7 Reasons Why Research Is

Important
1. A Tool for Building Knowledge and Efficient Learning
Research is required not just for students and academics, but for all professionals. It is also
important for budding and veteran writers, both offline and online.
Among professionals and scribes, finding an interesting topic to discuss and/or to write about should
go beyond personal experience. Determining either what the general public may want to know about
or what researchers want others to realize or to think about can serve as a reason to do research.

2. Means to Understand Various Issues

Television shows and movies ooze with research - both on the part of the writer(s) and the actors.
Though there are hosts who rely on their researchers, there are also those who exert effort to do
their own research. This helps them get information that hired researchers missed, build a good
rapport with the interviewee, and conduct a good interview in the process.
For their part, some film and TV actors would take time to interview detectives, boxers, scientists,
business owners, criminals, and teachers, among others. Others even go through immersion to
make them understand the issues of their respective characters better, such as living in jail or in a
drug rehabilitation center. Many would read literature, biographies, or journals to have a better view
or context of the story.

As what Terry Freedman says in "The Importance of Research for ICT Teachers" (2011): "Research
can shed light on issues we didn’t even know existed, and can raise questions we hadn’t realised
even needed asking." Thus, almost all writers of imaginary and non-fictive tales also do research, for
doing so helps them create a good story and/or achieve strong credibility as an academic.

3. An Aid to Business Success

Research benefits business. Many successful companies, such as those producing consumer goods
or mass-market items, invest in research and development or R&D. Different business industries
with science and engineering processes like agriculture, food and beverage, manufacturing,
healthcare and pharmaceuticals, computer software, semiconductor, information and communication
technology, construction, robotics, aerospace, aviation, and energy have high R&D expenditure
because it is critical to product innovation and to improving services.

R&D also helps secure a vantage point over competitors. Finding out how to make things happen
and what could differentiate them from others that offer similar products and services can raise the
company’s market value. Certainly, having relevant knowledge in achieving a good commercial
image through sound business strategies like investing in R&D can boost its profitability.

4. A Way to Prove Lies and to Support Truths

Ever experienced feeling that your mate is having an affair behind your back? Some people would
overlook that and say that it's better not to know; others though would take discreet action, hiring
detectives to do the work. What does research have to do with that situation? A lot.
Doing research to reveal lies or truths involving personal affairs contributes in either making a
relationship work or in breaking away from a dysfunctional one. For the monogamous lot, doing
research to disprove or prove infidelity is not simply a trust issue, but a right to find out the truth -
unless one's intimate partner has already admitted being polyamorous even before the relationship
started. When a person dislikes answering relationship-related questions, including her or his
whereabouts, it is better to see that as a red flag and take baby steps to save yourself from what
could become a more serious emotional mess later.

5. Means to Find, Gauge, and Seize Opportunities

Research helps people nurture their potential and achieve goals through various opportunities.
These can be in the form of securing employment, scholarships, training grants, project funding,
business collaboration, and traveling without spending much, among others.

For those looking for a job or for greener pastures, research is necessary. Through this process, not
only will the unemployed increase their chances of finding potential employers either through job
posting sites or employment agencies, but it can inform them if work opportunities are legitimate.
Without research, the gullible, yet hopeful jobseeker or migrant worker may fall prey to unscrupulous
headhunters who might be involved in illegal recruitment and/or human trafficking.

6. A Seed to Love Reading, Writing, Analyzing, and Sharing Valuable

Information
Research entails both reading and writing. These two literacy functions help enable computation and
comprehension. Without these skills, it is less likely for anyone to appreciate and get involved in
research. Reading opens the mind to a vast horizon of knowledge, while writing helps a reader use
her/his own perspective and transform this into a more concrete idea that s/he understands.

Apart from reading and writing, listening and speaking are also integral in conducting research.
Interviews, attending knowledge-generating events, and casual talks with anyone certainly aid in
formulating research topics. They can also facilitate the critical thinking process. Listening to experts
discuss the merits of their studies helps the listener to analyze a certain issue and write about such
analysis.

With the wide array of ideas available, scholars and non-scholars involved in research are able to
share information with a larger audience. Some view this process as ego-boosting, while others see
it as a means to stimulate interest and encourage further studies about certain issues or situations.
As literacy is integral in improving a person's social and economic mobility and in increasing
awareness, research then hones necessary basic life skills and makes learning a life-long endeavor.

7. Nourishment and Exercise for the Mind

Curiosity may kill not just the cat, but the human as well. Yet, it is the same curiosity that fuels the
mind to seek for answers. The College Admissions Partners (n.d.) notes how scientific research in
particular "helps students develop critical reasoning skills...helpful for any field of higher education..."
Such search or the thinking process is food for the brain, allowing creativity and logic to remain
active. It also helps prevent mental illnesses like Alzheimer's.
Indeed, research and doing research encourage people to explore possibilities, to understand
existing issues, and to disclose truths and fabricated ones. Without research, technological
advancement and other developments could have remained a fantasy. Reading, writing, observing,
analyzing, and interacting with others facilitate an inquisitive mind's quest for knowledge and efficient
learning. Research serves as an instrument to achieve that goal.
Characteristics of a Good Research Paper
by Writeopedia - Writing Help

Research paper is the document that has a research background, current issue and future
recommendations regarding a certain relationship. It normally includes two basic variables,
dependant and independent variable. These variables are checked under certain circumstances to
see if it works well in that situation or not. It requires a great amount of critical and authentic data.
Students get into a great trouble when they are asked to produce a research report.

Research paper writing is one of the difficult tasks in a student’s life. Be it finance, marketing, history
or any other research document, all require a great amount of literature review or background
research data. There are certain characteristics that make a research paper well accepted; some of
it is listed below,

Specific not generalized

Measurable
Attainable
Realistic
Formatting
Specific not generalized: Research topic is generally based on some problem or a relationship
between two variables, this problem should be specifically stated. For example “The impact of age
on purchase decision”, in this statement the two variables are clearly defined. There could be further
segregation of the variables but it should be stated specifically.

Measurable: There is certain research instruments used in doing some analysis it could be some
tool like SPSS or it could be some other physical instrument like thermometer etc, based on the
research requirement. The tools could also include questionnaires, annual reports etc. The sources
for collecting data could be paid like in cases where the sensitive data is involved, here researchers
need to buy assignments or reports in relevant to their research report.

Attainable: The data required for the research should be attainable and available. There have been
several cases in some educational institutions where the research topic was proposed by the data
wasn’t attainable when the practical implementation has been done on that. Here the students were
found to buy essays and other analysis reports to support their write-up.

Realistic: The analysis and result must be realistic; it shouldn’t be manipulated or maneuvered. The
proposed hypothesis for the research would be either accepted or rejected, both are logical.

Formatting: There is a certain format that is to be followed in research writing, it could be APA style
sheet or MLA etc. There are different criteria defined in different formats like font size, indenting etc.

Conclusion
Research paper writing is not that difficult if pone follows the above mentioned characteristics and
the defined format. There are certain helping services available these days that provide custom
assistance for assignments, essay, and research reports. They can also be a good option in creating
a well formatted research report.

Characteristics of Research

1. Empirical - based on observations and experimentation on theories.

2. Systematic - follows orderly and sequential procedure.
3. Controlled - all variables except those that are tested/experimented upon are kept constant.
4. Employs hypothesis - guides the investigation process
5. Analytical - There is critical analysis of all data used so that there is no error in their
interpretation
6. Objective, Unbiased, & Logical - all findings are logically based on empirical
7. Employs quantitative or statistical methods - data are transformed into numerical measures
and are treated statistically

The Seven Steps of the Research Process

The following seven steps outline a simple and effective strategy for finding information
for a research paper and documenting the sources you find. Depending on your topic
and your familiarity with the library, you may need to rearrange or recycle these steps.
Adapt this outline to your needs. We are ready to help you at every step in your
research.

STEP 1: IDENTIFY AND DEVELOP YOUR TOPIC

SUMMARY: State your topic as a question. For example, if you are interested in finding
out about use of alcoholic beverages by college students, you might pose the question,
"What effect does use of alcoholic beverages have on the health of college students?"
Identify the main concepts or keywords in your question.

More details on how to identify and develop your topic.

STEP 2: FIND BACKGROUND INFORMATION

SUMMARY: Look up your keywords in the indexes to subject encyclopedias. Read

articles in these encyclopedias to set the context for your research. Note any relevant
items in the bibliographies at the end of the encyclopedia articles. Additional
background information may be found in your lecture notes, textbooks, and reserve
readings.

More suggestions on how to find background information.

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STEP 3: USE CATALOGS TO FIND BOOKS AND MEDIA

SUMMARY: Use guided keyword searching to find materials by topic or subject. Print or
write down the citation (author, title,etc.) and the location information (call number and
library). Note the circulation status. When you pull the book from the shelf, scan the
bibliography for additional sources. Watch for book-length bibliographies and annual
reviews on your subject; they list citations to hundreds of books and articles in one
subject area. Check the standard subject subheading "--BIBLIOGRAPHIES," or titles
beginning with Annual Review of... in the Cornell Library Classic Catalog.

More detailed instructions for using catalogs to find books.

Finding media (audio and video) titles.

Watch on YouTube: How to read citations

STEP 4: USE INDEXES TO FIND PERIODICAL ARTICLES

SUMMARY: Use periodical indexes and abstracts to find citations to articles. The
indexes and abstracts may be in print or computer-based formats or both. Choose the
indexes and format best suited to your particular topic; ask at the reference desk if you
need help figuring out which index and format will be best. You can find periodical
articles by the article author, title, or keyword by using the periodical indexes in
the Library home page. If the full text is not linked in the index you are using, write down
the citation from the index and search for the title of the periodical in the Cornell Library
Classic Catalog. The catalog lists the print, microform, and electronic versions of
periodicals at Cornell.

How to find and use periodical indexes at Cornell.

Watch on YouTube: How to read citations

Return to the top

STEP 5: FIND ADDITIONAL INTERNET RESOURCES

Nearly everyone is aware of and uses Google and its branches, Google
Scholar, Google Books, Google News, YouTube, etc., to search and find information on
the open Internet (as opposed to the subscription-only resources you will encounter in
steps 2 through 4 above). Here are links to other search engines.

You can also check to see if there is a research guide (a subject guide or a course
guide) created by librarians specifically for your topic or your class that links to
recommended resources.

STEP 6: EVALUATE WHAT YOU FIND

SUMMARY: See How to Critically Analyze Information Sources and Distinguishing
Scholarly from Non-Scholarly Periodicals: A Checklist of Criteria for suggestions on
evaluating the authority and quality of the books and articles you located.
Watch on YouTube: Identifying scholarly journals Identifying substantive news
sources

If you have found too many or too few sources, you may need to narrow or broaden
your topic. Check with a reference librarian or your instructor.

When you're ready to write, here is an annotated list of books to help you organize,
format, and write your paper.

STEP 7: CITE WHAT YOU FIND USING A STANDARD FORMAT

Give credit where credit is due; cite your sources.

Citing or documenting the sources used in your research serves two purposes, it gives
proper credit to the authors of the materials used, and it allows those who are reading
your work to duplicate your research and locate the sources that you have listed as
references.

Knowingly representing the work of others as your own is plagarism. (See

Cornell's Code of Academic Integrity). Use one of the styles listed below or another
style approved by your instructor. Handouts summarizing the APA and MLA styles are
available at Uris and Olin Reference.

Available online:

RefWorks is a web-based program that allows you to easily collect, manage, and
organize bibliographic references by interfacing with databases. RefWorks also
interfaces directly with Word, making it easy to import references and incorporate them
into your writing, properly formatted according to the style of your choice.

See our guide to citation tools and styles.

Format the citations in your bibliography using examples from the following Library help
pages: Modern Language Association (MLA) examples and American
Psychological Association (APA) examples.
  Style guides in print (book) format:

 MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. 7th ed. New York: MLA, 2009.
(Olin Reference LB 2369 .G53 2009 [shelved at the reference desk]; also Uris
Reference, others)

This handbook is based on the MLA Style Manual (Olin and Uris Ref PN 147 .G444x
1998) and is intended as an aid for college students writing research papers. Included
here is information on selecting a topic, researching the topic, note taking, the writing of
footnotes and bibliographies, as well as sample pages of a research paper. Useful for the
beginning researcher.
 Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. 6th ed. Washington:
APA, 2010. (Olin Reference BF 76.7 .P83 2010 [shelved at the reference desk]; also
Uris Reference, Mann Reference, others)

The authoritative style manual for anyone writing in the field of psychology. Useful for
the social sciences generally. Chapters discuss the content and organization of a
manuscript, writing style, the American Psychological Association citation style, and
typing, mailing and proofreading.
 Home >
 Foundations >
 Ethics

Ethics in research are very important when you're going to conduct an

experiment.

Ethics should be applied on all stages of research, such as planning, conducting and evaluating
a research project.

The first thing to do before designing a study is to consider the potential cost and benefits of the
research.

Research - Cost and Benefits-Analysis

We evaluate the cost and benefits for most decisions in life, whether we are aware of it or not.
 Ethics should be applied on all stages of research, such as planning, conducting and evaluating
a research project.
The first thing to do before designing a study is to consider the potential cost and benefits of the
research.

This can be quite a dilemma in some experiments. Stem cell research is one example of an area
with difficult ethical considerations.
As a result, stem cell research is restricted in many countries, because of the major and problematic
ethical issues.

Ethical Standards - Researchers Should...

 avoid any risk of considerably harming people, the environment, or property unnecessarily.
The Tuskegee Syphilis Study is an example of a study which seriously violated these standards.
 not use deception on people participating, as was the case with the ethics of the Stanley Milgram
Experiment
 obtain informed consent from all involved in the study.
 preserve privacy and confidentiality whenever possible.
 take special precautions when involving populations or animals which may not be considered to
understand fully the purpose of the study.
 not offer big rewards or enforce binding contracts for the study. This is especially important when
people are somehow reliant on the reward.

 not plagiarize the work of others

 not skew their conclusions based on funding.
 not commit science fraud, falsify research or otherwise conduct scientific misconduct. A con-study,
which devastated the public view of the subject for decades, was the study of selling more coke
and popcorn by unconscious ads. The researcher said that he had found great effects from
subliminal messages, whilst he had, in fact, never conducted the experiment.
 not use the position as a peer reviewer to give sham peer reviews to punish or damage fellow
scientists.
Basically, research must follow all regulations given, and also anticipate possible ethical problems in
their research.
Competition is an important factor in research, and may be both a good thing and a bad thing.
Whistleblowing is one mechanism to help discover misconduct in research.

Ethics in Research
We are going through a time of profound change in our understanding of
the ethics of applied social research. From the time immediately after
World War II until the early 1990s, there was a gradually developing
consensus about the key ethical principles that should underlie the
research endeavor. Two marker events stand out (among many others)
as symbolic of this consensus. The Nuremberg War Crimes Trial
following World War II brought to public view the ways German scientists
had used captive human subjects as subjects in oftentimes gruesome
experiments. In the 1950s and 1960s, the Tuskegee Syphilis Study
involved the withholding of known effective treatment for syphilis from
African-American participants who were infected. Events like these
forced the reexamination of ethical standards and the gradual
development of a consensus that potential human subjects needed to be
protected from being used as 'guinea pigs' in scientific research.

By the 1990s, the dynamics of the situation changed. Cancer patients

and persons with AIDS fought publicly with the medical research
establishment about the long time needed to get approval for and
complete research into potential cures for fatal diseases. In many cases,
it is the ethical assumptions of the previous thirty years that drive this
'go-slow' mentality. After all, we would rather risk denying treatment for a
while until we achieve enough confidence in a treatment, rather than run
the risk of harming innocent people (as in the Nuremberg and Tuskegee
events). But now, those who were threatened with fatal illness were
saying to the research establishment that they wanted to be test
subjects, even under experimental conditions of considerable risk. You
had several very vocal and articulate patient groups who wanted to be
experimented on coming up against an ethical review system that was
designed to protect them from being experimented on.
Although the last few years in the ethics of research have been
tumultuous ones, it is beginning to appear that a new consensus is
evolving that involves the stakeholder groups most affected by a
problem participating more actively in the formulation of guidelines for
research. While it's not entirely clear, at present, what the new
consensus will be, it is almost certain that it will not fall at either extreme:
protecting against human experimentation at all costs vs. allowing
anyone who is willing to be experimented on.

Ethical Issues
There are a number of key phrases that describe the system of ethical
protections that the contemporary social and medical research
establishment have created to try to protect better the rights of their
research participants. The principle of
voluntary participation requires that people not be coerced into participating in research. This is
especially relevant where researchers had previously relied on 'captive audiences' for their subjects --
prisons, universities, and places like that. Closely related to the notion of voluntary participation is the
requirement of informed consent. Essentially, this means that prospective research participants must be
fully informed about the procedures and risks involved in research and must give their consent to
participate. Ethical standards also require that researchers not put participants in a situation where they
might be at risk of harm as a result of their participation. Harm can be defined as both physical and
psychological. There are two standards that are applied in order to help protect the privacy of research
participants. Almost all research guarantees the participants confidentiality -- they are assured that
identifying information will not be made available to anyone who is not directly involved in the study.
The stricter standard is the principle of anonymity which essentially means that the participant will
remain anonymous throughout the study -- even to the researchers themselves. Clearly, the anonymity
standard is a stronger guarantee of privacy, but it is sometimes difficult to accomplish, especially in
situations where participants have to be measured at multiple time points (e.g., a pre-post study).
Increasingly, researchers have had to deal with the ethical issue of a person's right to service. Good
research practice often requires the use of a no-treatment control group -- a group of participants who
do not get the treatment or program that is being studied. But when that treatment or program may
have beneficial effects, persons assigned to the no-treatment control may feel their rights to equal
access to services are being curtailed.

Even when clear ethical standards and principles exist, there will be
times when the need to do accurate research runs up against the rights
of potential participants. No set of standards can possibly anticipate
every ethical circumstance. Furthermore, there needs to be a procedure
that assures that researchers will consider all relevant ethical issues in
formulating research plans. To address such needs most institutions and
organizations have formulated an Institutional Review Board (IRB), a
panel of persons who reviews grant proposals with respect to ethical
implications and decides whether additional actions need to be taken to
assure the safety and rights of participants. By reviewing proposals for
research, IRBs also help to protect both the organization and the
researcher against potential legal implications of neglecting to address
important ethical issues of participants.

So what is the difference between Qualitative Research and Quantitative Research?

Qualitative Research

Qualitative Research is primarily exploratory research. It is used to gain an

understanding of underlying reasons, opinions, and motivations. It provides insights
into the problem or helps to develop ideas or hypotheses for potential quantitative
research. Qualitative Research is also used to uncover trends in thought and opinions,
and dive deeper into the problem. Qualitative data collection methods vary using
unstructured or semi-structured techniques. Some common methods include focus
groups (group discussions), individual interviews, and participation/observations. The
sample size is typically small, and respondents are selected to fulfil a given quota.

Quantitative Research

Quantitative Research is used to quantify the problem by way of generating numerical

data or data that can be transformed into usable statistics. It is used to quantify
attitudes, opinions, behaviors, and other defined variables – and generalize results
from a larger sample population. Quantitative Research uses measurable data to
formulate facts and uncover patterns in research. Quantitative data collection methods
are much more structured than Qualitative data collection methods. Quantitative data
collection methods include various forms of surveys – online surveys, paper
surveys, mobile surveys and kiosk surveys, face-to-face interviews, telephone
interviews, longitudinal studies, website interceptors, online polls, and systematic
observations.

Snap Survey Software is the ideal survey platform and online research
software where structured techniques such as large numbers of respondents and
descriptive findings are required. Snap Survey Software has many robust features that
will help your organization effectively gather and analyze quantitative data.