Nursing Research Guide
A guide for conducting nursing research at KUMC.
Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Research
Primary Research
A primary research article reports on an empirical research study conducted BY THE AUTHORS. It is almost always published in a peer-reviewed journal. Original Research is reported. 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
- Includes a section called "method" or "methodology." This may only appear in the article, not the abstract.
- Includes a section called "results."
Words to look for as clues include: analysis, study, investigation, examination, experiment, numbers of people or objects analyzed, content analysis, or surveys.
Secondary Literature
Secondary Literature summarizes original work(s).
To contrast, the following are not primary research articles (i.e., they are secondary sources):
- Literature reviews
- Meta-Analyses/Review articles (These are studies that arrive at conclusions based on research from many other studies.)
- Editorials
- Letters
- Chapters in books
- Encyclopedia articles
- Speeches
Word to look for as a clue: review
Tertiary Literature
Sources that compile and analyze research
Examples include:
- Systematic Reviews
- Meta-analysis
- Practice guidelines
