Original Research: Initial Steps

Research is an attempt to collect and document information in a systematic way. How research is performed is determined by the purpose of the research. When a researcher is intending to write a research paper based on searching the literature for details, it is called secondary research. However, original research is conducted by reviewing the literature and then using a method and design to create original information that will be analyzed and interpreted to contribute to the field. 

When the researcher is working on original research, the beginning of the process follows the same as the first seven steps for writing a secondary research paper. These steps include:

1. Choosing a topic.
2. Performing background research.
3. Creating an initial research question.
4. Identifying resources that may have answers for the initial research question.
5. Collecting information from these resources.
6. Re-evaluating the question based on the information discovered, and making any changes necessary.
7. Finding more information based on the re-evaluated question.

After going through these steps, the researcher should be ready to create a hypothesis that can be used for a original research project.