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Some people consider research as a movement, a movement from the known to the unknown. It is
actually a voyage of discovery. You all possess the vital instinct of inquisitiveness for, when the
unknown confronts, you wonder and your inquisitiveness makes you 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 Encyclopedia 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 form of
solutions(s) towards the concerned problem or in certain generalizations for some theoretical
formulation.
Clearly to use the mean of around 5 would not legitimately portray the true story.
Obfuscation. Obscuring the research findings by the reporting style—for example, by not
highlighting the results that are important or those that the researcher does not like. This would be
done by not reporting information that is contradictory to your conclusions, or by hiding
information by producing a very verbose report full of very technical/specialized terminology or
long paragraphs with long-winded sentences.
Greenfield (1996) quotes from Mark Twain: ‘The researches of many commentators have already
thrown much darkness on this subject, and it is probable that, if they continue, we shall soon know
nothing at all about it.’ Obfuscation also includes the display of data. Graphs must be given titles,
axis labelled, and any transformations used, such as logging the axis, must be clear to the reader.
Plagiarism. This is passing off someone else’s work as your own. This is unacceptable and any
quotes and illustrations used must be attributed to their source and properly referenced. To avoid
many of these problems, research must be carefully planned and one should strive to avoid cutting
corners. Research ethics is summed up in the following statement: ‘It is unethical to conduct
research that is badly planned or poorly executed’ (Declaration of Helsinki 1975).
In planning research, the ethical consequences to the individual and to society must be considered
and made clear. If you are involved with humans as subjects in experiments or as cases in a survey,
informed consent must be obtained. So you need to tell the subjects about your research, what you
hope to achieve, how they will be affected, and to ensure that they understand. There is also, where
relevant, an obligation to ensure privacy and confidentiality. This can relate to the information
collected, individuals involved, the setting, and how the research data and findings are stored and
disseminated. There are some ways of ensuring this, such as by putting passwords on files, limiting
copies, aggregating findings, removing scales, labeling people/companies as a, b, c, etc., and making
small changes at random to data in tables to prevent individuals being identified—a process called
Barnardisation.