Overview of Module

1.2. Purpose

§  Research is essential to human progress, innovation, and societal well-being. It not only furthers knowledge but also addresses real-world challenges, fosters critical thinking, and leads to informed decision-making across various sectors.

§  The primary aim of research is to discover, interpret, and develop knowledge that contributes to the existing body of knowledge or to solve specific real-world problems.

§  Though each research study has its own specific purpose, we may think of research objectives as falling into a number of following broad groupings:

1. To gain familiarity with a phenomenon or to achieve new insights into it (studies with this object in view are termed as exploratory or formulative research studies);
2. To portray accurately the characteristics of a particular individual, situation or a group (studies with this object in view are known as descriptive research studies);
3. To determine the frequency with which something occurs or with which it is associated with something else (studies with this object in view are known as diagnostic research studies);
4. To test a hypothesis of a causal relationship between variables (such studies are known as hypothesis-testing research studies).

§  As a member of the research community, you are building on the knowledge that others have acquired before you and providing a road map for those who come after you. You are adding to a body of work that will never be complete. Research is an ongoing, collaborative process with no finish line in sight.