Research

What is Research?
Research is 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 though objective and systematic method of finding solution to a problem is research.
According to Robert Ross, Research is essentially an investigation, a recording and an analysis of evidence for the purpose of gaining knowledge.
According to Uma Sakharon; Research is an organized, systematic data based, critical, scientific enquiry of investigation into a specific problem, undertaken with the objective of finding answers or solutions to it.

Objective of research:
The purpose of research is to discover answers to questions through the application of scientific procedures. The main aim of research is to find out the truth which is hidden and which has not been discovered as yet. Though each research study has its own specific purpose, we may think of research objectives as falling into a number of following broad groupings:
1. To gain familiarity with a phenomenon or to achieve new insights into it.
2. To portray accurately the characteristics of a particular individual, situation or a group.
3. To determine the frequency with which something occurs or with which it is associated with something else.
4. To test a hypothesis of a causal relationship between variables.

Goals of Psychological Research

There are huge of goals psychological research-
To describe behavior
To understand explain its causes
To predict how people will behave
To influence behavior

Many researchers agree that the goals of scientific research are: description, prediction, and explanation/understanding.

Description
Description refers to the procedures used to define, classify and categorize subjects and their relationships. Descriptions allow us to establish generalizations and universals.
Prediction
In addition developing descriptions, researchers make predictions. Descriptions of events often provide a basis for prediction.
Explanation/Understanding
Arguably, the most important goal of scientific research is explanation. Explanation is achieved when the cause or causes of a phenomenon are identified. In order to determine cause and effect three pre-requisites are essential:
• Co-variation of events (relationship): The variables must correlate. To determine the relationship of two variables, it must be determined if the relationship could occur due to chance.
• Proper time-order sequence (time precedence): For 1 to cause 2, 1 must precede 2. The cause must precede the effect.
• Elimination of plausible alternative causes (non-spuriousness, or genuine): For a relationship between A and B to be nonspurious, there must not be a C that causes both A and B such that the relationship between A and B vanishes once C is controlled.



Criteria of Good Research

Whatever may be the types of research works and studies, one thing that is important is that they all meet on the common ground of scientific method employed by them. One expects scientific research to satisfy the following criteria:
1. The purpose of the research should be clearly defined and common concepts be used.
2. The research procedure used should be described in sufficient detail to permit another researcher to repeat the research for further advancement, keeping the continuity of what has already been attained.
3. The procedural design of the research should be carefully planned to yield results that are as objective as possible.
4. The researcher should report with complete frankness, flaws in procedural design and estimate their effects upon the findings.
5. The analysis of data should be sufficiently adequate to reveal its significance and the methods of analysis used should be appropriate. The validity and reliability of the data should be checked carefully.
6. Conclusions should be confined to those justified by the data of the research and limited to those for which the data provide an adequate basis.
7. Greater confidence in research is warranted if the researcher is experienced, has a good reputation in research and is a person of integrity.
8. Good research is systematic: It means that research is structured with specified steps to be taken in a specified sequence in accordance with the well defined set of rules
9. Good research is logical: This implies that research is guided by the rules of logical reasoning and the logical process of induction and deduction are of great value in carrying out research.