Evaluating Sources

In many fields sources may be described as primary or secondary sources. How the source is being used can be just as important as how it was created in understanding whether you will be using the source as a primary or secondary source in your research.

• Primary sources are those used as direct evidence, analyzing, interpreting and providing context for.
• Secondary sources are written or created to provide context, analysis or interpretation of an idea, event, type of media or person.

Primary sources are 'the basic raw material for study' (Mabbett, 2007, p. 34) and may be defined as ‘sources which came into existence within the period being instigated’ (Marwick, 2001, p. 26). This could be 1.000 years ago, or the present day, so could include medieval manuscripts for a historian, the results of laboratory tests for a health researcher or for the social scientist, focus groups and surveys. This ‘raw material’ then forms the basis of their studies.

There is an immense variety what can be considered as primary sources, as the examples below indicate. These can vary depending upon the discipline or context.

• Personal sources – diaries, correspondence, personal journals and papers, autobiographies and memoirs, speeches;
• Surveys and reports – royal commissions, tax inspections, questionnaires;
• ‘Official’ records – minutes, annual reports, accounts, church records, government records laws, parliamentary papers, parish registers, business records, census returns, birth certificates, patents;
• Media – newspapers, cartoons, films, video recordings, advertisements, speeches;
• Artistic sources – works of fiction, plays, poetry, sculpture, music, works of art, photographs;
• Material culture and artefacts – coins, clothes, architectures, archaeological finds, furniture;
• Oral recordings – interviews, recorded records, ‘oral history’, speeches, radio programs, focus groups;
• Geographical records – place names, maps, satellite images;
• Observations – recording observed behavior and occurrences.

This is by no means an exhaustive list. There are also overlaps with secondary sources, for example, historiography written in the nineteenth century might now be considered a primary source as it tells us much about the mindset and belief of a nineteenth century individual. Or, if you were reviewing how authors address a current social or political topic in popular fiction those works could be used as your primary sources for analysis.

Interpreting Primary Sources

Primary sources allow us to make connections to our own ideas and develop individual interpretations. When assessing a primary source, it is important to be remain critical of the source, retain an open mind and consider its intended audience.

When assessing a primary source, ask yourself the question, where and when and why is who is saying what to whom? Primary sources are, in the most part, subjective and remain an individual’s interpretation of an event or activity. Primary sources may

• not always be truly accurate,
• have been produced with an intended audience in mind. Newspapers produce content for ‘their’ readers,
• have been created for profit or commission and therefore be subject to what the customer wants rather than a true representation. A piece of artwork may be subject to ‘artistic license’.
• have been written to remain private – a diary or personal papers. Anne Frank’s diary was not intended to be read by a global audience or presented as an account of the Holocaust,
• be fake. Even the most distinguished scholars have been fooled. In the 1980s, sixty volumes of (forged) journals purportedly written by Adolf Hitler were initially declared genuine by the respected historian Hugh-Trevor Roper (Steers and Nickell, 2013). That said, the fake diaries are themselves now considered primary sources as ‘news media’ documents of the past.

Ethics & Privacy

Using primary source material brings with it responsibility and the question of ethics and research integrity. If you are embarking on a dissertation project, an ethics form may be a requirement of this exercise.

Permission to use primary sources does not mean you have permission to use them in your work.

• You must have explicit consent to consult primary data and to then use it for academic purposes. This is especially important if it is of a ‘sensitive’ nature, for example, surveys, commercial and medical data, interviews and family records.
• Permission must be received from the people you will be studying in order to conduct research involving them.
• Consider whether it might be appropriate to anonymize your findings and consult those involved in your study.
• Be sensitive to others and carefully word interview or survey questions.