Q: What is research and what are some of its objectives?
Research is a systematic examination of an event, occurrence, pattern, object, or behavior. It is done to gain a better understanding of the subject of the study – to uncover causes, symptoms, reactions, treatments, and insights, as the case may be. They key point to note is that it is done in a systematic way: you need to establish procedures for recording, storing, and managing data and information and also perform analyses before arriving at a conclusion.
Research is carried out for several reasons: to understand something better, to address a gap in previous research, to arrive at a cure or treatment (in the case of the medical or even the social sciences), and sometimes even to fuel further research. Consider COVID-19, for instance. Since the outbreak, researchers from various disciplines across the world have been exploring it from various angles: initially more to understand its causes, symptoms, and spread, and presently, more to come up with vaccines and treatments. Additionally, researchers in the social sciences are studying it from the perspectives of its impact on people, society, and economies.
Hope that helps. For more information, it would be best to, well, undertake some research on your own.
It might also help to know more about types of research. So, you could refer to these resources:
This content belongs to the Conducting Research Stage