Definitions of Research

Research in common parlance refers to search for knowledge. One can also define research as a
scientific and systematic search for pertinent information on a specific topic. In fact, research is
an art of scientific investigation. Some people consider research as a voyage of discovery that
involves movement from the known to the unknown. Research in a technical sense is an
academic activity.

According to the Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English, ‘research is a careful

investigation or enquiry, especially a thorough search for new facts in any branch of knowledge.’

L.V. Redman and A.V.H. Mory (1923) defined research as a ‘systematized effort to gain new
knowledge.’

Martyn Shuttleworth (2008) – “In the broadest sense of the word, the definition of research
includes any gathering of data, information and facts for the advancement of knowledge.

According to Kothari (2006). Research is a pursuit of trust with the help of study, observation,
comparison and experiment, the search for knowledge through objective and systematic method
of finding solutions to a problem.

Longman Dictionary of contemporary English (1997), Research is a serious study of a subject

that is intended to discover new facts or test ideas.

Clifford Woody defined research as an activity that comprises defining and redefining problems,
formulating a hypothesis; collecting, organizing and evaluating data; making deductions and
reaching conclusions; and carefully testing the conclusions to determine if they support the
formulated hypothesis.

D. Slesinger and M. Stephenson, in the Encyclopaedia of Social Sciences, defined research as

‘the manipulation of things, concepts or symbols for the purpose of generalizing, extending,
correcting or verifying the knowledge, whether that knowledge aids in the construction of theory
or in the practice of an art’.

Research is, thus, an original contribution to the existing stock of knowledge making for its
advancement.