primary sources in qualitative data research include letters, diaries , formal and informal interviews, memos, recording transcriptions of interviews, or conversations, as well as reflective journaling from the researcher as action participant research. Secondary resources would include any data you used if the interview or information you quoted, or used came from another researcher. It is not a direct source of data but rather secondary---like someone else's case study. To distinguish between primary and secondary data in qualitative research methodology one would need to define what secondary sources ARE not.
