What is research?

Before writing a research paper, let’s review what research is, why we do it, and how our research fits into the larger context of scientific discovery.

To research (v.) means to systematically investigate something to establish facts and reach new conclusions. This can be done directly through primary sources or indirectly from secondary sources.

Primary means first or original, so a primary source means an original source. We collect our own data through observations and measurements. For example, if we are investigating the sinking of the Titanic, primary research would be analyzing a piece of the steel hull to understand its chemical composition.

Secondary means second, or next, so secondary research is an investigation based on data from other studies. For the Titanic example, we might examine previous studies about (1) the composition of the steel plates and rivets, (2) the design of the watertight compartments and analyses of how water flowed into them, and (3) the design of the rudder and engines and the ship’s ability to change or reverse course.

Research as a noun means the academic or professional inquiry into a topic to understand what is already known about it in the body of knowledge and to discover, interpret, or develop something new to add to that knowledge. This can be a new invention, a new idea, or a new way of thinking about an existing idea, process, or object.

The body of knowledge means the collective information and wisdom about something. When we refer to the body of knowledge or "the literature," we generally mean proven or scientifically accepted knowledge. This is found in publications such as scholarly books and academic or professional journal papers.

Before we can discover, interpret, or develop something new, we must first understand what is already known about that particular subject of our research. In other words, we must search the body of knowledge. We read what other researchers and scientists have already learned. This is called a review of the literature. A review of the literature will also tell us the background about a subject and will tell us the general trends and current beliefs.

Understanding what is already known about something is critically important for two reasons. The first is that as researchers, we don’t want to invest time, effort, and resources into discovering or inventing something and then find out that it has already been discovered or invented. The second is that our understanding of the world around us happens in small steps, and research builds on the research that comes before it. To continue to build our knowledge, we need to find out what is already known before we can research what we don’t yet know.

Research is generally done for one of two reasons: to solve a problem or to address a gap in our scientific understanding of something. Research done to solve a problem is often asking a “how” question. How do we solve the problem of a lack of clean, cheap, renewable energy sources? How can we safely extinguish a burning building? How do we address the growing problem of obesity? Research on these topics would try to find solutions to these problems.

A gap means a space between two things. Something is missing, like a missing piece of a puzzle. In research, these are often “what” questions. For example, what is dark matter? We understand quantum physics, but we do not understand quantum gravity or quantum electromagnetism. We can map human DNA and we understand about 3%, but we do not understand what the remaining 97% of our DNA is or does. A research project to address a gap in our knowledge will try to find answers to these kinds of questions.

Of course, not all research studies try to answer such big questions. In fact, most research provides a solution to one small part of a larger problem or answers just one very small question. As researchers, we study what others have done and we build on their work. The 2009 Nobel Prize for chemistry was awarded, not for “understanding DNA,” but for describing the ribosome and how it works on the atomic level. It is a step in helping us to understand DNA. Similarly, the 2020 prize in physics was awarded for mathematically proving black holes exist, which supports Einstein’s theory of relativity.

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