Gojo, Janelie G.

English
BS Accountancy 1-23 Prof. Jinky
De Jesus

1. What is Research?

The systematic investigation into and study of materials and

sources in order to establish facts and reach new conclusions. Research
comprises "creative work undertaken on a systematic basis in order to
increase the stock of knowledge, including knowledge of humans,
culture and society, and the use of this stock of knowledge to devise
new applications. It is used to establish or confirm facts, reaffirm the
results of previous work, solve new or existing problems, support
theorems, or develop new theories. A research project may also be an
expansion on past work in the field. To test the validity of instruments,
procedures, or experiments, research may replicate elements of prior
projects, or the project as a whole. The primary purposes of basic
research (as opposed to applied research) are documentation,
discovery, interpretation, or the research and development (R&D) of
methods and systems for the advancement of human knowledge.
Approaches to research depend on epistemologies, which vary
considerably both within and between humanities and sciences. There
are several forms of research: scientific, humanities, artistic, economic,
social, business, marketing, practitioner research, etc.

2. What are the types of research?

Pure Research

Pure research is research done simply to find out something by

examining anything. For instance, in some pure scientific research
scientists discover what properties various materials possess. It is not
for the sake of applying those properties to anything in particular, but
simply to find out what properties there are. Pure mathematics is for
the sake of seeing what happens, not to solve a problem.

The fun of pure research is that you are not looking for anything in
particular. Instead, anything and everything you find may be joined
with anything else just to see where that combination would lead, if
anywhere.

Let's take an example. I was reading a variety of books and magazines

once. There were a some science fiction novels, Jean Auel's THE CLAN
OF THE CAVE BEAR, Carl Sagan's BROCA'S BRAIN, several Isaac Asimov
collections of science essays and two of his history books,
ADVERTISING AGE and AD WEEK magazines, some programs on PBS, a
couple of advertising textbooks I was examining for adoption in my
class, and several other things I can't even remember now. This was
pure research; I was reading and watching television for the sake of
reading and watching about things I didn't know.

Relating all of the disparate facts and opinions in all of these sources
led me to my opinions on stereotyping and pigeonholing as vital
components of human thought, now a major element in my media
criticism and advertising psychology classes. When I started I had no
idea this pure research would lead where it did. I was just having fun.

Original Research

Original, or primary research is looking for information that nobody

else has found. Observing people's response to advertising, how prison
sentences influence crime rates, doing tests, observations,
experiments, etc., are to discover something new.

Orginal research requires two things: 1) knowing what has already

been discovered, having a background on the subject; and 2)
formulating a method to find out what you want to know. To accomplish
the first you indulge in secondary research (see below).

For the second, you decide how best to find the information you need
to arrive at a conclusion. This method may be using focus groups,
interviews, observations, expeditions, experiments, surveys, etc.
For example, you can decide to find out what the governmental system
of the Hittite Empire was like on the basis of their communication
system to determine how closely the empire could be governed by a
central bureaucracy. The method to do this original research would
probably require that you travel to the Middle East and examine such
things as roads, systems of writing, courier systems without horses,
archeological evidence, actual extent of Hittite influence (commercial,
military, laws, language, religion, etc.) and anything else you can think
of and find any evidence for.

Secondary Research

Secondary research is finding out what others have discovered through

original research and trying to reconcile conflicting viewpoints or
conclusions, find new relationships between normally non-related
research, and arrive at your own conclusion bas ed on others' work.
 This is, of course, the usual course for college students.

An example from recent years was the relating of tectonic, geologic,

biologic, paleontologic, and astronomic research to each other. Relating
facts from these researches led to the conclusion that the mass
extinctions of 65 million years ago, including the dinosaurs, was the
result of an asteroid or comet striking the earth in the North Atlantic at
the site of Iceland. (For a full explanation see THE GREAT EXTINCTION
by Michael Allaby and James Lovelock.) Later research based on the
above has found a potential crater for the impact on the Yucatan
Peninsula.

Secondary research should not be belittled simply because it is not

original research. Fresh insights and viewpoints, based on a wide
variety of facts gleaned from original research in many areas, has often
been a source of new ideas. Even more, it has provided a clearer
understanding of what the evidence means without the influence of
the original researcher's prejudices and preconceptions.

3. Purpose of Research

As you probably already know, there are many reasons why research is
done. But what are its purposes? Why bother with all the different
styles, techniques, experiments and measurements?

Why did the first sailors, the ones before Columbus and Magellan, hop
on their little canoes and paddle out? Humans naturally explore the
world around them, wanting to learn about the planet we have labeled
Earth.

Why did Hippocrates and Galen examine and write about the maladies
of man? The need to describe and understand our world is found in
even the youngest children. Why did we develop an entire group of
sciences to understand humans? Because what good is being human if
you cannot explain why we do something. Maybe I am being a little to
'meta' about all this. The purpose of psychology is to explore, to
describe and to explain how and why a person thinks, feels and acts.

There are two basic purposes for research: to learn something, or to

gather evidence. The first, to learn something, is for your own benefit.
It is almost impossible for a human to stop learning. It may be the
theory of relativity or the RBIs of your favorite ball player, but you
continue to learn. Research is organized learning, looking for specific
things to add to your store of knowledge. You may read SCIENTIFIC
AMERICAN for the latest research in quantum mechanics, or the sports
section for last night's game results. Either is research.
4. End Product of Research.

The end product of something is the thing that is produced or achieved

by means of it. It is the part where the research has been proved a
fact. The evidence is shown either scientifically or orally. To end up the
right end product of research, all the needed data must be gathered
and so as to analyze and experiment then interpret.

5. MLA and APA format.

The MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing (2008) is the
third edition of The MLA Style Manual, first published by the Modern
Language Association of America in 1985. It is an academic style guide
widely used in the United States, Canada, and other countries,
providing guidelines for writing and documentation of research in the
humanities, especially in English studies; the study of other modern
languages and literatures, including comparative literature; literary
criticism; media studies; cultural studies; and related disciplines (but
not disciplines like history, philosophy, and theology, which follow The
Chicago Manual of Style).

According to the MLA book catalog description, since first being

published in 1985, the MLA Style Manual has been "the standard guide
for graduate students, scholars, and professional writers". MLA style
"has been widely adopted by schools, academic departments, and
instructors for over half a century"; the MLA's "guidelines are also used
by over 1,100 scholarly and literary journals, newsletters, and
magazines and by many university and commercial presses", and they
are "followed throughout North America and in Brazil, China, India,
Japan, Taiwan, and other countries around the world".

APA style is a format for academic documents such as journal articles

and books. It is codified in the style guide of the American
Psychological Association (APA), titled the Publication Manual of the
American Psychological Association. The APA states that the guidelines
were developed to assist reading comprehension in the social and
behavioral sciences, for clarity of communication, and for "word choice
that best reduces bias in language". APA style is widely used, either
entirely or with modifications, by hundreds of other scientific journals
(including medical and other public health journals), in many
textbooks, and in academia (for papers written in classes). Along with
AMA style and CSE style, it is one of the major style regimes for such
work. Many publications have small local style guides that cascade
over AMA, APA, or CSE style in a way analogous to how inline styles in
HTML cascade over CSS styles (for example, "follow APA style unless
otherwise specified herein" or "for issues not addressed herein, follow
APA style").

In response to the growing complexities of scientific reporting,

subsequent editions were released in 1974, 1983, 1994, and 2001.
Primarily known for the simplicity of its reference citation style, the
Publication Manual also established standards for language use that
had far-reaching effects. Particularly influential were the "Guidelines for
Nonsexist Language in APA Journals," first published as a modification
to the 1974 edition, which provided practical alternatives to sexist
language then in common usage.[3][4] The guidelines for reducing
bias in language have been updated over the years and presently
provide practical guidance for writing about race, ethnicity, age,
gender, sexual orientation, and disability status