Recently, I found a bunch of people is claiming a piece of writing as Research work; whether they even don’t know the difference between a Project and a Research! Therefore, today I am going to explain – “What is Research”?
Lets think about a simple example. Our research objective is to generate the number 4. We have two different methods to do it (we can have more methods):
Method 1: (2 + 2) = 4
Method 2: {(9-2+1-6) + (8+2-3-3-1-1)} = 4
You can use either of the methods to solve the problem. If you only use one method to generate 4, then it’s a project or something else; not a research!
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Now think about another scenario. Again, our research objective is to generate the number 4. In addition, we want to understand which method is less time consuming. In simple words – which method is easier to calculate!
Our research hypothesis = Method 1 is easier than Method 2, in terms of time consumption (i.e. Method 1 < Method 2)!
Just try to prove it using (relevant) quantitative or qualitative or mixed techniques. Finally, you will get only one outcome from the following three combinations:
1. Method 1 > Method 2, or
2. Method 1 < Method 2, or
3. Method 1 = Method 2
Whatever the final result you get it doesn’t matter; you have already conducted a (world-class) RESEARCH!
It means, a research must have 4 basic elements:
1. Research Objective(s)
2. Research Hypothesis
3. Comparative characteristics
4. Method(s) to justify the hypothesis
* Remember, publishing article(s) is not similar to conducting a proper research work!
** Don’t make things complicated, think in a simple way, enjoy your work and be original!
JUST DO RESEARCH!
