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Primary Research Articles

Sciences: primary research articles.

How Can I Find Primary Research Articles?

Many of the recommended databases in this research guide contain primary research articles (also known as empirical articles or research studies). Search in databases like ScienceDirect  and MEDLINE .

Primary Research Articles: How Will I Know One When I See One?

Primary Research Articles  To conduct and publish an experiment or research study, an author or team of authors designs an experiment, gathers data, then analyzes the data and discusses the results of the experiment. A published experiment or research study will therefore  look  very different from other types of articles (newspaper stories, magazine articles, essays, etc.) found in our library databases. The following guidelines will help you recognize a primary research article, written by the researchers themselves and published in a scholarly journal.

Structure of a Primary Research Article Typically, a primary research article has the following sections:

The structure of the article will often be clearly shown with headings: Introduction, Method, Results, Discussion.

A primary research article will almost always contains statistics, numerical data presented in tables. Also, primary research articles are written in very formal, very technical language.

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Primary Research | Definition, Types, & Examples

Published on January 14, 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.

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

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:

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.

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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:

Disadvantages of primary research

Disadvantages include:

The 3 main types of primary research are:

Exploratory research aims to explore the main aspects of an under-researched problem, while explanatory research aims to explain the causes and consequences of a well-defined problem.

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

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 randomization , 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 analyzing data from people using questionnaires.

When conducting research, collecting original data has significant advantages:

However, there are also some drawbacks: data collection can be time-consuming, labor-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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What is Primary Research and How do I get Started?

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Primary research involves collecting data about a given subject directly from the real world. This section includes information on what primary research is, how to get started, ethics involved with primary research and different types of research you can do. It includes details about interviews, surveys, observations, and analyses.

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:

Identifying Primary and Secondary Research Articles

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Primary Research Articles

Primary research articles report on a single study. In the health sciences, primary research articles generally describe the following aspects of the study:

Secondary Research Articles

Review articles are the most common type of secondary research article in the health sciences. A review article is a summary of previously published research on a topic. Authors who are writing a review article will search databases for previously completed research and summarize or synthesize those articles,  as opposed to recruiting participants and performing a new research study.

Specific types of review articles include:

Review articles often report on the following:

Determining Primary versus Secondary Using the Database Abstract

Information found in PubMed, CINAHL, Scopus, and other databases can help you determine whether the article you're looking at is primary or secondary.

Primary research article abstract

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Secondary research/review article abstract

primary research article search

Full Text Challenge

Can you determine if the following articles are primary or secondary?

Article 1: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5368578/

Article 2: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6647066/

Article 3:  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6863116/  

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NUR 3165 - Nursing Research

Finding Primary Research Articles - Overview

There are several ways to locate primary research articles as you will see in the following practice exercises (see next page). Here are some tips to consider while looking for original research studies:

Tip #1 - Incorporate subject headings into your search

Subject headings are terms that are part of a controlled vocabulary used to describe the contents tagged inside the article record. These terms can be found in each of the CINAHL Detailed Records under Major Subjects and Minor Subjects. So, if you see the ultimate article, look to see what terms it is tagged with and add them to the search in the appropriate line if relevant. For example,(MH "Emergency Service") is the medical subject heading used for Emergency Department!

To search for possible subject headings, try putting a keyword in a new search and check the Suggest Subject Terms  box. The asterisk covers any number of characters (i.e., nurs* yields nurse, nurses, and nurses at the same time). Quotation marks around two or more terms searches them as a phrase.

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Try it out! Place the term  Hospital Acquired Infection  in CINAHL, check the Suggest Subject Terms box and click search to see the subject heading for this term!

primary research article search

Tip #2 - Check the research article box

Databases like CINAHL allow you to select Research Article to retrieve research articles in your search.

Tip #3 - Sections of the Research Article to look for

When reading an article, make sure to look inside the abstract (and the full text) and scan for sections contained in many primary research studies such as  Introduction, Participants, Methods, Results and Discussion! Look at those sections to see if the researchers are working directly with the participants and conducting original research.

See the next section for additional tips!

Peer Review and Primary Literature: An Introduction: Is it Primary Research? How Do I Know?

Components of a Primary Research Study

As indicated on a previous page, Peer-Reviewed Journals also include non -primary content. Simply limiting your search results in a database to "peer-reviewed" will not retrieve a list of only primary research studies.

Learn to recognize the parts of a primary research study. Terminology will vary slightly from discipline to discipline and from journal to journal.  However, there are common components to most research studies.

When you run a search, find a promising article in your results list and then look at the record for that item (usually by clicking on the title). The full database record for an item usually includes an abstract or summary--sometimes prepared by the journal or database, but often written by the author(s) themselves. This will usually give a clear indication of whether the article is a primary study.  For example, here is a full database record from a search for family violence and support in SocINDEX with Full Text :

Although the abstract often tells the story, you will need to read the article to know for sure. Besides scanning the Abstract or Summary, look for the following components: (I am only capturing small article segments for illustration.)

Look for the words METHOD or METHODOLOGY . The authors should explain how they conducted their research.

NOTE: Different Journals and Disciplines will use different terms to mean similar things. If instead of " Method " or " Methodology " you see a heading that says " Research Design " or " Data Collection ," you have a similar indicator that the scholar-authors have done original research.

  

Look for the section called RESULTS . This details what the author(s) found out after conducting their research.

Charts , Tables , Graphs , Maps and other displays help to summarize and present the findings of the research.

A Discussion indicates the significance of findings, acknowledges limitations of the research study, and suggests further research.

References , a Bibliography or List of Works Cited indicates a literature review and shows other studies and works that were consulted. USE THIS PART OF THE STUDY! If you find one or two good recent studies, you can identify some important earlier studies simply by going through the bibliographies of those articles.

A FINAL NOTE:  If you are ever unclear about whether a particular article is appropriate to use in your paper, it is best to show that article to your professor and discuss it with them.  The professor is the final judge since they will be assigning your grade.

Subject Guide

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Finding Scholarly Articles: Home

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What's a Scholarly Article?

Your professor has specified that you are to use scholarly (or primary research or peer-reviewed or refereed or academic) articles only in your paper. What does that mean?

Scholarly or primary research articles are peer-reviewed , which means that they have gone through the process of being read by reviewers or referees  before being accepted for publication. When a scholar submits an article to a scholarly journal, the manuscript is sent to experts in that field to read and decide if the research is valid and the article should be published. Typically the reviewers indicate to the journal editors whether they think the article should be accepted, sent back for revisions, or rejected.

To decide whether an article is a primary research article, look for the following:

Caution: even though a journal may be peer-reviewed, not all the items in it will be. For instance, there might be editorials, book reviews, news reports, etc. Check for the parts of the article to be sure.   

You can limit your search results to primary research, peer-reviewed or refereed articles in many databases. To search for scholarly articles in  HOLLIS , type your keywords in the box at the top, and select  Everything  from the choices that appear next.   On the search results screen, look for the  Show Only section on the right and click on  Peer-reviewed articles . (Make sure to  login in with your HarvardKey to get full-text of the articles that Harvard has purchased.)

Many of the databases that Harvard offers have similar features to limit to peer-reviewed or scholarly articles.  For example in Academic Search Premier , click on the box for Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) Journals  on the search screen.

Review articles are another great way to find scholarly primary research articles.   Review articles are not considered "primary research", but they pull together primary research articles on a topic, summarize and analyze them.  In Google Scholar , click on Review Articles  at the left of the search results screen. Ask your professor whether review articles can be cited for an assignment.

A note about Google searching.  A regular Google search turns up a broad variety of results, which can include scholarly articles but Google results also contain commercial and popular sources which may be misleading, outdated, etc.  Use Google Scholar  through the Harvard Library instead.

About Wikipedia .  W ikipedia is not considered scholarly, and should not be cited, but it frequently includes references to scholarly articles. Before using those references for an assignment, double check by finding them in Hollis or a more specific subject  database .

Still not sure about a source? Consult the course syllabus for guidance, contact your professor or teaching fellow, or use the Ask A Librarian service.

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Q. How do I know if an article is a primary or secondary research article?

Answered By: Jay Trask Last Updated: Oct 21, 2020     Views: 218888

A primary research article reports on an empirical research study conducted by the authors. It is almost always published in a peer-reviewed journal. This type of article:

Words to look for as clues include: analysis, study, investigation, examination, experiment, numbers of people or objects analyzed, content analysis, or surveys.

To contrast, the following are not primary research articles (i.e., they are secondary sources):

Please note: if you are seeking information about primary and secondary sources for historical research, please find information here: https://libguides.unco.edu/history-primary-resources

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Related topics.

What is an original research article?

An original research article is a report of research activity that is written by the researchers who conducted the research or experiment. Original research articles may also be referred to as: “primary research articles” or “primary scientific literature.” In science courses, instructors may also refer to these as “peer-reviewed articles” or “refereed articles.”

Original research articles in the sciences have a specific purpose, follow a scientific article format, are peer reviewed, and published in academic journals.

Identifying Original Research: What to Look For

An "original research article" is an article that is reporting original research about new data or theories that have not been previously published. That might be the results of new experiments, or newly derived models or simulations. The article will include a detailed description of the methods used to produce them, so that other researchers can verify them. This description is often found in a section called "methods" or "materials and methods" or similar. Similarly, the results will generally be described in great detail, often in a section called "results."

Since the original research article is reporting the results of new research, the authors should be the scientists who conducted that research. They will have expertise in the field, and will usually be employed by a university or research lab.

In comparison, a newspaper or magazine article (such as in  The New York Times  or  National Geographic ) will usually be written by a journalist reporting on the actions of someone else.

An original research article will be written by and for scientists who study related topics. As such, the article should use precise, technical language to ensure that other researchers have an exact understanding of what was done, how to do it, and why it matters. There will be plentiful citations to previous work, helping place the research article in a broader context. The article will be published in an academic journal, follow a scientific format, and undergo peer-review.

Original research articles in the sciences follow the scientific format. ( This tutorial from North Carolina State University illustrates some of the key features of this format.)

Look for signs of this format in the subject headings or subsections of the article. You should see the following:

Scientific research that is published in academic journals undergoes a process called "peer review."

The peer review process goes like this:

For more details about this process see the Peer Reviewed Publications guide.

This journal article  is an example. It was published in the journal  Royal Society Open Science  in 2015. Clicking on the button that says "Review History" will show the comments by the editors, reviewers and the author as it went through the peer review process. The "About Us" menu provides details about this journal; "About the journal" under that tab includes the statement that the journal is peer reviewed.

Review articles

There are a variety of article types published in academic, peer-reviewed journals, but the two most common are original research articles and review articles . They can look very similar, but have different purposes and structures.

Like original research articles, review articles are aimed at scientists and undergo peer-review. Review articles often even have “abstract,” “introduction,” and “reference” sections. However, they will not (generally) have a “methods” or “results” section because they are not reporting new data or theories. Instead, they review the current state of knowledge on a topic.

Press releases, newspaper or magazine articles

These won't be in a formal scientific format or be peer reviewed. The author will usually be a journalist, and the audience will be the general public. Since most readers are not interested in the precise details of the research, the language will usually be nontechnical and broad. Citations will be rare or nonexistent.

Tips for Finding Original research Articles

Search for articles in one of the library databases recommend for your subject area . If you are using Google, try searching in Google Scholar instead and you will get results that are more likely to be original research articles than what will come up in a regular Google search!

For tips on using library databases to find articles, see our Library DIY guides .

Tips for Finding the Source of a News Report about Science

If you've seen or heard a report about a new scientific finding or claim, these tips can help you find the original source:

Search The Site

Find Your Librarian  

Phone:  Circulation:  (701) 231-8888 Reference:  (701) 231-8886 Administration:  (701) 231-8753

Email:  Administration InterLibrary Loan (ILL)

Penfield Library Home Page

Biological Sciences Research Guide

Primary research vs review article.

Quick Links

Characteristics of a Primary Research Article

Example of a Primary Research Article:

Flockhart, D.T.T., Fitz-gerald, B., Brower, L.P., Derbyshire, R., Altizer, S., Hobson, K.A., … Norris, D.R., (2017). Migration distance as a selective episode for wing morphology in a migratory insect. Movement Ecology , 5(1), 1-9. doi: doi.org/10.1186/s40462-017-0098-9

Characteristics a of Review Article

Example of a Review Article:

https://www-sciencedirect-com.ezproxy.oswego.edu/science/article/pii/S0960982218302537

Educator Resources

National Archives Logo

Finding Primary Sources for Teachers and Students

Finding primary sources.

Primary Sources from DocsTeach Thousands of online primary source documents from the National Archives to bring the past to life as classroom teaching tools.

National Archives Catalog Find online primary source materials for classroom & student projects from the National Archive's online catalog (OPA).

Beginning Research Activities Student activities designed to help you navigate the National Archives resources and web site.

Online Exhibits Exhibits featuring online documents, photos and primary sources from the National Archives

Our Documents 100 Milestone Documents of American History

Getting Started with Research How to start researching records at the National Archives. Finding your topic, identifying records, planning a visit, and more.

Online Research Tools & Aids Introduction to catalogs, databases, and other online resources.

Citing Primary Sources Citing Records in the National Archives of the United States

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Research articles

Orbital period change of dimorphos due to the dart kinetic impact.

Light Curves and Colors of the Ejecta from Dimorphos after the DART Impact

Successful Kinetic Impact into an Asteroid for Planetary Defense

primary research article search

Chemistry governs water organization at a graphene electrode

Ejecta from the DART-produced active asteroid Dimorphos

Momentum Transfer from the DART Mission Kinetic Impact on Asteroid Dimorphos

primary research article search

Catalytic asymmetric synthesis of cannabinoids and menthol from neral

An unsymmetric, strong and confined chiral acid, a highly fluorinated imino-imidodiphosphate, catalyses the selective conversion of neral to (1 R ,6 S )- trans -isopiperitenol, enabling sustainable routes to menthol and cannabinoids.

primary research article search

Valley formation aridifies East Africa and elevates Congo Basin rainfall

Numerical model experiments show that deep valleys cutting across the East African Rift System dry out East Africa by channelling water vapour towards Central Africa, leading to elevated rainfall in the Congo Basin rainforest.

primary research article search

Bacteria hijack a meningeal neuroimmune axis to facilitate brain invasion

Two Streptococcus spp. can utilize a neuropeptide (CGRP) and its receptor (RAMP1) on macrophages to promote brain invasion, a finding that may help the development of therapies for bacterial meningitis.

primary research article search

Blebs promote cell survival by assembling oncogenic signalling hubs

A study demonstrates that sustained membrane blebs in cancer cells recruit curvature-sensing septins that form plasma membrane-proximal signalling hubs that promote cancer cell survival.

primary research article search

Coastal phytoplankton blooms expand and intensify in the 21st century

Satellite observations reveal global increases in the extent and frequency of phytoplankton blooms between 2003 and 2020 and provide insights into the relationship between blooms, ocean circulation and sea surface temperature.

primary research article search

Primary N 2 –He gas field formation in intracratonic sedimentary basins

A modelling study shows that crustal nitrogen from the crystalline basement can reach sufficient concentrations in some sedimentary basins to form a free gas phase, into which helium partitions.

primary research article search

Critical role of hydrogen for superconductivity in nickelates

In optimally doped Nd 0.8 Sr 0.2 NiO 2 H epitaxial film, combined state-of-the-art experimental and theoretical approaches show abundant hydrogen with zero resistivity, and its critical role in superconductivity in epitaxial infinite-layer nickelates.

primary research article search

Palaeogenomics of Upper Palaeolithic to Neolithic European hunter-gatherers

Combined analysis of new genomic data from 116 ancient hunter-gatherer individuals together with previously published data provides insights into the genetic structure and demographic shifts of west Eurasian forager populations over a period of 30,000 years.

primary research article search

Disorder-tuned conductivity in amorphous monolayer carbon

Varying growth temperatures enables the tuning of the degree of disorder, which is fully described by the absence/presence of medium-range order and temperature-dependent densities of nanocrystallites, and electrical conductivity in amorphous monolayer carbon films.

primary research article search

Ladderphane copolymers for high-temperature capacitive energy storage

A class of dielectric copolymers called ladderphanes is shown to outperform existing dielectric polymers and composites, with high discharged energy density and charge–discharge efficiency even at temperatures up to 200 °C.

primary research article search

Tropical deforestation causes large reductions in observed precipitation

A pan-tropical analysis using satellite, station-based and reanalysis datasets shows that deforestation causes reduced precipitation, and demonstrates that the effect increases with spatial scale.

primary research article search

A shared accretion instability for black holes and neutron stars

Observations from a multiwavelength campaign of a low-mass X-ray binary, Swift J1858.6–0814, shows that accreting neutron stars have the same kind of pulsing behaviour as accreting black holes.

primary research article search

H3K4me3 regulates RNA polymerase II promoter-proximal pause-release

Acute loss of H3K4me3 does not have detectable effects on transcriptional initiation, but leads to a widespread decrease in transcriptional output, an increase in RNA polymerase II pausing and slower elongation

primary research article search

Evolution of the germline mutation rate across vertebrates

Using sequencing and comparing high-coverage genomes, the germline mutation rates across vertebrates are quantified.

Quick links

primary research article search

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Primary Search

Primary Search is a full-text database of carefully curated content for elementary school libraries. It includes full text for the most popular children's magazines, e-books, and easy-to-read encyclopedic entries written specifically for kids.

Carefully Curated Content for Elementary School Libraries

Primary Search includes ongoing full text for the most popular children's magazines including those from Cricket Media, such as: 

Active full text for these Cricket Media publications is unique to EBSCO. Additional full-text magazines include: 

*Active full text is unique to EBSCO. 

Reference Books

Additional content in Primary Search includes  The Encyclopedia of Animals ,  American Heritage Children's Dictionary  and reference e-books from top children's publishers including:

Lexile Reading Measures

All full-text articles in Primary Search are assigned reading level indicators (Lexiles) that provide educators with an estimate of the result’s reading difficulty and the approximate grade-level reading ability required for comprehension.

Lexiles help teachers meet the needs of students with varying reading abilities and interests and allow students to read along at their own pace.

Compatible with Explora

Primary Search is available via EBSCOhost or  Explora , EBSCO's dedicated interface for schools and public libraries.

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

primary research

As we continue to explore the exciting world of research, we’ll come across two primary approaches: primary research and secondary research. This article will focus on primary research – what it is, how it’s done, and why it’s essential. We’ll talk about the various 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 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:

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 is carried around only a specific issue or problem, and all the focus is directed to obtaining related solutions.

For example, a brand is about to launch a new model of mobile phone and wants to conduct research about the looks and features mobile phone they are soon going to introduce. Organizations can select a qualified sample of respondents that closely resembles 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 to gather 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 open-ended method which involves dialogues or interaction between interviewer (researcher) and interviewee (respondent).

Conducting a face-to-face interview 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 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 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 it to respondents to gather information from them. Online surveys are convenient and can be sent on emails or can be filled out online. These can be accessed on handheld devices like smartphone, 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 it back to researcher. In order to get maximum information from respondents, surveys should have a good mix or open ended questions and close ended questions . Survey should not be lengthy, else respondents lose interest and tend to leave it half done.

It is a good practice to reward respondents on successfully filling out surveys for their time and efforts and valuable information. Most organizations or businesses usually giveaway 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 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 market 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 its new biscuits, observes notes on consumers’ first reaction, and evaluates collective data to draw inferences .

Learn More: How to conduct qualitative research  

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.

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.

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!

LEARN MORE         FREE TRIAL

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Secure .gov websites use HTTPS A lock ( Lock A locked padlock ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

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EPA Announces $21M in Research Grant Funding to Investigate Cumulative Health Impacts of Climate Change on Underserved Communities

February 28, 2023

NEW YORK  - Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced $21,410,211 in grant funding to 16 institutions for community-based research to examine how climate change may compound adverse environmental conditions and stressors for vulnerable populations in underserved communities. EPA Region 2 has three organizations slated to receive $4 million in grant funding from this total.

“Our efforts to address climate change must prioritize the health and wellbeing of those who are most vulnerable to its impacts,” said Chris Frey, Assistant Administrator for EPA’s Office of Research and Development. “The research announced today will help us to characterize the cumulative impacts of climate change on the health and wellbeing of our most underserved communities so that we can work to mitigate these impacts and improve resilience.”

The environmental and health effects of climate change are far reaching. Some communities are more vulnerable because they already face greater exposure to pollutants and lack the resources to respond to and cope with environmental stressors. These communities may be more likely to suffer sustained or even permanent damage from the impacts of climate change, further worsening health disparities. Additionally, children, older adults, and people with disabilities or pre-existing health conditions may be more susceptible.

These grants will support research projects that will use community-based participatory research approaches that aim to empower the partnering underserved communities with science-based resilience-building solutions to protect their most vulnerable residents. The grants are provided as part of the EPA’s Cumulative Health Impacts at the Intersection of Climate Change, Environmental Justice, and Vulnerable Populations/Lifestages: Community-Based Research for Solutions funding opportunity.

The following institutions are receiving awards:

City University of New York – York College, Jamaica, New York , Studying Air Pollution-Health-Climate Interactions for People of Color in Southeast Queens, NY: A Community-Based Project

City University of New York is receiving an award $1,344,622 for Studying Air Pollution-Health-Climate Interactions for People of Color in Southeast Queens, NY under a Community-Based Project.

CUNY works with underserved communities in Southeast Queens near multiple solid waste treatment and transport facilities. Employing community-participatory research to empower the communities with information that can be used to inform state/local decision makers and city planners for mitigative actions. Poor air quality, whether outdoors or indoors, can negatively affect the human respiratory and cardiovascular systems. Outdoor ground-level ozone and particle pollution can have a range of adverse effects on human health. Current levels of ground-level ozone have been estimated to be responsible for tens of thousands of hospital and emergency room visits, millions of cases of acute respiratory symptoms and school absences, and thousands of premature deaths each year in the United States.

Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pa ., Understanding Pediatric Susceptibility Across Temperature and Environment in New York = Upstate NY

Drexel University is receiving an award of $1,350,000 to support understanding pediatric susceptibility across temperature and environment in New York. Children in underserved communities are more vulnerable and susceptible to environmental stressors elevated by climate change. The University is partnering with urban and rural communities in Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, and Albany areas in New York. Prioritizing environmental vulnerabilities and assets that can harm or bolster resilience in children so effective policies and programs can be implemented.

Puerto Rico Science, Technology and Research Trust, San Juan, Puerto Rico , Community-based research to address cumulative health effects of drought on rural communities who operate drinking water aqueducts in Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico Science, Technology and Research Trust, San Juan, Puerto Rico will be receiving an award of $1,349,990 for their community-based research to address cumulative health effects of drought on rural communities who operate drinking water aqueducts in Puerto Rico. 

The Puerto Rico Science, Technology and Research Trust uses local knowledge along with scientific data collected through community-engaged research to help build a more sustainable and resilient water supply system for rural communities, improving community health in Puerto Rico.

Learn more about EPA research grants .

Learn more about EPA’s Cumulative Impacts Research .

Follow EPA Region 2 on Twitter and visit our Facebook page. For more information about EPA Region 2, visit our website .

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Primary Sources and Original Research

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Primary Research vs. Review Articles

Scholarly journals can be great places to locate primary research, however they also contain articles which review books, editorials, and review articles. 

Review articles may be long and contain citations, so at first glance they may look like a primary research article.  The authors of a review article usually evaluate , discuss , and analyze other's research on the topic, but offer no original research themselves and cannot be considered primary sources.  They can be helpful to gain an overview of the research that has been done in that area, and can help identify primary research articles by other authors. 

Primary research articles will generally follow a standard format; including sections with titles like "Methods" , "Results" , and "Discussion" .  Most will also have an abstract at the beginning of the article and a works cited list at the end.  Like with other types of articles, reading the abstract can often give you clues as to what the article will be about.   Look for phrases like " we measured ", " we tested " , or " in our study we found " as these are often used in the presentation of original research.  Many primary research articles in the social and natural sciences will also contain graphs, charts, data tables or illustrations.

Try These Article Sources First

Subject Guides

Find Primary Sources

Tip: Try searching for digital copies of primary source material by using the phrase " digital collections " as part of your search along with keywords that describe your topic.

American Memory -- American Memory provides free and open access through the Internet to written and spoken words, sound recordings, still and moving images, prints, maps, and sheet music that document the American experience. (from the collections of the Library of Congress and other institutions)

Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers -- This site allows you to search and view newspaper pages from 1860-1922 and find information about American newspapers published between 1690-present. Chronicling America is sponsored jointly by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress as part of the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP).

Digitized (i.e., scanned) books and articles Born-digital texts Audio files (e.g., wav, mp3) Images (e.g., tiff, gif) Movies (e.g., mp4, quicktime) Datasets (e.g., downloadable statistics files) 

Note:  When full text is not available, try the  InterLibrary Loan  form.

Tip: Try searching for digital copies of primary source material by using the phrase " digital collections " as part of your search along with keywords that describe your topic.

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How to Search and Organize Research Articles

Quick Summary

As PhD students, reading is part of our life. There are so many new papers coming out every day, so many research blogs to follow, so many books to read. But, how would you find them and organize them? Certainly, I’ve seen people downloading everything to their desktop and piling up 100 pdfs with no labeling or grouping. To be honest, that was me at one point. When you start to write a report or research paper, it can become a nightmare to organize the reference list. If you are first year graduate student doing research, or if you are just looking for a method to organize your scientific literature, this blog can hopefully help.

Finding Articles

The best resources for starting to build your reading list are your advisor and lab mates.  This is definitely the fastest way to gain background on your research area. Simply ask around the lab about key articles in the research field. The downside of this method is that the pool of articles is limited by what’s already known by your advisor or lab mates. Starting by reading a review paper in your field, then finding and reading the most relevant references listed for the review, is also a good method.

Searching by key words is another common way to find scientific literature. I use Google Scholar, Web of Science, and Scopus, mostly.  Searches can be done by entering the key words, subject area, document type (e. g. review, articles), and sort by relevance. Start to read from the most cited papers in your field. If you are interested in a specific researcher’s publications, you can follow them on Google Scholar and you’ll get notified when they publish new articles. Lens.org is another good resource for searching, analyzing and managing patent and scholarly data.

Subscribing to RSS feeds is another good way to keep up with recent research. There are a variety of apps that can send notifications when new research papers of interest are coming out, such as Researcher, Feedly and Academia. Pick your favorite topics or journals to follow and get your daily feeds about research topics. You can even track when a paper is cited. These tools are good for scientific literature, but you can also use them for your hobbies, your favorite magazines, etc.

Following blogs can be helpful, as well. As a chemistry student, I follow some of the ACS (American Chemical Society), RSC (The Royal Society of Chemistry) blogs, as well as blogs written by researchers and professors. If you are looking for something interesting to read, follow Retraction Watch. There, you’ll find the research articles that are retracted for fraud, ethical violations, and many other reasons.  Some stories can be quite interesting.

Listening to podcasts can be a good way to broaden your knowledge. Usually, the content in podcasts is less technical and you can learn some basics for topics that you are not familiar with.

Organizing Research Papers

Different people find different ways to organize research articles. Some prefer to print everything out and put them in binders, some prefer to read the digital versions and sort them in folders. Personally, I like to read on a computer screen and sort research papers by project. I usually keep important references in a reference manager. For papers that I want to go over multiple times, I usually print them out and read them carefully. It’s easier to take notes with a printed version and, for some reason, it seems like I can memorize the content longer when I read the printed paper. The main drawback in using hard copies is that it can be difficult to find a specific paper when you have a large pile. With digital versions, it’s much easier to locate specific research articles by keywords.

Mendeley

There are many digital reference managers. This type of software tool can allow you to keep research articles in different folders for each research project. Within the reference manager, you can also take notes, sort by author, year, or topic. Most reference managers also help with searching for research articles. When you write a report or publication, reference managers allow for import of references from these databases directly into Microsoft Word, which is very convenient.  Here are three of the most commonly used reference managers: EndNote, Mendeley  (Figure 1)  and Zotero. All of them can sync between devices and be shared between different people. EndNote is not free, but it is very powerful. It supports many unusual or complex citation formats. Some versions of Mendeley are free. It’s good at dealing with pdfs files and can extract citations from pdfs, as well as searching from pdfs. Zotero is also free and allows for saving snapshots of web pages and annotating them in your library, which is good for web-based publications.

Notion

When I read a paper, I usually ask myself the following questions: 1) what’s the purpose of reading this article?; 2) how is the article important or relevant to my work?; and, 3) what’s the take home message?. If the paper is important, I then write down the conclusions and methods. Taking notes makes reading more efficient ( Figure 2).  Notion is a good application to keep track of reading notes and allows for creation of lists of papers for different topics. You can also assign properties to each paper and tag papers with keywords. Notion also supports markdown which makes your notes clean and easy to read. When I read a research article, I usually start with the title and abstract and try to figure out the big picture conclusions or contributions to the research field.  Then, I skim through the figures and the figure captions to get an idea of the key points. If a figure is important, I keep it in my notes. I usually skip the introduction at first if I’m familiar with the author or the research field, instead jumping directly into the results and conclusion sections. From there, I’ll decide if I want to read the paper in detail or not. Different people have different ways of reading papers; find the one that works for you.

I hope you find these methods helpful for finding and organizing research articles and happy reading!

Marcus, Adam, and Ivan Oransky. Retraction Watch , Oct 24 2021, https://retractionwatch.com/. 

“Which Reference Manager? Comparision of Endnote, Medeley and Zotero.” Library Guides , Mar 2 2021, https://aut.ac.nz.libguides.com/managingreferences.

“How to (Seriously) Read a Scientific Paper.” Science , Mar 21 2016, https://www.science.org/content/article/how-seriously-read-scientific-paper.

Primary Category

Secondary categories.

Press Release

Global primary cell culture market dynamics, major players, and forecast research 2023 – 2030 by vmreports.

The MarketWatch News Department was not involved in the creation of this content.

Mar 03, 2023 (Heraldkeepers) -- New Jersey, United States,- Our report on the Primary Cell Culture market provides an up-to-date and comprehensive analysis of the market landscape, allowing you to make informed business decisions. Our detailed market intelligence spans the entire industry spectrum, giving you an in-depth understanding of the competitive landscape, customer preferences, industry trends, technological developments, and market dynamics. Our report is also comprehensive and comprehensive in its coverage, providing you with all the information you need to successfully develop, implement, and track a successful Primary Cell Culture strategy.

Our report also offers readers an insight into the latest developments, enabling them to stay ahead of the curve and ensure their product and services remain competitive. The report also provides detailed market projections for the near future, ensuring you have the forecast you need to develop a successful market strategy. The report also takes into account regional factors and offers a detailed geographic breakdown of the market, allowing for a more tailored approach to marketing and customer development. With this information, you can make informed decisions and pivot your strategy to better align with customer needs.

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Top Key Players of the Global Global Primary Cell Culture Market:

ATCC, Cell Biologics, CellSystems GmbH, Corning, Creative Bioarray, FUJIFILM Irvine Scientific, GE Healthcare, Irvine Scientific, Lonza, MatTek Ltd, Merck, Promocell GmbH, Themo Scientific

The segmental analysis section of the report includes a thorough research study on key type and application segments of the Global Global Primary Cell Culture market. All of the segments considered for the study are analyzed in quite some detail on the basis of market share, growth rate, recent developments, technology, and other critical factors. The segmental analysis provided in the report will help players to identify high-growth segments of the Global Global Primary Cell Culture market and clearly understand their growth journey. Moreover, it will help them to identify key growth pockets of the Global Global Primary Cell Culture market.

Global Primary Cell Culture Market, By Type:

Global Primary Cell Culture Market, By Application:

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Regional Analysis Covered in this report:

The geographical analysis of the Global Global Primary Cell Culture market provided in the report is just the right tool that competitors can use to discover untapped sales and business expansion opportunities in different regions and countries. Each regional and country-wise Global Primary Cell Culture market considered for research and analysis has been thoroughly studied based on market share, future growth potential, CAGR, market size, and other important parameters. Every regional market has a different trend or not all regional markets are impacted by the same trend. Taking this into consideration, the analysts authoring the report have provided an exhaustive analysis of specific trends of each regional Global Primary Cell Culture market.

Reasons to Procure this Report:

(A) The research would help top administration/policymakers/professionals/product advancements/sales managers and stakeholders in this market in the following ways.

(B) The report provides Global Primary Cell Culture market revenues at the worldwide, regional, and country levels with a complete analysis to 2028 permitting companies to analyze their market share and analyze projections, and find new markets to aim for.

(C) The research includes the Global Primary Cell Culture market split by different types, applications, technologies, and end-uses. This segmentation helps leaders plan their products and finances based on the upcoming development rates of each segment.

(D) Global Primary Cell Culture market analysis benefits investors by knowing the scope and position of the market giving them information on key drivers, challenges, restraints, and expansion chances of the market and moderate threats.

(E) This report would help to understand competition better with a detailed analysis and key strategies of their competitors and plan their position in the business.

(F) The study helps evaluate Global Primary Cell Culture business predictions by region, key countries, and top companies’ information to channel their investments.

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IMAGES

  1. 11 Steps to read a Primary Research Article

    primary research article search

  2. Primary Literature Identification (Sciences)

    primary research article search

  3. Primary Research Articles in the Sciences

    primary research article search

  4. PPT

    primary research article search

  5. Primary Sources

    primary research article search

  6. How to Find a Primary Research Article

    primary research article search

COMMENTS

  1. JSTOR Home

    Article Harness the power of visual materials—explore more than 3 million images now on JSTOR. Enhance your scholarly research with underground newspapers, magazines, and journals. Explore collections in the arts, sciences, and literature from the world's leading museums, archives, and scholars.

  2. Home

    PubMed Central ® (PMC) is a free full-text archive of biomedical and life sciences journal literature at the U.S. National Institutes of Health's National Library of Medicine (NIH/NLM) About PMC Discover a digital archive of scholarly articles, spanning centuries of scientific research. User Guide

  3. Database Search

    What is Database Search? Harvard Library licenses hundreds of online databases, giving you access to academic and news articles, books, journals, primary sources, streaming media, and much more. The contents of these databases are only partially included in HOLLIS. To make sure you're really seeing everything, you need to search in multiple places.

  4. Sciences: Primary Research Articles

    Search in databases like ScienceDirect and MEDLINE. Primary Research Articles: How Will I Know One When I See One? Primary Research Articles To conduct and publish an experiment or research study, an author or team of authors designs an experiment, gathers data, then analyzes the data and discusses the results of the experiment.

  5. Biological Research

    Even though several regulators of SSC have been identified in rodents, the regulatory mechanism of SSC in humans has yet to be disc... Ning Li, Qianyin Zhou, Zhang Yi, Huan Zhang and Dai Zhou. Biological Research 2023 56 :4. Research article Published on: 23 January 2023.

  6. Primary Research

    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.

  7. What is Primary Research?

    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.

  8. Identifying Primary and Secondary Research Articles

    Identifying Primary and Secondary Research Articles How to identify primary versus secondary health sciences research articles Primary and Secondary Librarian Claire Sharifi Email Me Make Appointment Contact: 2130 Fulton St. San Francisco, CA 94117 (415) 422-5399 Subjects: Health Sciences, Kinesiology, Nursing & Health Professions

  9. How to Find Primary Research Articles

    Finding Primary Research Articles - Overview There are several ways to locate primary research articles as you will see in the following practice exercises (see next page). Here are some tips to consider while looking for original research studies: Tip #1 - Incorporate subject headings into your search

  10. Is it Primary Research? How Do I Know?

    STEP ONE: When you run a search, find a promising article in your results list and then look at the record for that item (usually by clicking on the title). The full database record for an item usually includes an abstract or summary--sometimes prepared by the journal or database, but often written by the author (s) themselves.

  11. Finding Scholarly Articles

    To decide whether an article is a primary research article, look for the following: The author's (or authors') credentials and academic affiliation (s) should be given; There should be an abstract summarizing the research; The methods and materials used should be given, often in a separate section;

  12. How do I know if an article is a primary or secondary research article

    A primary research article reports on an empirical research study conducted by the authors. It is almost always published in a peer-reviewed journal. This type of article: Asks a research question or states a hypothesis or hypotheses Identifies a research population Describes a specific research method Tests or measures something

  13. Finding and Identifying Original Research Articles in the Sciences

    An original research article is a report of research activity that is written by the researchers who conducted the research or experiment. Original research articles may also be referred to as: "primary research articles" or "primary scientific literature."

  14. Primary Research vs Review Article

    Sometimes referred to as an empirical research article Typically organized into sections that include: Abstract, Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion/Conclusion, and References. Example of a Primary Research Article: Flockhart, D.T.T., Fitz-gerald, B., Brower, L.P., Derbyshire, R., Altizer, S., Hobson, K.A., … Norris, D.R., (2017).

  15. Finding Primary Sources for Teachers and Students

    Finding Primary Sources Primary Sources from DocsTeach Thousands of online primary source documents from the National Archives to bring the past to life as classroom teaching tools. National Archives Catalog Find online primary source materials for classroom & student projects from the National Archive's online catalog (OPA).

  16. Research articles

    research articles. Research articles. Filter By: Article Type. All. All; ... Primary N 2 -He gas field formation in intracratonic sedimentary basins. ... Search articles by subject, keyword or ...

  17. Primary Search

    Primary Search is a full-text database of carefully curated content for elementary school libraries. It includes full text for the most popular children's magazines, e-books, and easy-to-read encyclopedic entries written specifically for kids.

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

    Primary research focuses mainly on problem in hand, which means entire attention is directed to find probable solution to a pinpointed subject matter. Primary research allows researchers to go in depth of a matter and study all foreseeable options. Data collected can be controlled.

  19. EPA Announces $21M in Research Grant Funding to Investigate Cumulative

    NEW YORK - Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced $21,410,211 in grant funding to 16 institutions for community-based research to examine how climate change may compound adverse environmental conditions and stressors for vulnerable populations in underserved communities. EPA Region 2 has three organizations slated to receive $4 million in grant funding from this total.

  20. Articles

    Primary research articles will generally follow a standard format; including sections with titles like "Methods", ... Try adding "results" or "methods" to your keyword search and read the article abstract to determine if the article contains original research being published for the first time in non-history social science fields like sociology

  21. How to Search and Organize Research Articles

    I use Google Scholar, Web of Science, and Scopus, mostly. Searches can be done by entering the key words, subject area, document type (e. g. review, articles), and sort by relevance. Start to read from the most cited papers in your field. If you are interested in a specific researcher's publications, you can follow them on Google Scholar and ...

  22. Global Primary Cell Culture Market Dynamics, Major Players, And

    Global Primary Cell Culture Market Dynamics, Major Players, And Forecast Research 2023 - 2030 By VMReports Published: March 3, 2023 at 7:22 p.m. ET