What Are The Criteria For Judging Whether Research Is Worthwhile?

What are the criteria for judging whether research is worthwhile? Is there some research that should not even be done?

Depending on one’s outlook, there can be multiple goals and reasons for

conducting research. These reasons can be as simple as expanding a field of knowledge

for knowledge’s sake alone: "scientia gratis scientiae" in Latin or more noble causes such

as evaluating cures for fatal diseases, alleviating poverty, reducing crime rates or

enhancing educational methods. Regardless of the purpose, certain research guidelines

must be followed.

When considering any research involving human subjects, it is first important to

follow the basic ethical principals outlined in the Belmont Report (Bachman & Schutt,

2011). Those principals being respect for human subjects, informing them of any risks or

rewards (justice) and minimizing those possible harms (beneficence) and also includes

informed consent. If studies do not conform to these basic principals, an extremely

strong case could be made they should not be conducted. The text cited Zimbardo’s

Stanford Prison Experiment as a glaring example of unethical research (Bachman &

Schutt, 2011).

It was ironic this past week’s New York Times Magazine had an interview with

Dr. Zimbardo, based on the upcoming movie ‘The Stanford Prison Experiment”.

This is the link to his brief interview:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/19/magazine/philip-zimbardo-thinks-we-all-can-be-evil.html

What is the most effective model of the research process?

There is no one most effective model for every research process; a one-size fits all

approach is not the best choice. Each research question must be evaluated independently,

to ascertain the best fit and meth...

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...d they are discussing validity. In

order to evaluate research the following questions should be considered:

1. What is the research question being posed?

2. Does the research question match the research design being used?

3. How was the study conducted?

4. What are the results of the study? Was the data collection accurate? Was it analyzed properly?

5. Are there other explanations for the study results, aside from those posited by the researcher? Could those (confounding) variables pose a threat to the study validity?

To summarize, good research requires some framework, some general guiding principles

to sustain it and evaluate it. Without these principles, it may be nothing more than a

collection of random observations, narratives, measurements or guesses at information

and its significance to science or the human condition.