Research Methods and Harvard Referencing Quiz

What does the term "primary research" refer to?

• Research that is conducted by reviewing existing published sources

• Research that involves collecting original data directly from sources

• Research that is based solely on government statistics

• Research that is carried out only in a laboratory setting

In a Harvard reference for a book, which of the following is the correct order of elements?

• Title, Author, Year, Publisher

• Publisher, Author, Year, Title

• Author, Year, Title, Publisher

• Year, Title, Author, Publisher

Which of the following is an example of secondary research?

• Conducting a survey with members of the public

• Carrying out a structured interview with a subject expert

• Reading and analysing a previously published journal article

• Observing participants in a controlled experiment

Which of the following best describes qualitative research?

• Research that focuses on collecting and analysing numerical data

• Research that uses statistical methods to test hypotheses

• Research that explores opinions, experiences, and meanings through non-numerical data

• Research that relies exclusively on government-published datasets

A student finds an article written by Sarah Johnson, published in 2021, titled "Understanding Consumer Behaviour," in a journal called *Business Insights*, volume 14, issue 3, on pages 45–67. How should this source be correctly formatted using Harvard referencing?

• Johnson, S. (2021) "Understanding Consumer Behaviour," *Business Insights*, Vol. 14, No. 3, pp. 45–67.

• Johnson, S. 2021. Understanding Consumer Behaviour. Business Insights. 14(3). 45–67.

• S. Johnson, "Understanding Consumer Behaviour," Business Insights, 2021, 14, 3, pp. 45–67.

• Johnson (2021), Understanding Consumer Behaviour, Business Insights, Volume 14, Issue 3.

A student is conducting research into employee motivation and decides to use both a questionnaire and a review of existing academic literature. Which combination of research types are they using?

• Secondary and qualitative research only

• Primary and secondary research, combining quantitative and qualitative methods

• Purely quantitative research using experimental methods

• Tertiary and primary research using observational techniques

When using the Harvard referencing system, how should an in-text citation be formatted when directly quoting from a source written by two authors, Brown and Clarke, published in 2019, on page 34?

• (Brown & Clarke, 2019, p.34)

• (Brown and Clarke, 2019, p.34)

• [Brown, Clarke, 2019, 34]

• Brown and Clarke (2019:34)

A student is designing a research project to investigate the impact of social media on the mental health of young adults. They must decide between using quantitative and qualitative methods. Evaluate which approach would be more appropriate and justify your reasoning by selecting the most suitable answer below.

• Quantitative research is more appropriate because it allows the researcher to gather large amounts of numerical data through surveys, enabling statistical analysis of trends across a wide population

• Qualitative research is more appropriate because it focuses solely on collecting data from government health reports, which are more reliable than individual responses

• Quantitative research is more appropriate because it involves conducting in-depth interviews that explore personal experiences in detail

• Qualitative research is inappropriate for this topic as mental health cannot be explored through personal accounts or interviews

A student has gathered the following sources for their HNC assignment: a textbook, a website with no named author, a journal article, and a government report. They need to compile a Harvard reference list. Which of the following statements best reflects the correct approach to referencing these sources?

• Only the textbook and journal article need to be included, as websites and government reports are not considered academic sources

• All four sources should be included in the reference list, each formatted according to the specific Harvard conventions for that source type, and listed alphabetically by author or organisation

• The website should be excluded entirely because it has no named author, and the remaining sources should be listed in the order they were used in the assignment

• All sources should be listed numerically in the order they appear in the text, with full URLs provided for all of them

A student is writing an HNC research report and has used the same source by Thompson (2020) multiple times throughout their work. In some places they have directly quoted the text, and in others they have paraphrased the ideas. Analyse the correct approach the student should take when applying Harvard referencing in both situations, and select the most accurate answer.

• Direct quotes require the page number in the in-text citation, whilst paraphrased content only requires the author and year; both must appear in the reference list, but only once regardless of how many times the source is cited

• Direct quotes and paraphrased content are referenced in exactly the same way, and the source must appear in the reference list once for each time it is cited in the text

• Paraphrased content does not need to be referenced at all, as the student has expressed the ideas in their own words, so only direct quotes require an in-text citation

• Direct quotes must be listed separately in the reference list from paraphrased content, with different formatting applied to each entry for the same source