Research Basics
The research process deals with the ways and strategies used by researchers to understand the world around us. This is a guide to basic elements of scientific research.
Research Basics
 | Research Methods |
 | Experimental Research |
 | Research Designs |
 | Statistics in Research |
What is Research?
Basics of the Scientific Method
What is the Scientific Method?
Definition of the Scientific Method
Steps
Steps of the Scientific Method - The scientific method has a similar structure to an hourglass - starting from general questions, narrowing down to focus on one specific aspect, then designing research where we can observe and analyze this aspect.
At last, the hourglass widens and the researcher concludes and generalizes the findings to the real world.
Aims of Research
The general aims of research are:
Purpose of Research - Why do we conduct research? Why is it necessary?
Elements of Research
Common scientific research elements are:
Characterization - How to understand a phenomenon
- Decide what to observe about a phenomenon
- How to define the research problem
- How to measure the phenomenon
Hypothesis and Theory
- The research questions before performing research
- Almost always based on previous research
- What answers do we expect?
- Reasoning and logic on why we expect these results
Observation or Experimentation
- Testing characterizations, hypothesis, theory and predictions
- Understanding a phenomenon better
- Drawing Conclusions
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Full reference:
Oskar Blakstad (May 6, 2008). Research Basics. Retrieved Jul 19, 2025 from Explorable.com: https://explorable.com/research-basics
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