Research is an essential and powerful tool in leading man towards
progress. Without systematic research there would have been very little progress. John W. Best has rightly said, “The secret of our cultural development has been research, pushing back the areas of ignorance by discovering new truths, which, in turn, lead to better ways of doing things and better products.” Scientific research leads to progress in some field of life. New products, new facts, new concepts and new ways of doing things are being found due to ever-increasing significant research in the physical, the biological, the social and the psychological fields. Research today is no longer confined to the science laboratory.
Meaning of Research: Word ‘Research’ is comprises of two words = Re+Search. It means to search again. So research means a systematic investigation or activity to gain new knowledge of the already existing facts. Research is an intellectual activity. It is responsible for bringing to light new knowledge. It is also responsible for correcting the present mistakes, removing existing misconceptions and adding new learning to the existing fund of knowledge. Researches are considered as a combination of those activities which are removed from day to day life
7 and are pursued by those persons who are gifted in intellect and sincere in pursuit of knowledge. But it is not correct to say that the research is restricted to such type of persons, however, it is correct to say that major contribution of research comes from highly gifted and committed workers. Thus the research is not at all mysterious and is carried on by hundreds of thousands of average individuals. Research is also considered as the application of scientific method in solving the problems. It is a systematic, formal and intensive process of carrying on the scientific method of analysis. There are many ways of obtaining knowledge. They are intuition, revelation, and authority, logical manipulation of basic assumptions, informed guesses, observation, and reasoning by analogy. One of the branches of research known as empirical research is highly goal-oriented technique.
Definitions of Research: The following are the important definitions of research: “Research is an endeavor / attempt to discover, develop and verify knowledge. It is an intellectual process that has developed over hundreds of years ever changing in purpose and form and always researching to truth.” J. Francis Rummel “Research is an honest, exhaustive, intelligent searching for facts and their meanings or implications with reference to a given problem. The product or findings of a given piece of research should be an authentic, verifiable contribution to knowledge in the field studied.” P.M. Cook “Research may be defined as a method of studying problems whose solutions are to be derived partly or wholly from facts.” W.S. Monroes “Research is considered to be the more formal, systematic intensive process of carrying on the scientific method of analysis. It involves a
8 more systematic structure of investigation, usually resulting in some sort of formal record of procedures and a report of results or conclusion.” John W. Best “Research comprises defining and redefining problems ,formulating hypothesis or suggested solutions, collecting ,organizing and evaluating data, making deductions and reaching conclusions and at last careful testing the conclusions to determine whether they fit the formulated hypothesis.” Clifford Woody “Research is a systematic effort to gain new knowledge.” Redman & Mori “Social research may be defined as a scientific undertaking which by means of logical and systematized techniques aims to discover new facts or verify and test old facts , analyse their sequences , inter- relationships and casual explanation which were derived within an appropriate theoretical frame of reference , develop new scientific tools , concepts and theories which would facilitate reliable and valid study of human behavior.” P.V. Younge
Purpose of Research: The purpose of research is to discover answers to questions through the application of scientific procedure. The main aim of research is to find out the truth which is hidden and which has not been discovered as yet. Though each research study has its own specific purpose, some general objectives of research below: (i) To gain familiarity with a phenomenon or to achieve new insights into it. (Studies with this object in view are termed as exploratory or formative research studies).
Al Makhmari, S. A., Kaklamanos, E. G., & Athanasiou, A. E. (2017) - Short-Term and Long-Term Effectiveness of Powered Toothbrushes in Promoting Periodontal
