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ACE8001: What do we mean by Research?
& Can we hope to do genuine Social Science Research
(David Harvey)

What do we mean by research? What might characterise good research practice? There is no point in us trying to re-invent the wheel - other and probably more capable people than us have wrestled with this problem before us, and it makes good sense and is good practice to learn what they have discovered. In other words - we need to explore more reliable and effective methods and systems for the pursuit of research than we have been doing so far.
What is research?
Dictionary Definitions of Research: * "The act of searching closely or carefully for or after a specified thing or person" * "An investigation directed to discovery of some fact by careful study of a subject" * "A course of scientific enquiry" (where scientific = "producing demonstrative knowledge")
Howard and Sharp (HS) define research as:
"seeking through methodical processes to add to bodies of knowledge by the discovery or elucidation of non-trivial facts, insights and improved understanding of situations, processes and mechanisms".
[Howard, K. and Sharp, J.A. The Management of a student research project, Gower, 1983 - a useful and practical “how to do it” guide]

Two other, more recent guides are:
Denscombe, Martyn, 2002, Ground rules for good research: a 10 point guide for social research, Open University Press. Robinson Library Shelf Mark: 300.72 DEN, Level 3 (several copies), 2 copies also available in the Student Texts collection (Level 2)
Denscombe,Martyn, 2003, The Good Research Guide: for small scale social research projects, Open University Press, Robinson Library Shelf Mark: 372.30281 DEN, Study Skills Collection, Level 4 (several copies)

What particular cognitive and affective skills should we have aquired already?
Bloom's taxonomy of educational

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