A research paper is a brief report of research work based on

Research data is classified by its origin. Primary data is evidence the investigator collects first-hand, expressly for the enquiry in hand — survey schedules, experiments, interviews, direct field observation. Secondary data is evidence that already exists, having been collected and recorded by someone else for some other purpose — published statistics, archival files, institutional records, earlier studies.

A research paper is a short written account of a piece of research work. That form fixes the length and the arrangement of the account; it places no restriction on the origin of the evidence the account may draw upon.

Applying the classification to such a short report: its review of earlier work, its background statistics and the context it sets out are taken from material already on record, which is secondary evidence. Its own findings — the responses collected, the measurements taken, the cases observed — are generated by the investigator for this enquiry, which is primary evidence. Both kinds enter the same brief report, so a research paper is based on both primary and secondary data.

• Primary data alone would exclude the review of earlier work and the published background statistics that a paper is expected to build upon, leaving its findings with nothing to be situated against.

• Secondary data alone describes a review article or a desk study, in which existing material is compiled and re-examined without fresh collection; that is one species of research writing, not the general definition of a research paper.

• Classification by origin admits exactly two classes, first-hand material and already-recorded material, so taking the two together leaves no further basis outside the scheme.

Cross-check against a neighbouring form: a thesis or dissertation also draws on both classes of data, and differs from the research paper in length and in depth of treatment rather than in the kind of evidence admitted. The basis of a research paper is therefore both primary and secondary data.