The Role Of Research And Research Process In Understanding Society

Research refers to investigation which is systematic to reach new conclusions and establish facts. Each research involves an explicit, systematic, disciplined approach aimed at finding the most appropriate results. Qualitative research which investigates social elements is inductive (Levitt et al., 2017). Research also can be referred to a range of data analysis and collection methods which utilises semi-structured, open-ended interview and sampling approaches to collect data (Gopaldas, 2016). The key purpose of research is to understand a topic so that something helpful can churn out, which can be helpful to society. Which means that the research should be of high quality so that the results achieved are useful in some policies and future project implications. Moreover, a study is an opportunity that assists a researcher to undertake a deep original study on a topic of interest. The research aimed at providing the best of the solution to some of the world challenges and also promotes knowledge. The process that is undertaken to gain results and promote knowledge is referred to as the research process. To a community, research enhances knowledge, clarifies confusion, promote proper understanding of the subject among other benefits to the community. This paper will critically evaluate the role of research and the research process in understanding society.

Research assist in understanding society. Once individual conduct research concerned with society, people become alert and aware of the bad or good things in society. To understand the community policies, norms, code of conduct, an individual requires to properly research or it may become difficult to survive in society. Moreover, research is very important in understanding society's culture. Every community has its own culture (Kim, 2011 p.200). Therefore, to deeply know the culture of a particular society, research about that society is required. Undertaking research enables one to know the hidden meanings and the concepts about society’s culture, which if research is not done, the society will remain unaware of the same. A research to a society enables them to know the truth and increase awareness of society. Research enables readers to understand the truth about anything about society. For instance, research in a society assist in enlightening one’s mind and building trust, therefore enabling the individual to differentiate between wrong and right which further assist in making decisions.

Sociologists utilise various research methods to understand society and social behaviour. Their research questions are influenced by theory. These theories explain how different parts of society work together to create order. Research basis lies in the interpretive approach to social reality as well as in the description of the lived experience of humans, therefore, it has a profound influence on the research area of education, health care, anthropology, management among other factors of the society (Xu & Storr, 2012 p.10). Besides, community members benefit from research in that, it assists them in having a better understanding of a subject in the community, as it develops greater understanding related to learning and teaching aspects.

On the other hand, epistemology refers to a technique of understanding and explaining the basis of our knowledge. It is concerned with providing a philosophical grounding for deciding the possible kind of knowledge. Research especially, qualitative research involves various approaches and orientations, various intellectual and different philosophical assumptions. These approaches and orientations generate new data-collection as well as analysis techniques. However, it is crucial to understand that regardless of the differences there are also many similarities when it comes to designing the elements of qualitative studies. According to Crotty's research designs elements, researchers adopt a specific stance towards the nature of knowledge while underlying the whole research process while governing the theoretical perspective (Jamshed, 2014 p.87). This guide to the research process has created knowledge to the community which has helped build more creative ways of solving issues. Most often, qualitative research is based on relativism, subjectivism and constructivism which embrace the mentality that reality is self-and culturally determined. In the 1970s and 1980s, qualitative research began to be used in other disciplines and became a dominant kind of research in the sector of women, disability and educational studies. Moreover, unlike quantitative researchers, most qualitative scholars do not delve deeply into their literature until a time when their topic has emerged (Jamshed, 2014 p.87). Qualitative scholars have suggested that literature review curtails inductive evaluations, therefore need to be avoided at the early research process stages. However, other scalars have highlighted the importance of the literature review arguing that it demonstrates the underlying assumptions behind the study’s questions which are key to a research proposal. Moreover, research theories have added that literature review gives scholars a chance to identify gaps which exist in certain areas of study.

For research to be successful, some study designs are adopted such as correctional studies whose purpose is to discover the prevalence of a problem, attitude by taking a snap of the population. Other designs include longitudinal studies where a population is studied for a while (Hunt, 2011 p.296). However, considering research nature, the interaction between participants and researchers can be ethically challenging at different stages of the study. Moreover, while conducting research, the community is engaged. Therefore, ethical guidelines formulation is very essential. Researchers are responsible for making sure that participants are safe participants are provided with the informed consent and that privacy is maintained. Some of the principles of ethical conduct in research include; "do no harm", this means that participants should not be harmed by the research. Secondly is the principle of anonymity which regulate on anonymous and lastly is the principle of confidentiality which expect researchers to keep participant data confidential (Unluer, 2012 p.58).

In conclusion, research is very crucial to the community. It helps generate new knowledge and understanding which is very crucial to society. To carry out research, study designs are used such as cross-sectional studies. However, ethical issues must be considered to avoid harming participants.

References

• Gopaldas, A., 2016. A Front-to-back Guide to Writing a Qualitative Research Article, Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal, 19(1), 115–121.
• Hunt, B., 2011. Publishing qualitative research in counseling journals. Journal of Counseling & Development, 89(3), pp.296-300.
• Jamshed, S., 2014. Qualitative research method-interviewing and observation. Journal of basic and clinical pharmacy, 5(4), p.87.
• Kim, Y., 2011. The pilot study in qualitative inquiry: Identifying issues and learning lessons for culturally competent research. Qualitative Social Work, 10(2), pp.190-206
• Levitt, H. M., Motulsky, S. L., Wertz, F. J., Morrow, S. L., & Ponterotto, J. G., 2017. Recommendations for Designing and Reviewing Qualitative Research in Psychology: Promoting Methodological Integrity. Qualitative Psychology, 4(1), 2–22.
• Unluer, S., 2012. Being an insider researcher while conducting case study research. Qualitative Report, 17, p.58.
• Xu, M.A. and Storr, G.B., 2012. Learning the concept of researcher as instrument in qualitative research. The qualitative report, 17(21), pp.1-18.