Just like text-book knowledge is different from actual experience, primary source refers to information that is firsthand, something actually studied and created, instead of just referenced from an existing source.
Primary sources provide a more accurate description of history.

First-Hand Knowledge

Problem Solving

History

For an artefact to qualify as a primary source, it has to be created during the event or experience at a particular time in history and record the data from that time. Data from primary sources may be raw, biased and subjective.
Also called original sources, it is often an unreliable source of information due to distortion, selective recall, and selective omission.

Raw Data

Primary sources, with all its faults, provide the raw data to build the main historical event or hypothesis, and can also be used as evidence to support a historical claim.
Historically, documents, objects, maps, tools, and clothing may be the primary sources, providing the necessary evidence.

Supporting Historical Claims

In many situations, secondary sources are a better fit to comprehend and understand basic facts, and they are better mapped and systematic in nature.
Primary data is best collected by actual field research, content analysis, surveys and real-time experiments.

Mapping Information

A primary source is information collected firsthand from historical documents, literary texts, artistic works, experiments, surveys, and interviews.