Is There Any Hope of Doing Perfect Research?
There is No Hope of Doing Perfect Research! Do You Agree?
There is no concept of doing perfect research neither in social sciences, nor in natural or physical sciences. To achieve perfection in research teachings is neither feasible nor desirable. Perfect research if it implies something which is taken to be granted, accepted unerring and definition for all times and does not need further examination is impossible.
Research is in fact an honest, coherent and systematic organized effort to find out answers to questions or to discover solutions to some problems through scientific procedures: It is an ongoing process and is subject to further scrutiny and examination.
Many questions, however, can be approached by scientific methods at the present time. This does not mean that research will always emerge with an answer, let alone a definitive answer. Research is oriented toward seeking answers it may or may not find them. Characteristically, modern science and especially social science, is an unfinished process.
Sometimes it also happens that research findings reported by one study are quite different from those produced by another study on the same topic. One researcher, for example, may come up with a finding that the girls who study in co-education schools perform better than those who study in all girls’ schools; another researcher turns up with just the opposite finding.
The second point, in our view, that makes the researcher perfect impossible is the personal element that a researcher always carries with him. Man is made up of emotions and sentiments. He has biases and prejudices that make his research findings not perfect and objective.
The element of subjectivity is very much there especially in social sciences. In natural and physical sciences, the researcher can achieve to a great extent the objective and perfection because there is little chances for personal biases and prejudices to creep in the research findings whereas it is not possible to achieve perfect objectivity in social sciences.
It goes without saying that research is incapable to provide any conclusive answers to the concerned queries however, it certainly enhances the probability of seeking accurate answers. Moreover, to achieve perfection in research is also improbable because here are limitations inherent in the findings of a single study. It is therefore, an urgent need for systematic knowledge founded on a broader base. Without such broader knowledge, the insights of social science will necessarily be limited to the scientific settings and problems in which research was carried out. T.H. Huxley rightly pointed out: “Those who refuse to go beyond facts rarely get as far as facts.” It aims at providing and finding out the facts that have not been yet known or discovered and to freshly interpret the already known and discovered facts in such a way that it adds to existing human knowledge.
An objective result is when the result is based on scientific fact and proof, rather than a person’s perception of the result. An objective decision is made on result and data gained based on continuous testing, and then demonstrated or confirmed by a third party, to prove there was no 'contamination' of the result by any individual involved in the testing - specifically, the results weren’t influenced by personal feelings. Blurt-it