RESEARCH: Meaning and Objectives
According to Oxford dictionary research is taken from old French word ‘re’ and
‘cerchier’ meaning ‘to search’. The earliest recorded used of the term was in
1577.
In an Oxford dictionary research is the Systematic Investigation into and study
of materials and sources in order to establish facts and reach new conclusions.
Research refers to scientific approach to study or learn a phenomena existing in
and beyond our universe. It is commonly understood as a search for knowledge.
However it may mean different things for different person.
Research is also known as an enquiry, voyages, investigation, movement from
known to the unknown. It is an effort to be closer to the truth by careful,
systematic and precise study. In fact, research is an art of scientific
investigation.
The most commom definition being;
The Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English lays down the meaning
of research as “a careful investigation or enquiry specially through search for
new facts in any branch of knowledge.”
Redman and Mory define research as a “systematised effort to gain new
knowledge.”
The most fundamental way to search for knowledge is through empirical
method i.e, based on experience. Research should be empirical and one must
proceed from observation to observation in search for general principles and
laws. Experience often leads to gaining of knowledge and understanding of the
world.
Apart from experience, reasoning is another way of searching for knowledge.
The process of using logical thought for reaching to a certain conclusion is
called reasoning. Inductive and deductive reasoning are the two ways of
thinking-reasoning.
We all possess the vital instinct of inquisitiveness when the unknown confront
us, we wonder and our inquisitiveness makes us probe and attain full and fuller
understanding of the unknown. This inquisitiveness is the mother of all
knowledge and the method, which man employs for obtaining the knowledge of
whatever the unknown can be termed as research.
Research is an academic activity and the term may also be used in a technical
sense. According to Cifford Woody research comprises defining and redefining
problems, formulating hypothesis or suggested solutions; collecting, organising
and evaluating data; making deduction and reaching conclusions; and at last
carefully testing the conclusions whether they fit the formulating hypothesis.
It is an original contribution to the exixting stock of knowledge making for its
advancement. It is the pursuit of truth with the help of study, observation,
comparision and experiment. In short, the search for knowledge through
objective and systematic method of finding solution to a problem is research.
The systematic approach concerning generalisation and the formulation of a
theory is also research.
As such the term research refers to the systematic method consisting of
enunciating the problem, formulating a hypothesis, collecting the facts or data,
analysing the facts and reaching certain conclusions either i n the form of
solution(s) towards the concerned problem or in certain generalisations for some
theoretical formulation.
Objectives of Research:
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:
1. 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);
2. 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);
3. 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);
4. To test a hypothesis of a causal relationship between variables (such
studies are known as hypothesis-testing research studies).