PRACTICAL RESEARCH 1

Lesson 1
IMPORTANCE OF RESEARCH IN DAILY LIVES

If you think research is not for you, let me give you some instances that you might have
applied “researching”. Can you still recall when your math teacher- asked you to solve a
mathematical problem that you cannot understand? Thus, no matter how you try you cannot
find the right answer or concepts behind it Most probably, you ask somebody to help you out
or you open your cellphone and search for a video tutorial. Can you still recall when you first
played your favorite online game, and no matter how much you try, you still cannot defeat
your opponent’s hero? I think what you did was to ask your friend or an expert to help you out
or you searched on the internet for answers. The process that you have done is research. You
had a problem, you established your methods on how to solve your problem, you conducted
a literature review or an actual interview and survey, then you came up with solutions. These
requires you to search and to overcome your problems. Research flows in the same manner.
Doing research does not necessarily mean creating extraordinary things like Mark Zuckerberg
who developed Facebook or even Zhang Yiming who created TikTok.

Etymologically, research came from “re” and “search”. "Re" is a prefix that means “again”
and search is a word which means “to look for”. Therefore, research is to look for something
(Chapman 1979). There are two (2) things that we need to take note of in this definition. First,
research is not only about the discovery of something unknown, but also coming up with a
new explanation of something that is known. Second, research is a process. It is a process of
searching for something to solve an existing problem or difficulty to solve.

Research is also understood as a systematic investigation or inquiry entailing collection of

data, documentation of critical information, analysis, interpretation of information (Williams
2007). From the given definition, this highlights the manner how research is conducted. It is
systematic. The question is, how does it become systematic and what makes it systematic. The
term systematic entails the structure. To understand the word system, just imagine your body.
Are your hands located in your ears? Or is your nose located on your chin? Of course, you will
reason out that your hands are located to where it should be, and your nose is located in the
middle of your face. The manner of how your body parts are structured and organized implies
the system. Research as systematic means it follows the structure or method. Therefore,
whenever collecting data, documenting information, analyzing, and interpreting information
are conducted, a particular method is used.

On the other hand, research can be also viewed as the formation of new knowledge and
the employment of previous or existing knowledge into a new and creative way (O’Donnell
2012). Imagine these two (2) scenarios: mother giving birth to a baby and a potter molding a
pot. The creation of new knowledge can be compared to a mother giving birth. The mother
stands for the research itself and the baby is new knowledge. Thus, through research, new
knowledge is born. On the other hand, a potter molding a pot can be paralleled to the use of
existing knowledge in a new creative way. Here, the potter stands for the researcher, the clay
as the existing knowledge, and the pot itself is a new knowledge made creatively.

Now, do not be afraid to carry out research. It is because you can make research. Why?
First, it is not new to you. You are not just fully aware that what you were doing is research and
you have been doing many times. Second, research is not a demanding activity that would
exhaust your strength. However, some particular techniques and processes are involved and
needed to be carried out in conducting this activity. What you have heard from others is a
piece of hoax and challenges. It is a hoax for research is not after all difficult. It is a challenge
for you that needs dedication and commitment to successfully do this exciting activity.
 Research is very significant on our lives; it has gradually changed human life through history.
Here are the five (5) importance of research to our daily lives.
1. Research aims for truth (Rolfe 2002).
2. Research improves quality of human life (Bornmann 2013).
3. Research saves life(Cancer Research UK 2019).
4. Research gathers necessary information (Igwenagu 2016).
5. Research explores humanity (Lee, Tran, and Lee 2007).

1. The research aims for truth. We crave truth for no one has the desire to live in lies
(Rasmussen 2013). Research is about establishing truth based on evidence or data. We
conduct a study to seek for truth. Just imagine, for many centuries people believe that the
world is flat, and it is over the giant turtle. Beyond the horizon of the sea is an abyss. But
there came Ferdinand Magellan who proved this otherwise. His courage and research
have made us live with the fact that the world is round.

Have you ever heard about the belief that earth is the center of the universe? Actually,
for many years men believed that everything revolved around us. But thanks to Copernicus,
because of his tedious research, now we know that it is not Earth as the center of the
universe but the sun. I beat you can cite more examples related to this concern.
Nonetheless, the main idea here is that research provides us an explanation or solution to
particular problem based on truth (Kasi 2009).

2. Research improves the quality of human life. I believe that you often hear from your
parents about their experiences when they were young. Though it sounds so boring, they
live without television, without the internet, without a cellphone, without an air condition,
without an electric fan, without computer, or online games. Can you imagine that kind of
life? But look at our situation now. Everything that they don’t have before, we have it now.
You can cook now without a fire stove. Now, it is a matter of pushing a button with the use
of a rice cooker or electric stove. You can call and see your friends abroad without hustles
through the use of social media platforms. You can travel anywhere by just a matter of
hours or a few days using your motorcycles and bikes. You can enjoy staying at home not
going outside with the use of your smartphones. This is the life we have now. Do you think
it just went down from heaven like rain during the rainy season? All of the technological
advancements are brought by different researches (Gupta 2018). Without the people who
dedicated their lives for the sake of humanity, we will not have this kind of life. Through
research, it improves our standard of living.

3. Research saves a life. Through the course of human history, research has proven its worth
and roles in our lives. In the past, when penicillin was not yet discovered, people just die
without proper medication. It was by the research of Fleming that the first generation of
antibiotics were discovered (Pandey et al. 2014). In the same manner, how can we forget
the research of Dr. Abelardo Aguilar, a Filipino doctor, one of the contributors to the
discovery of Erythromycin during the late 1940s? Now, we have effective medicine in
bacteria that causes infections in the respiratory tract (Peretti et al. 2011).
Moreover, Dr. Fe Del Mundo improved the incubator and jaundice relieving device.
Now pre-matured babies and those suffering from jaundice can survive and enjoy life in
the future. With our situation now with the threat of COVID 19, the only hope is research.
Research on understanding the disease, development of vaccines, and medication will
save us. Nonetheless, researchers are doing their best working day and night to have a
medical remedy for this pandemic. Later, research will succeed and will continue to
provide us a safer life.

4. Research gathers the necessary information. Conducting research implies gathering

necessary data to explain your problem and to answer your particular questions for
example, you want to understand students’ perceptions about modular with the
 projected participants. Thus, the content of the survey questionnaire and the guided
interview must align to your problem and to the questions that you like to answer. On this
manner, you are gathering important data needed for your research. Another, when
COVID 19 was just starting to spread, medical experts are puzzled about the emerging
disease (Vetter, Eckerle, and Kaiser 2020). Many of them wanted to know what the cause
was. Some of them investigated how it is being transmitted. Some experts dealt with
medical mapping. Others determined the incubation period and how it can be prevented.
Each of them intensively conducted a particular study to answer their inquiries. They did
many laboratory experiments, observations, and literature review. Data related only to
their questions were considered. Now, we have at least a good perspective on the
manner the virus is transmitted, possible medication, ways to prevent it, incubation period,
and location affected by the pandemic. Thus, the necessary information to understand
the situation was gathered.

5. Research explores humanity. Do you know that Bataeños have developed distinct
Tagalog intonation and words? Do you know that the song “Ati Ku Pung Singsing” is about
the culture of the Kapampangan? Do you know that in Zambales, the Aetas have
customary maternal and infant care beliefs based on their tradition and faith passed
through generations? Do you know that the Dumagat of Aurora considered prayers as
part of their economic life? Do you know that the province of Tarlac came from the
"Malatarlak"? I am quite sure that you are familiar with some of these questions. These are
just examples of how research explores the culture of people.

Research likewise deals with the investigation of culture to understand and to

appreciate others' practices, and beliefs (Zion and Kozleski 2005). The way we understand
others is the result of a long study of different individuals to provide us explanations about
group or individual culture. Because of this, we can now relate, understand, and respect
others.

Probably you have your own, experience aware with your own experience how
research works, you can still cite importance of research. These five (5) importance are just
the representation of many benefits we can get out of research. Research is important
because it aims for truth, improves quality of human life, saves life, gathers necessary
information, and explores humanity. Who knows in the future, your research might be
beneficial to humanity. Hand on your pencil! Let us start researching!