What is Research
In order to show some personal comprehension against the concept of research, today I will talk about it, its importance and its feachers.
Howard and Sharp (1983:6) define research as "seeking through methodical processes to add to one's own body of knowledge and hopefully, to that of others, by discovery of non-trivial facts and insight". That means, researcher intends to add additional facts to his/her knowledge or others.
Nunan, D. (1992) says that research is a systematic process of inquiry consisting of three elements or components. These elements are a question, problem or hypothesis, data and analysis and interpretation of data. In other words, research is an investigation, a study or a gathering of data about specific subjects. It aims to get an answer for inquiry, problem or hypothesis using systematic and sequencing process. A research project usually falls onto the previous four stages which will be explained as the following.Hypothesis is an assumption or a guess which we want to guess. Question is something we want to find the answer to in a research. Problem is a difficulty on an issue or aspect of teaching we are unhappy about. In any research, the researcher gathers 'data'. This concept means the information which are collected by him/her in order to be used in his/her research.
After data gathering, we come to data analysis which means presentation of data to make it easy to be understood. In addition, data interpretation means saying what we have learnt from that data. Research can also be a device of knowledge in order to improve the understanding of different issues. It is important to follow the previous sequence of components in order to carry out a good research.
Features of research
Bell, J (1993) says that when a researcher produces a new research project he will need to select a topic and identify its objectives, plan a suitable methodology and prepare suitable researching instruments. Researcher also collects, analyses and present information and finally, produces a well-written report.
Blaxter, L. et-al (1996) suggest that research is about providing pet theory. It is done by academics or experts. It is also about establishing the facts. In addition it is objective and time-consuming. They say "one of the key skills involved in choosing a topic is to be able to pick one of the right size: not too big, not too small, but do-able within the time, space and resources available".
In addition, the most important features of a good research that it must interest the researcher and it should be researchable which means easy to be researched by the researcher.
References
- Bell, J. (1993, 2nd edition) Doing Your Research Project. Buckingham: Open University press.
- Blaxter, l., Hughes, Ch & Tight, M. (1996) How to Research. Buckingham: Open University press.
- Howard, K. & Sharp, J.A. (1983) The Management of Student Research Project. Aldershot: Gower.
- Nunan, D. (1992) Research Methods in Language Learning. Cambridge: Cambridge.
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