Читать книгу Turning Ideas into Research - Barbara Fawcett - Страница 8

In this chapter we look at the many underlying reasons for carrying out research. We explore different ways of researching and start to map out the connections among ideas, conceptual frameworks, the formulation of research questions and methodology. We also develop and take forward our key themes relating to the importance of world-views or ontological and epistemological frames, inclusivity and participation and how research can inform policy and practice.

Research and researching often acquire a certain mystery. Research activity can be viewed as requiring particular training, elevated skills or a proven academic track record. However, we want to start out by looking at research in its broadest sense in order to both simplify and emphasize ‘doability’. We all can be seen to employ research skills in our daily lives as part of exploring an area where we need to gain more information, to check out something we are presented with or to question a statement or a position that has been adopted. Research is about wanting to know more, about working out how to do this and about exploring how action can follow from investigation. This is not to appear to dismiss research knowledge or training. It would be pointless to keep reinventing the wheel, but it is important to emphasize that we all, in various ways, engage in research as part of our daily lives and that we are all eminently capable of undertaking a variety of research projects.

Devising and carrying out a research project is often a question of confidence. If we believe we can do something then invariably we do it. If we doubt ourselves then it is all too easy to place research in the ‘too hard’ basket. There has also been an apparently impermeable barrier erected between researchers and students, between researchers and practitioners, and between researchers and consumers. If we do not feel able to carry out research generally or to look at those areas that we know about and have an interest in then we lose a significant dimension and leave room for others to constitute ‘evidence’ for us.