MEANING OF RESEARCH
Research in common parlance refers to a search for knowledge. Once can also define research as a scientific
and systematic search for pertinent information on a specific topic. In fact, research is
...
MEANING OF RESEARCH
Research in common parlance refers to a search for knowledge. Once can also define research as a scientific
and systematic search for pertinent information on a specific topic. In fact, research is an art of scientific
investigation. The Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English lays down the meaning of research
as “a careful investigation or inquiry especially through search for new facts in any branch of knowledge.”
Redman and Mory define research as a “systematized effort to gain new knowledge.”
Some people consider research as a movement, a movement from the known to the unknown. It is actually
a voyage of discovery. We all possess the vital instinct of inquisitiveness for, when the unknown confronts
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 as such the term should be used in a technical sense. According to
Clifford Woody research comprises defining and redefining problems, formulating hypothesis or suggested
solutions; collecting, organizing and evaluating data; making deductions and reaching conclusions; and at
last carefully testing the conclusions to determine whether they fit the formulating hypothesis.
D. Slesinger and M. Stephenson in the Encyclopedias of Social Sciences define research as “the
manipulation of things, concepts or symbols for the purpose of generalizing to extend, correct or verify
knowledge, whether that knowledge aids in construction of theory or in the practice of an art.”
Research is, thus, an original contribution to the existing stock of knowledge making for its advancement.
It is the pursuit of truth with the help of study, observation, comparison 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 generalization 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, analyzing the facts and reaching certain conclusions either in the
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