RESEARCH
Research
Research is a step-by-step process to find answers, understand things better, and solve problems. It helps in different areas like education, science, and business. For example, researchers study new teaching methods, medical treatments, and business strategies (Creswell, 2014).
A DEFINITION OF RESEARCH AND ITS IMPORTANCE
Research is a process of steps used
to collect and analyze information to increase our understanding of a topic or
issue. At a general level, research consists of three steps:
1. Pose a question.
2. Collect data to answer the question.
3. Present an answer to the question.
This should be a familiar process. You engage in solving problems every day and you start with a question, collect some information, and then form an answer. Although there are a few more steps in research than these three, this is the overall framework for research. When you examine a published study, or conduct your own study, you will find these three parts as the core elements. Not all educators have an understanding and appreciation of research. For some, research may seem like something that is important only for faculty members in colleges and universities. Although it is true that college and university faculty members value and conduct research, personnel in other educational settings also read and use research, such as school psychologists, principals, school board members, adult educators, college administrators, and graduate students. Research is important for three reasons.
. Research Adds to Our Knowledge
Educators strive for continual improvement. This requires addressing problems or issues and searching for potential solutions. Adding to knowledge means that educators undertake research to contribute to existing information about issues. We are all aware of pressing educational issues being debated today, such as the integration of AIDS education into the school curriculum.
Research plays a vital role in addressing these issues. Through research we develop results that help to answer questions, and as we accumulate these results, we gain a deeper understanding of the problems. In this way, researchers are much like bricklayers who build a wall brick by brick, continually adding to the wall and, in the process, creating a stronger structure.
How can research specifi cally add to the knowledge base and existing literature? A research report might provide a study that has not been conducted and thereby fill a void in existing knowledge. It can also provide additional results to confirm or disconfirm results of prior studies. It can help add to the literature about practices that work or advance better practices that educators might try in their educational setting. It can provide information about people and places that have not been previously studied.
Suppose that you decide to research how elementary schoolchildren learn social skills. If you study how children develop social skills, and past research has not exam ined this topic, your research study addresses a gap in knowledge. If your study explores how African American children use social skills on their way home from school, your study might replicate past studies but would test results with new participants at a differ ent research site. If your study examines how children use social skills when at play, not on the school grounds, but on the way home from school, the study would contribute to knowledge by expanding our understanding of the topic. If your study examines female children on the way home from school, your study would add female voices seldom heard in the research. If your study has implications for how to teach social skills to stu dents, it has practical value.
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