Research is a systematic process of active inquiry and discovery
through collecting, analyzing, and inferring from data so that we can
understand a given phenomenon in which we are interested. Research is wondering
about the world around within us, developing ways in which to address such
wonderings, and adding to the body of knowledge we believe we have. It is about
questioning the veracity of this knowledge, evaluating it in multiple arenas,
even reorganizing it to develop novel understanding and applications.
Scientific research is the application of the scientific approach
to studying a problem. It is a way to acquire dependable and useful
information. To be classified as scientific research, an investigation must
involve the approach we described in previous sections. Scientific research is
universally a systematic and objective search reliable knowledge.
Educational research is the application of the scientific approach
to the study of educational problems. Educational research is the way in which
people acquire dependable and useful information about the educative process.
The nature of research compared therefore with some of the other
ways of knowing. Those are; sensory experience, agreement with other, expert
opinion, logic and the science method.
We also know type of research, all of us engage in action that have some
of the characteristic of formal research, although perhaps we do not realize
this at the time. We try out new method of teaching, new materials, new
textbooks. The term research can mean any short of “careful, systematic,
patient study and investigation in some field of knowledge, undertaken to
discover or establish facts and principles”. In scientific research, the
emphasis is on obtaining evidence to support or refute proposed facts or
principles. Experimental research: is the most conclusive of scientific
methods.
Research as we mean is not simply summarizing what other have done.
Many undergraduate students write research papers for their classes. We read
research manuscripts every day and for some of them we sit back and state.
That’s really a beautiful study.