Topic 1: Meaning and significance of research
When most people hear the word “research”, most people feel that it is very hard, has many steps, has to spend a long time, and has to use knowledge in making research instruments and also be able to use statistics which makes many people do not want to do research.
There are many levels in doing research ranging from difficult and complex level that use academic knowledge and spend years to do each research to simple research that even children in kindergarten and primary school abroad can do it. So, research is not that difficult to do.
The question is “What is research?” “Why do we have to do research?” “What are advantages of doing it?
Research looks and finds the answer that we want to know, suspects, and inspects unclear problem where the answer is reliable without guessing or thinking and concluding oneself in a way to find the answer using process and steps systematically.
For example, if you want to know the favorite singer for the students at Upper Secondary School in Wat Jang Community Learning Centre, you will have to guess by yourself or ask just only 2 or 3 students and then make decision. This is wrong. You should make questionnaires and distributes them in Wat Jang Community Learning Central to find out the answer.
Besides getting results and answers that we want to know from doing research, it also benefits the researcher and shows the researcher as a person who is able to think, like investigating, studying and searching for knowledge and compose them systematically. On the other hand, research lists the following advantages:
Knowledge makes new academic knowledge.
Research produces innovation, invention, and new concept.
Research helps answer the question that we want to know and help in solving problems.
Research helps planning and making decision.
Research helps us to know the result and the weak point from the operation.