Research is required not just for students and academics, but for all professionals. It is also important for budding and veteran writers, both offline and online. Among professionals and scribes, finding an interesting topic to discuss and/or to write about should go beyond personal experience. Determining either what the general public may want to know about or what researchers want others to realize or to think about can serve as a reason to do research.
“Knowledge” basically pertains to facts based on objective insights and/or study findings processed by the human brain. It can be acquired through various ways, such as reading books and online articles written by educators, listening to experts, watching documentaries or investigative shows, conducting scientific experiments, and interaction with other people, among others. These facts can be checked to ensure truthfulness and accuracy. In epistemology, David Truncellito (n.d.) of Yale University identifies three kinds of knowledge: procedural (competence or know-how), acquaintance (familiarity), and propositional (description of “a fact or a state of affairs”). A factual proposition is commonly used to define “knowledge”.
For instance, Oprah Winfrey would have not achieved remarkable success as a news anchor and television show host had she eschewed doing her own research about certain topics and public figures. According to entrepreneur and lifestyle coach Paul C. Brunson, in his interview with emotional intelligence expert and author Justin Bariso (2017), “Oprah spends a disproportionate amount of her time gathering information from communities of people outside of her core (different age groups, social classes, ethnicities, education levels, careers etc.) and then she shares that information within her community.” This kind of effort shows the necessary role of research in helping others and in raising social consciousness.
The purpose of research is to discover answers to questions through the application of scientific procedures. The main aim of research is to find out the truth which is hidden and which has not been discovered as yet. Though each research study has its own specific purpose, we may think of research objectives as falling into a number of following broad groupings:
To gain familiarity with a phenomenon or to achieve new insights into it (studies with this object in view are termed as exploratory or formulative research studies);
To portray accurately the characteristics of a particular individual, situation or a group(studies with this object in view are known as descriptive research studies);
To determine the frequency with which something occurs or with which it is associated with something else (studies with this object in view are known as diagnostic research studies);
To test a hypothesis of a causal relationship between variables (such studies are known as hypothesis-testing research studies).
Criteria of a Good Research: Every research study, irrespective of its type, should meet some criterions so that it can be classified as good research. Let us discuss some of these criterions.
One of the important characteristics of a good research is that the purpose of the research is clearly defined. A research study with clearly defined purpose finds a wider acceptance and acknowledgement within the research community.
Second important characteristic of a good research is that the research method should be defined in a clear manner with sufficient detail. This will allow the repetition of the study in future for further advancement, while maintaining the continuity of what has been done in the past.
The third thing to remember is that any limitations and assumptions made by the researcher during the course of the study should be clearly highlighted in the research. This will support the findings of the research study, in case someone tries to validate the study findings.
The fourth thing to remember is that, as far as possible, the research design should be planned in a way that the results generated are as objective as possible. This will provide an easier understanding about the findings of the research.
Another thing to be considered by the researcher is that there should be sufficient data to investigate the research topic. And the researcher should carefully check the reliability and validity of the data.
Further, in order to deliver a good research, a researcher should confine the conclusions to those justified by the data.
Lastly, a good research depends a great deal on the integrity and commitment of the researcher.
Qualities of a good research – Academic Research is defined as a process of collecting, analyzing and interpreting information to answer questions or solve a problem. But to qualify as good research, the process must have certain characteristics and properties: it must, as far as possible, be controlled, rigorous, systematic, valid and verifiable, empirical and critical. The main characteristics for good quality research is listed below:
It is based on the work of others.
It can be replicated and doable.
It is generalisable to other settings.
It is based on some logical rationale and tied to theory. In a way that it has the potential to suggest directions for future research.
It generates new questions or is cyclical in nature.
It is incremental. It addresses directly or indirectly some real problem in the world.
It clearly states the variables or constructs to be examined.
Valid and verifiable such that whatever you conclude on the basis of your findings is correct and can be verified by you and others.
The researcher is sincerely interested and/or invested in this research.
Research is required not just for students and academics, but for all professionals. It is also important for budding and veteran writers, both offline and online. Among professionals and scribes, finding an interesting topic to discuss and/or to write about should go beyond personal experience. Determining either what the general public may want to know about or what researchers want others to realize or to think about can serve as a reason to do research.
“Knowledge” basically pertains to facts based on objective insights and/or study findings processed by the human brain. It can be acquired through various ways, such as reading books and online articles written by educators, listening to experts, watching documentaries or investigative shows, conducting scientific experiments, and interaction with other people, among others. These facts can be checked to ensure truthfulness and accuracy. In epistemology, David Truncellito (n.d.) of Yale University identifies three kinds of knowledge: procedural (competence or know-how), acquaintance (familiarity), and propositional (description of “a fact or a state of affairs”). A factual proposition is commonly used to define “knowledge”.
For instance, Oprah Winfrey would have not achieved remarkable success as a news anchor and television show host had she eschewed doing her own research about certain topics and public figures. According to entrepreneur and lifestyle coach Paul C. Brunson, in his interview with emotional intelligence expert and author Justin Bariso (2017), “Oprah spends a disproportionate amount of her time gathering information from communities of people outside of her core (different age groups, social classes, ethnicities, education levels, careers etc.) and then she shares that information within her community.” This kind of effort shows the necessary role of research in helping others and in raising social consciousness.
The purpose of research is to discover answers to questions through the application of scientific procedures. The main aim of research is to find out the truth which is hidden and which has not been discovered as yet. Though each research study has its own specific purpose, we may think of research objectives as falling into a number of following broad groupings:
Criteria of a Good Research: Every research study, irrespective of its type, should meet some criterions so that it can be classified as good research. Let us discuss some of these criterions.
Qualities of a good research – Academic Research is defined as a process of collecting, analyzing and interpreting information to answer questions or solve a problem. But to qualify as good research, the process must have certain characteristics and properties: it must, as far as possible, be controlled, rigorous, systematic, valid and verifiable, empirical and critical. The main characteristics for good quality research is listed below:
From MPC-005 Research Methods – IGNOU