Primary Resources vs. Secondary Resources

As you are working on your project you will need to do some research. There are many different data sources you can use to get your information. All of these data sources fall into two categories: primary resources and secondary resources. 

You should always start with secondary resources first. Secondary resources include any information available to you through published materials created by someone doing research or an expert in the area for which you are looking for information. These resources have often already gathered the information you are looking for, analyzed it, and drawn conclusions for action. Using secondary resources can greatly reduce the effort necessary to obtain the information required to complete your deliverables. They are the most cost-effective way to do research, and the majority of the work has already been done for you. Your task will be reviewing all the relevant data and finding what will be most relevant to your project. Secondary resources allow you to review data, reports, articles, etc., that have already been created. Some secondary resources are:

• Ensign College Library Databases - Library Data Bases
• Other Library Services – https://library.ensign.edu/
• Learning programs and classes - www.Linkedin.com/learning  
• Search engine findings like Google Searches
• YouTube videos relevant to your topics

After you have gathered all the data you can from secondary resources, you should then use primary resources to fill in any gaps. Primary resources require you to go out and gather the data, primary resources generally consist of:

• Expert Interviews
• Focus Groups
• Surveys
• Experimentation to find results or prove a hypothesis