What Is Research
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Abstract
In answer to the question Ðwhat is research? various definitions may be given with reasonable confidence, these referencing many different themes and schemes as well as common assumptions. Given the large amount of material accessible to the notionally non-confluent realms of academia (obscure/elitist agendas-not useful for society in general), business (research for commercial purposes) and entertainment (research for mass-media utility) in this the Information Age, it is perhaps not surprising that the process or methodology of research is more in need of evaluation and (re?) re-definition than in times past. The role of the human agent in the academic practice of cogent and coherent knowledge-generation must be well understood by the protagonist if they are to attempt veracious research worthy of constructive peer review and of being recognized as a valid contributor to the sum of human sagacity and intellectual capacity. Although a completely thoroughgoing analysis and commentary on the problems of self-referencing phenomenology/consciousness-perceptive categorisation (the concept and actuality of Ðpure or academic/unbiased information gathering being fallacious) is without the scope of this paper, a survey of definitions, models and practical encounters will lead to a clearer understanding of the issues involved in conducting research and will allow the Author to outline his own imperfect theory of what research involves (I think it a safe assumption, if unromantic aim, that any research project or definition thereof is likely to be contingent on some level.)
Introduction
Definitions
Dictionary.com defines research as being:
A: Scholarly or scientific investigation or inquiry.
B: Close, careful study.
C: To study something thoroughly so as to present in a detailed, accurate manner.
D: To search again, to examine anew.
E: Diligent inquiry or examination in seeking facts or principles; laborious or continued search after truth; researches of human wisdom.
F: Systematic investigation to establish facts, an attempt to find out in a systematically and scientific manner.
Research can therefore be seen to play host-range to an adverbial domain which includes the following synonyms or related terms and procedures (therefore also similar modes of praxis):
A: Consumer research, census, inquiry, market survey, opinion research, poll, public opinion research, statistical study.
B: Management study, operational research.
C: Analysis, delving, experimentation, exploration, fact-finding, fishing expedition, groundwork, inquest, inquiry, inquisition, investigation, legwork, probe, probing, quest, scrutiny, study.
D: assay, audit, battery, blue book, breakdown, canvass, catechism, checking, checkup, cross-examination, diagnosis, dissection, exam, experiment, exploration, final, grilling, inquest, inquiry, inquisition, inspection, interrogation, investigation, legwork, make-up, observation, once-over, oral, perlustration, perusal, probe, quest, questioning, questionnaire, quiz, raid, reconnaissance, review, scan, scrutiny, search, study, survey, the eye, third degree, trial, tryout, view, written.
Source:
These related activities have currency in many different fields including the practice of law, business, science, humanities, education and fiscal administration; though as well in pursuits more readily described as leisure activities such as caving, amateur ornithology, orienteering etc. However, it is not very helpful to accept as a starting point a multifarious and unstratified notion of research being any intellectual activity at all or indeed any action of conscious agents in an arena subject to empirical processes. Though it may at some future point be advantageous to expand the understanding and subsequent classification of research to include a holistic interpretation (ala Deutsch, Tipler, 1997,2000), due to issues of tractability and coherency, the Author prefers to move from what might be described as a classical survey motif to a more speculative, reflexive model of research (as a parallel to the consciousness theories of Velmans, Honderich, 2000,1994) insofar as can be described based on the trends and potentialities of current prospects of both human capacity and technological innovation (I.T.)
1.1.2 Further Definitions
As it stands, some background philosophical concepts must be defined as general precursors to both research and any description thereof. The Author expects that a basic appreciation of three prior aspects to research as understood philosophically will aid the comprehension of more specific research descriptions.
A: Epistemology may be defined as:
ÐThe branch of philosophy that studies the nature of knowledge, its presuppositions and foundations, and its extent and validity.
Or as:
ÐThe theory or science of the method or grounds of knowledge.
B: Ontology may be defined as:
ÐThat department of the science of metaphysics which investigates and explains the nature and essential properties and relations of all beings, as such, or the principles of being.
C: Cosmology may be defined as:
ÐThe study of the (meta) physical universe considered as a totality of phenomena in time and space.
And as:
ÐA specific theory or model of this structure and these dynamics.
Source (A, B, C):
Within these inclusive and fundamental terms lie the three main components of any research project (according to the Author):
A: the world.
B: human beings.