Research Strengths

In my last post (so long ago) I was trying to discover just what research was--my own in particular.  I was supposed to learn research by reading others' research. Now that the class is over I feel slightly more knowledgeable than when I started. However I do wonder if a coherent presentation of what research is is available.

I recently attended a health conference where speaker Daniel Vitalis mentioned when he was learning tough subjects he loved the Complete Idiot's Guides and children's coloring books on the particular subject.  I rather fondly know why these are choice resources for intelligent articulate adults who want to quickly assimilate information (however the research guide is reportedly not savvy enough for graduate students). So, in my own idiot-fashion I am presenting research strengths (or why we should conduct research).

Research Strengths:

• A centralized storage for past, present and current thoughts on a subject
• Identifies gaps in current research 
• Meticulous overview and measurement of very narrow topics 
• Easy to reproduce and test for yourself
• Opens dialogue between many diverse thinkers
• Helps the writer and researcher thoroughly understand a topic

These are the topic strengths I pulled out of the process. I chose a bit of a radical topic which I am still learning about. With all good research there are no easy answers, only approximations. I can say I am closer to understanding my topic but after the confusion of this class I may need more time off to assimilate all that I learned while reading, reading, reading.