Research is not exactly what I thought it was

With school now back in session for the fall, the seemingly unending round of reading and class discussions have restarted as well. One of my classes uses The Craft of Research (see full citation below) as the required text, but I have to say that for required reading this is turning out to be an extremely helpful book. Reading just the first chunk has resulted in some interesting introspection on my research "process" and what I think about the topic. I thought that I would post what I wrote on the class discussion board in response to the first part of the book we were assigned to read.

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I'm finding this book very interesting, namely because it challenges some of my dearly-held preconceived notions and assumptions about research. On the very first page of the preface, the authors introduce the idea of the research project as anything but linear: "Experienced researchers loop back and forth, move forward a step or two before going back in order to move ahead again, [and] change direction..." (Booth, Colomb, & Joseph, 2008, p. xi). All throughout my academic career, I had viewed research (the action) as a process with a definite beginning, middle, and end that followed a straight path and process. The authors of this book are describing something that is fluid, almost with a life of its own. The path from concept (research idea) to product (the final draft) cannot be definitively defined as I had thought, and I understand the logic behind the idea of research as a cycle, rather than a linear path.

A line from Chapter 1 also caught my eye: "Research reported by others, in writing, is the source of most of what we believe" (Booth et al., 2008, p. 9). A common-sense line, but still profound because it's something we don't think about (at least I don't). It also helps to emphasize how important it is that research be accurate, factual, and unbiased. We have a duty to each other when we write; we rely on the written word for information about everything one could possibly imagine. Such information must not be misleading if we are to learn by it and use it to further expand our knowledge. As Booth et al (2008) notes, we must "think for others" when we write (p. 14), meaning we must think of those who would read/use our work--the "audience." This is something I know that I will have to work on.

I guess what this first chunk of the book has taught me is that research is so much bigger than one person. One person may be gathering the information and reporting it, but the benefit is for everyone. Past research affects the present, and current research will affect the future. Research is not the dry, dead thing I saw it as, but a living idea that is fluid and changing.
Booth, W. C., Colomb, G. G., Williams, J. M. (2008). The Craft of Research (3rd ed.). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

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To anyone who is trying to teach the concept of research--why it's done, what one needs, how to do it--I would definitely recommend including this book as part of the curriculum. The language and writing style would probably appeal to a younger crowd and to those who are not necessarily required to conduct research as a part of their career. I think it would also provide a useful perspective to those in various academic communities who perform and report research on a regular basis.