01/09/2020
Understanding Research: A Conceptual Discourse
Research is a systematic, creative work undertaken to prop up a body or stock of existing or non existing knowledge.
It meant literally to search, search and research, resulting in the documentation of established findings.
Like other human endeavors, research is methodological: It involves the practical use of methods (systematic pattern of doing things) and logic (reasoning) in investigating and interrogating a natural or social phenomena.
The stages of processes of research are thus:
Identifying the problem;
Reviewing existing literature;
Clarifying the problem;
Clearly defining terms and concepts;
Defining the population;
Developing the instrumentation plan;
Collect data; and
Analysing data and establishing research findings.
Conceptual understanding of research is rooted in knowing more than isolated facts and methods of research. The successful researcher understands ideas of his or her researched phenomena, and has the ability to transfer knowledge into new situations and apply it to new contexts.
These concepts and contexts get the attention they deserve as they are explained operationally according to the whim and intent of the researcher.
