ABSTRACT
This chapter helps people to: understand the additional research approaches useful in public relations and advertising; learn about historical research; see how legal research works; comprehend the basic steps in critical analysis. Qualitative research methods fit most closely with the methods of historical research. Many of the research techniques utilized in other qualitative research can be applied to historical research. Books about historical events, magazine articles, Internet sites, and similar resources that talk about the history that interests people are the place to begin historical research. Original sources, which are often referred to as "primary sources" by historians, are the historic items that actually recorded what happened at the time it occurred. Another type of primary source often used by historians is an oral history. Research into the future uses secondary sources, then primary sources and, often, personal interviews with those whom are likely to have special knowledge.
