There is No Hope of Doing Perfect Research

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There are two ways of looking at research and perfect research. Conceptually, these two are oxymoron. Research is done to understand the unknown or clear doubts about the known. Perfect research is possible only when you have the full knowledge of the subject of investigation so have no room for mistakes or bias in planning, formulating, and executing the research and drawing conclusions from it. If you know everything about the subject and have no doubt about it, then there is no need for perfect research. Operationally, perfect research could be viewed as one which is better organized, formulated, and executed and whose result is interpreted without mistake and bias.

I shall therefore focus on the operational side of research. Many of the inventions and discoveries that revolutionized the world have been the products of rudimentary experiments or chance findings rather than of perfect research. The airplanes, penicillin, pacemaker, rubber, and plastic are some of the examples. A perfect research may fail to produce anything beneficial. My goal in this paper, therefore, is to demonstrate that, while there is no hope of doing perfect research, only research presents hope for perfecting life.

1. What is Research?

There is no consensus on the definition of research. It might mean different things to different people and disciplines. For instance, one organization defines research as something that “must define a series of research questions . . . specify a research context for the questions, issues or problems to be addressed . . . specify the research methods . . .” (AHRC). Another says research is “a detailed study of a subject, especially in order to discover (new) information or reach a (new) understanding” (CUP). H...

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...eases, improve their health, and prolong their longevity.

4. Conclusion

While conceptually research cannot be perfect, operationally it can be made better organized, executed and interpreted. Therefore, perfect research in the sense of making research better should be an ideal to strive for, it should not prevent us from carrying out research, though imperfect, that can help us acquire new knowledge and find solutions to our problems. The perfect must not be the enemy of the good.

Works Cited

AHRC, “Definition of Research.” Arts and Humanities Research Council, January 2009. Web. 30 July 2011.

CDO (Cambridge Dictionary Online), Cambridge University Press. n. d.. Web. 30 July 2011.

SIA (Smithsonian Institute Archive), The Write Brothers: Pioneers in Aviation. n.d. Web. 29 July 2011.

“The History of Penicillin.” About.com. n.d. Web. 29 July 2011.

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