Research is the process of discovering new knowledge, combining and testing existing knowledge and information to make it more useful. It can be applied to a variety of issues in the sciences, humanities and business. It may be conducted as a formal project with the aid of a research committee or as a more informal exploration of a question. For example, looking through old family photographs or reading a biography of a famous person could be considered research.
In research, the first step is to identify what you want to learn about a topic. This may be a specific question or it may be a gap in current knowledge. Once you know what you want to find, the research team will name their search topic and create a hypothesis (an educated guess about what they believe they will discover).
The next step in the research process is to gather and analyze data. This can include biological measurements (like blood, urine or saliva), surveys, interviews and focus groups. The collected information must be accurate and reliable. The research team also must make sure they have enough data to answer their questions at the end of the study.
Once the data is collected and analyzed, the researchers will write up their results in a section called “Results.” In this section, the authors will tell you what their findings are and what they think it means for the field of research. Some papers will also include a discussion or recommendation section.