The following is an excerpt from my upcoming book on Research for Writers:
There are different levels of research: cursory understanding, basic competence, proficiency and mastery. Which level do you need to write your story? In many cases, it will hover between cursory understanding and basic competence, except in the case of nonfiction, which will likely require proficiency or even mastery to write about the subject clearly and concisely.
The level needed determines how deeply you need to dig for information and the amount of information you must find to cover your facts.
A cursory understanding can be found in abstracts, summaries or from secondary sources. These offer facts, but not much more.
Basic competence goes beyond the simple facts to a broader understanding of the material. It provides facts within context.
Your skill comes in with what you do with those facts within the frame of your story. Are you using your research to help build your world and the story structure? Or are you filling in minor details?
The more heavily tied your research is to your story will determine the level of mastery you will need in your chosen subject. This may vary from topic to topic, with one needing far more study than another.
Ask yourself whether you need more than the shortest answer? If your question is to the point and basic, it should require a basic answer. If, however, your question is more complex, you may need more information than a background source can offer. Only you can determine your level of need.
Once you have chosen, mark your plan with the level you require for each topic and begin. (Marking it makes it tangible and will help prevent you from going overboard with your research when you need simple answers.)
Remember to include intimate details of your characters’ lives in your search—their shoe size, education, clothing, accessories, culture, flaws, quirks, home, world, etc. These should be fairly quick searches, but try to go one level deeper than that to find details that will enrich your descriptions.
Find the meaning hidden within the details and figure out how they relate to their journey. Always try to incorporate or reflect your character’s internal conflict and misbelief into their descriptions for deeper characterization.
Look for my book on research this spring. It covers everything a writer needs to conduct in-depth research for fiction and nonfiction projects.