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Primary & Secondary
Sources
in Education & Psychology
Overview
This
guide describes examples of primary and secondary sources in the social
sciences, especially in the fields of education and psychology.
Disciplines vary when distinguishing between primary and secondary
sources. Be sure to check with your instructor if you are unsure as to
whether a source is a primary or secondary source for your topic.
-
Primary
Sources.
Primary sources are
original materials, created at the time of an event or soon
thereafter. They are usually created by those who saw an event
or collected data themselves. They are often one-of-a-kind or
rare sources and present original thinking, new discoveries or new
information. Sometimes, primary sources may be reports of an
event from the same time period.
-
Secondary
Sources.
Secondary
sources describe, interpret, analyse, evaluate, explain, or comment on
a primary source or event. Secondary sources are removed from and
are often written after-the-fact, with hindsight. Secondary sources
are often finding tools, pointing to primary sources.
-
Why is it important to
distinguish
between primary and secondary sources?
Research
gains credibility and respect when it is founded on authentic evidence,
epirical data, original documents, rather than on interpretations,
explanations and opinions. Interpretations, explanations and
opinions may be important in the analysis of a topic. However, in
order to trust a study, peers will usually want to see the original
evidence or specific data upon which a study is based.
Primary
Sources - Examples
- Proceedings from conferences, meetings and symposia
- Data sets and statistics
- Original correspondence, including email
- Government documents (such as "No Child Left Behind")
- Empirical studies (research based on scientific and
experimental results)
- Technical reports
- Dissertations and theses (when based on original
research)
- Learning objects
- Autobiographies
- Diaries
- Original works of literature or treatises
- Interviews, surveys and fieldwork documentation
- Speeches
- Photographs
- Tests, scales
- Course materials and syllabi
- Medical charts
- Student records (i.e., report cards)
- News articles (sometimes secondary)
- Logos, symbols and signs
- Original documents and records (county records,
certificates, etc.)
Secondary
(and Tertiary) Sources - Examples
- Bibliographies
- Indexing and abstracting tools
- Library catalogs
- Online databases
- Biographies
- Commentaries
- Dictionaries and encyclopedias
- Journal articles (sometimes primary)
- Monographs (other than fiction, poetry,
autobiography)
- Textbooks
- Works of criticism and interpretation
- Concordances
- Treatises
- Handbooks and manuals
- Chronologies
- Almanacs and fact books
- Directories
- Review articles and editorials
- Histories about a topic
- Digests and summaries
How
to Find
Empirical
studies. Indexing and abstracting databases are commonly
used to find articles
based on empirical studies. UC Berkeley licenses the CSA
platform to access PsycInfo and PsycArticles, the primary
index/databases in psychology, and ERIC, a primary index/database in
education. WilsonWeb's
Education Full Text is another index/database used to access
education empirical studies.
Statistics.
Several government, institutional and licensed proprietary databases
provide search engines to statistics. See Statistics
for a list of these databases and resources.
Government Documents.
Many government agency websites provide access to recent online
government documents. For historical documents, check with a
librarian for locations of older print materials or contact a
government agency to see what records they have archived.
See Government
for a list of government resources.
Books and monographs.
A library catalog is the best tool to use to find books and
monographs. See Pathfinder
or Melvyl for
books and monographs in the UC collection. Ask a librarian for
help in finding books outside the UC system.
Images. Online
images collections are increasing and expanding via the Web. One
excellent California source is the Online
Archive of California. Libraries and museums hold large
collections of images in special collections. See a UC librarian for
assistance in finding special collections and museum resources.
Commercial vendors also provide images, often for a fee.
Tests and Scales.
Many tests and scales are proprietary in nature and available only
through purchase due to copyright laws. However, there are
collections of tests that are no longer governed by copyright
restrictions and therefore live in the public domain, freely accessible
to researchers. The Education Psychology Library has a
reference collection of books containing available tests.
Articles also may describe and append a test. Online search
engines, such as those provided by ETS and Mental Measurements, are
tools for identifying tests and scales. Ask a UC librarian for
help in identifying or locating tests and scales. See also Tests &
Measurements.
Written by Jill L. Woolums, Librarian.
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