What is research? A careful study of a subject, especially in order to discover new facts or information about it according to oxford but simply searching for answers, with a question in your mind, through scientific tools and methods, in a systematic way is called Research.
Typical research would involve having in mind your variables, coming up with a hypothesis, literature review, conducting interviews and surveys, looking at correlations and causation effects between those variables and drawing conclusions.
But it need not always be to run through theories and this whole process, from simple browsing for “best places to eat in the area to writing a thesis” the process that we follow is called research.
Scientific research is a critical tool for successfully navigating through this complex world. Thanks to the innate curiosity we are born with to solve problems, to know the reason and to simplify our life. Without it, we would be forced to rely solely on our intuition, other people’s authority, blind luck, and myths created out of them.
But can we live without research? What would happen without research?
If early civilizations hadn’t been curious to find ways to move faster, we wouldn’t have had wheels and thus no industrial revolution. Centuries of research have led us to where we are today: to be able to look and talk to a person from any corner of the globe and to watch content from any part of the world.
Imagine a world without research.
Yes, the world would be greener, as the Internet was developed via a large amount of exhaustive research. We’d become ignorant and unaware. We wouldn’t understand or go forward.
Without research, we’d likely also be utterly defenceless to the brutal forces of nature, that is without Meteorology, we’d be unable to predict the paths of violent storms, hurricanes and tornadoes, destruction due to volcanic eruptions etc
Medical technology and discovery would be non-existent which means our life expectancy would be significantly lower, our food would not be safe for consumption, and every minor illness could be life-threatening and devastating because there would be no MRI, no anaesthetic, no birth control, no X-Ray machine, no vaccination, no germ theory, and no gravity. While many of us feel confident in our abilities to understand and interact with the world around us, history shows us how very wrong we can be when we fail to recognize the need for evidence in supporting claims. At various times in history, we would have been certain that the sun revolved around a flat earth, that the earth’s continents did not move and that mental illness was caused by possession. Yes, our ancestors, across the world and over the centuries, believed that trephination—the practice of making a hole in the skull, allowed evil spirits to leave the body (maybe through this hole), and people with mental illness were beaten up impudently and were isolated from society, in a practice of curing mental illness and other disorders. It was with research that we understood that the mind and body are two different things. Each of them needs different types of treatment. Not until Phineas gage's accident that we knew that parts of the brain are responsible for our personality and behaviour and that the different parts of the brain are responsible for different functions. It is through systematic scientific research and quest that we were able to divest ourselves of these preconceived notions, social evils, and superstitions and gained an objective judgement and insight about ourselves and the world around us. It is no wonder that even today’s practices might not make sense to those generations who are yet to come because Science is ever evolving. Even if we acquired the latest technologies available, even in the most sophisticated environment, within not much time we'll get to know its gaps and start researching again and discover or invent something to solve them in a smarter, and faster way possible, because research is an inevitable and is part of evolution. The objective of any scientist is to better understand, predict and know the world around them. In contrast to other methods that people use to decipher the behaviour of others, such as past experiences, intuition and personal experience, the eminence of scientific research is that there is evidence to support a claim. Scientific knowledge is empirical: It is grounded in objective, tangible evidence that can be observed time and time again, regardless of demographic interference, like in the case of gravity which attracts things towards the ground no matter where u stand on this earth., conservation of energy, etc. While behaviour is observable, the mind is not. How can you probably understand why some students can usually do well in their studies and why some others though they try can't? … it was not until some scientists looked furthermore into the parenting styles they were exposed to, their individual personality, the food they consumed, the trauma they were exposed to, sleeping habits etc. We got to know that all of these factors have a considerable effect on the student’s performance. And only research has helped us produce these conclusions and helped us navigate in bettering our way of life And invariably research exists in every field, it is just that we place special emphasis on the process of research because it is the rigour with which this is carried out (the scientific method) that distinguishes scientific research from other forms of enquiry, and scientific knowledge from other kinds of knowledge. And that makes every field scientific, and not that research exists only in “science”. Today’s movies wouldn’t be this relatable, creative and entertaining if they weren’t researched, the toys and chocolates we played with and ate still would have been in the same shape, colour and taste if they weren’t researched upon, the same is the case with clothes, furniture, constructions, and everything and anything around us. They are all studied and upgraded to fit our needs. And these are all the factors that make research an ever-green field cause end of research means the end of growth. So not only is research an invaluable tool for building on crucial knowledge, but it’s also the most reliable way we can begin to understand the complexities of various issues; maintain our integrity as we disprove lies and uphold important truths; to serve as the seed for analysing convoluted sets of data; as well as to serve as ‘nourishment’, or exercise for the mind. It’s time for us all to embrace research, find evidence, test out ideas, and discover better ways of doing things.
This Blog on: Research in everyday life , has been contributed by Namratha Guna Kaleru. Namratha Guna Kaleru is BA student major subjects being psychology, literature and political science. Her major interest is Psychology hence does some research work on interesting topics and creates content online.
She is part of the Global Internship Research Program (GIRP). GIRP is an IJNGP initiative to encourage young adults across our globe to showcase their research skills in psychology and to present it in creative content expression.
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