There Is No Hope of Doing Perfect Research Essay .Doc
Parihar 1
Shaily Parihar 15th June 2010
There is No Hope of Doing a Perfect Research Oxford Dictionary defines „research‟ as “the systemic investigation into and study of materials, sources, etc., in order to establish facts and reach new conclusions; an endeavour to discover new or collate old facts etc. by the scientific study of a subject or by a course of critical investigation”. Written in a technical jargon, a research report involves great investment of time and is an outcome of rigorous and laborious work done by researchers in universities. This makes it an article of faith in the eyes of people. We cannot quibble with its details and it does not give us the leisure for interrogation. In the light of the above definition of research, Griffith‟s quote “There is no hope of doing a perfect research”, does not mean to debunk the entire concept of research, it rather admits the fact that we are not living in a utopian world and there are limitations to research work. It also seeks to critique the conclusions of research analysis, which are usually blindly trusted by people. Therefore, my purpose of writing this paper is (1) to establish the importance of research in academic fields even if it has limitations and (2) to show how certain areas of research have been challenged and viewed critically.
LIMITATIONS OF RESEARCH
Reading and Understanding Research by Locke, Silverman and Spirduso, in its second chapter, lists out various limitations in a research process which often lead to lack of faith among the readers of a research report. Along with “technical problems”, issues of “carelessness” and “poor scholarship”, the book also talks about the problem of sampling
Parihar 2
(46-51). Collecting correct samples for research study which “truly represent the population” is far from easy in real life situations. “Lack of replication” is another problem (49). A study becomes less reliable if it is not repeated. Repetition is important to check
Shaily Parihar 15th June 2010
There is No Hope of Doing a Perfect Research Oxford Dictionary defines „research‟ as “the systemic investigation into and study of materials, sources, etc., in order to establish facts and reach new conclusions; an endeavour to discover new or collate old facts etc. by the scientific study of a subject or by a course of critical investigation”. Written in a technical jargon, a research report involves great investment of time and is an outcome of rigorous and laborious work done by researchers in universities. This makes it an article of faith in the eyes of people. We cannot quibble with its details and it does not give us the leisure for interrogation. In the light of the above definition of research, Griffith‟s quote “There is no hope of doing a perfect research”, does not mean to debunk the entire concept of research, it rather admits the fact that we are not living in a utopian world and there are limitations to research work. It also seeks to critique the conclusions of research analysis, which are usually blindly trusted by people. Therefore, my purpose of writing this paper is (1) to establish the importance of research in academic fields even if it has limitations and (2) to show how certain areas of research have been challenged and viewed critically.
LIMITATIONS OF RESEARCH
Reading and Understanding Research by Locke, Silverman and Spirduso, in its second chapter, lists out various limitations in a research process which often lead to lack of faith among the readers of a research report. Along with “technical problems”, issues of “carelessness” and “poor scholarship”, the book also talks about the problem of sampling
Parihar 2
(46-51). Collecting correct samples for research study which “truly represent the population” is far from easy in real life situations. “Lack of replication” is another problem (49). A study becomes less reliable if it is not repeated. Repetition is important to check