Promotion of Research Culture in Sur University: A Case Approach

Scientific Research

A research is defined as systematic investigation to establish facts or principles or to collect information on a subject (research, n.d.) Conducting research involves: Identification of research problem, Literature review, Specifying the purpose of the research, Determine specific research questions or hypotheses, Data collection, Analyzing and interpreting the data, and Reporting and evaluating research.

“The scientific method is a body of techniques for investigating phenomena, acquiring new knowledge, or correcting and integrating previous knowledge. To be termed scientific, a method of inquiry must be based on empirical and measurable evidence subject to specific principles of reasoning. The Oxford English Dictionary defines the scientific method as: “a method or procedure that has characterized natural science since the 17th century, consisting in systematic observation, measurement, and experiment, and the formulation, testing, and modification of hypotheses.” Scientific researchers propose hypotheses as explanations of phenomena, and design experimental studies to test these hypotheses via predictions which can be derived from them. Theories that encompass wider domains of inquiry may bind many independently derived hypotheses together in a coherent, supportive structure. Theories, in turn, may help form new hypotheses or place groups of hypotheses into context. Scientific inquiry is generally intended to be as objective as possible in order to reduce biased interpretations of results. Another basic expectation is to document, archive and share all data and methodology so they are available for careful scrutiny by other scientists, giving them the opportunity to verify results by attempting to reproduce them. This practice, called full disclosure, also allows statistical measures of the reliability of these data to be established (when data is sampled or compared to chance)”(Scientific method, n.d.). “Scientific research is application of scientific method to the investigation of relationships among natural phenomenon, or to solve a medical or technical problem” (Scientific research, n.d.).