue (ocean-stored) carbon sequestration potential (Lovelock and Duarte, 2019); and 2) develop methods and approaches to advance economic valuation of resilience benefits provided by coastal ecosystems.

Two major goals in EPA’s FY2022-2026 Strategic Plan are (1) increasing resilience and adaptation to climate change impacts and (2) protecting and restoring waterbodies and watersheds (EPA, 2022a). Coastal waterbodies and the aquatic ecosystems they contain are at the forefront of climate change impacts (EPA, 2021a). However, the cumulative impacts of other stressors such as rising, warmer, and more acidic seas, stronger and more frequent storms, droughts, and potential co-occurring changes to pollutant fluxes on coastal ecosystem resilience are poorly understood.

This funding opportunity solicits research needed to advance our understanding of the properties and processes important to climate resilience in estuarine and coastal marine ecosystems to better inform coastal ecosystem management strategies. Resilient coastal ecosystems and the benefits they provide may persist over time in the face of multiple stressors or disturbances. However, the cumulative impacts of multiple stressors may exceed resilience capacity, alter ecosystem structure and function, or result in loss of coastal ecosystems. Elucidation of the mechanistic basis of resilience in coastal ecosystems and development of quantitative indicators or metrics rooted in the mechanisms of resilience will greatly advance the science of coastal ecosystem management. Effective coastal ecosystem management strategies also require advances in economic valuation approaches to estimate the benefits provided by coastal ecosystems, particularly those benefits related to increasing climate change resilience (e.g., avoided costs from flooding and property damage, avoided costs from disruptions to commercial activities such as tourism or fisheries, or benefits provided when considered together with other public infrastructure).

Coastal Ecosystems Climate Resilience Funding Opportunity (pdf)  (558.5 KB)

Coastal Ecosystems Climate Resilience Webinar Slides (pdf)  (397.4 KB)

Coastal Ecosystems Climate Resilience Webinar Questions and Answers (pdf)  (307.5 KB)

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The perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.

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Northern NY Farm Research Program Receives $300,000 in State Funding

State funding makes possible high-priority projects selected by the farmer-driven agricultural research program.

PUBLISHED ON May 9, 2024

CANTON, N.Y. — The Northern New York Agricultural Development Program (NNYADP) has received $300,000 in the 2024-2025 New York State Budget. State funding makes possible high-priority projects selected by the farmer-driven agricultural research program for New York’s northern-climate region that includes Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence counties. NNYADP project results are helping farms to continually adapt to such challenges as weather extremes and emerging crop and livestock pests and diseases, and to meet opportunities to grow such sectors as northern New York’s maple industry and local foods production.

Funding for the NNYADP is supported by the New York State Legislature through the New York State Assembly and administrated by the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets. New York State Assembly Members Billy Jones and Ken Blankenbush serve on the NYS Assembly Agriculture Committee chaired by Assemblymember Donna Lupardo.

NYS Assembly Agriculture Committee Chair Donna Lupardo  said, “The Northern New York Agricultural Development Program (NNYADP) is a statewide leader, providing quality research and technical assistance to farmers in the North Country. They are exceptional stewards of the resources they receive, providing practical solutions to challenges farmers are facing across the state. I’d like to acknowledge and thank all my Assembly Agriculture Committee colleagues, and recognize Assembly Members Billy Jones and Ken Blankenbush for their strong advocacy on behalf of the NNYADP.”

NYS Assemblyman Billy Jones  said, “I am proud to have secured funding for the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program in this year’s budget to help North Country farmers conduct groundbreaking research . As we continue to experience warmer seasons and extreme weather, this research helps local farmers identify crops and innovative methods to help make the most of our short growing season. This is funding I have delivered to our region every year since I was elected, and I will always support our North Country farmers. I look forward to continuing to support this vital program and learning more about their important research.”

NYS Assemblyman Ken Blankenbush said, “In Jefferson, St. Lawrence, and Lewis counties we rely on agricultural cultivation as a primary source of economic activity. The inclusion in the State budget of $300,000 for the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program will create massive agricultural improvements across all of these counties. This investment will allow farms to be ready to combat issues when they emerge and to transform the North Country into the farming capital of New York state.” NNYADP Co-Chair Joseph Giroux  said, “The farmers of northern New York recognize our responsibility to meet the mission for which the New York State Legislature established the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program – to develop the region’s unique natural potential to be a farm-based economic powerhouse for the State. We are grateful for the leadership of Assemblyman Billy Jones and the support of his Assembly colleagues and fellow northern New York legislative representatives to continue this mission in 2024.”

Giroux serves as Co-Chair of the NNYADP program with Jon Greenwood of Canton and Jon Rulfs of Peru, NY. The results of the NNYADP’s 2023 projects are posted online at  https://www.nnyagdev.org .

–NNYADP

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PERU, N.Y. — Assemblyman Billy Jones (D-Chateaugay Lake) joined members of the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program (NNYADP) at Adirondack Farms in Peru, New York to discuss a 2022 project that assessed the economic feasibility of co-digestion of dairy manure and food waste to produce energy. Jones is a strong supporter of the farmer […]

PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. — The Northern New York Agricultural Development Program (NNYADP) has announced that the farmer-driven research program has received $300,000 in funding from the 2023-2024 New York State Budget through the support of the New York State Assembly.  The funding will support research on the unique micro-climates, soils, challenges, and opportunities for the diverse […]

MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation’s political action arm, the Volunteers for Agriculture® Committee, has announced its endorsements of candidates in State Assembly and Senate races as well as the Secretary of State race for the November 8 general election. “Serving on the VFA is a role our members take seriously,” said WFBF Governmental […]

PHILADELPHIA, N.Y. — Spring harvest may account for as much as half of the total forage crop yield fed to lactating dairy cows. The latest results of Northern New York Agricultural Development Program (NNYADP) research evaluating opportunities to increase the value of alfalfa-grass forage crops have been presented to farmers, crop consultants, dairy nutritionists, and […]

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