General Knowledge Quiz

Meaning of Research

• Research is a search for knowledge or a scientific and systematic search for pertinent information on a specific topic.
• It is an art of scientific investigation, a voyage of discovery that satisfies our inquisitiveness for the unknown.
• Research is an academic activity that involves defining and redefining problems, formulating hypotheses, collecting and evaluating data, and testing conclusions.

Definitions of Research

• The Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English defines 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.”
• According to Clifford Woody, research involves defining and redefining problems, formulating hypotheses, collecting and evaluating data, and testing conclusions.
• D.Slesinger and M.Stephenson define research as “the manipulation of things, concepts or symbols to generalize to extend, correct or verify knowledge.”

Objectives of Research

• The main aim of research is to discover answers to questions through the application of scientific procedures.
• Objectives of research include:
  • To gain familiarity with a phenomenon or to achieve new insights into it (exploratory or formative research studies)
  • To portray accurately the characteristics of a particular individual, situation, or group (descriptive research studies)
  • To determine the frequency with which something occurs or with which it is associated with something else (diagnostic research studies)
  • To test a hypothesis of a causal relationship between variables (hypothesis-testing research studies)

General Characteristics of Research

• Research gathers new knowledge or data from primary or first-hand sources.
• It emphasizes the discovery of general principles.
• Research is an exact, systematic, and accurate investigation.
• It uses certain valid data-gathering devices and is logical and objective.
• The researcher resists the temptation to seek only the data that supports his hypotheses and eliminates personal feelings and preferences.
• Research endeavors to organize data in quantitative terms and is a patient and unhurried activity.
• Research is carefully recorded and reported, and conclusions and generalizations are arrived at carefully and cautiously.

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