Research a Question with Many Sources and Test Possible Explanations

## Decide Why the Research Is Needed and What It Must Answer Define why the investigation is needed, the decision it should support, the desired output, and the questions it must answer. Make goals specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound so effort does not drift into unrelated collection. ## Mix Interviews and Surveys with Books and Reports Combine primary evidence—interviews, surveys, observation, or experiments—with secondary evidence such as books, papers, statistics, and reports. Use secondary sources for breadth and primary sources for motives or behavior; account for each source’s time, cost, and bias. ## Compare Independent Sources and Separate Facts from Guesses Evaluate sources for provenance, recency, coverage, bias, accessibility, and cost. Compare independent sources, map agreements and contradictions, and distinguish facts from inference. Do not treat volume as certainty or stop after evidence confirms an expectation. ## Read the Data by Group and from Different Viewpoints Interpret data before concluding. Examine differences across relevant groups or conditions, combine perspectives from different disciplines and stakeholders, and state assumptions. Ask why a pattern appears, what else could explain it, and what evidence is missing. ## Form Possible Explanations and Look for Evidence Against Them Build multiple testable hypotheses from observed patterns. Seek supporting and disconfirming evidence through additional research or experiments, revise weak hypotheses, and repeat when new information arrives. Report the insight, evidence, competing explanations, uncertainty, and next verification step.