What Research Is
Chapter Seventy-Nine
Syllabus topic 5, "Research Methods"
Pages 296 to 298 of 543
In one line
Research is a systematic attempt to find out something that is not already known, in a way that somebody else could check, and the two words that do the work are systematic and check.
In the wording a student can write in an exam: research is the systematic, objective and reproducible investigation of a question in order to discover facts, establish relationships, test propositions or arrive at conclusions that add to existing knowledge; it is distinguished from ordinary inquiry by having a defined question, a stated method, evidence that supports its conclusions and a form in which another person could repeat it and reach the same result.
The four things that make an inquiry research
A defined question. Not a subject, and not a curiosity. Chapters 1090 to 1120 teach this properly; the point here is that an inquiry without a question collects material and stops.
A stated method. Not merely a method, but one the reader is told about, because a conclusion whose route is hidden cannot be judged.
Evidence. Every claim rests on something a reader can inspect: a provision, a judgment, a document, a count, an interview.
And reproducibility. Another person following the same method on the same material should arrive at the same place. This is what separates research from opinion, and it is the reason the method has to be stated.
Research and looking something up
Looking something up finds an answer that is already known. What is the punishment under a section, when did an Act commence, which court decided a case. The answer exists; the task is retrieval.
Research produces an answer nobody had. It may be a small answer, and in a student's dissertation it usually is, but it did not exist in that form before.
A student's commonest error is to submit the first as the second. A dissertation that assembles what is already written about a subject is a summary, however long. It becomes research at the point where it asks a question the sources do not already answer.
The test to apply to one's own topic. Could this be answered by reading and reporting? If yes, it is not yet a research question.
The characteristics, stated as an examiner expects
Systematic. It proceeds in an order that was decided before the work began, not in the order in which material happened to arrive.
Objective. It is designed so that the researcher's preference does not decide the result, which is a matter of method rather than of virtue.
Empirical or evidential. Its conclusions rest on something outside the researcher's opinion.
Logical. Its conclusions follow from its evidence, and the steps are visible.
Replicable. Another person could repeat it.
What Research Is
Cumulative. It builds on what is known and adds to it, which is why the review of literature exists, chapter 1290.
And self-critical. It states what it could not establish, which is why limitations are a strength, chapter 1280.
Kinds of knowledge research produces
Description. What is the case: how many, how often, where, in what form.
Explanation. Why it is the case.
Prediction. What will happen if something changes.
And evaluation. Whether something is working against a stated standard, which is the kind a legal survey usually produces, chapter 680.
Naming which of the four you are producing is a discipline worth acquiring, because most confused dissertations are confused about exactly this.
What research is not
It is not the confirmation of something already believed. An inquiry designed so that only one answer can emerge is advocacy, and it has a place, but it is not research.
It is not the accumulation of material. Volume is not evidence.
It is not neutral about method and free about conclusion. The freedom is in what you may ask; the discipline is in how you may answer.
And it is not a solitary activity in the sense students imagine. It rests on what others have done, chapter 1290, and it is written to be checked by others.
A worked example
Two students propose dissertations on legal aid.
Student A: A study of the Legal Services Authorities Act 1987. This is a subject, not a question. It can be answered by reading the Act and the commentaries and reporting them, so it produces a summary. It is not research, however many pages it runs to.
Student B: In how many of the 200 remand productions observed in one court over six weeks was the accused informed of the right to free legal services? This has a defined question; a method that can be stated, which is observation with a schedule; evidence a reader could inspect; and reproducibility, since another observer in the same court could repeat it. It produces an answer nobody had.
Notice that B is narrower and much smaller. That is the point. A dissertation is not judged by the size of its subject but by whether it establishes something, and MU marks it on the proving of the hypothesis, chapter 120.
And notice what B needs that A does not. A design, chapters 1190 onwards. Which is why Module IV exists.
Quick revision
Research is the systematic, objective and reproducible investigation of a question to discover facts, establish relationships, test propositions or reach conclusions that add to knowledge.
Four things make an inquiry research: a defined question; a stated method; evidence a reader can inspect; and reproducibility.
What Research Is
Characteristics: systematic, objective, evidential, logical, replicable, cumulative and self-critical.
Four kinds of knowledge: description, explanation, prediction and evaluation. Name which you are producing.
Research is not: confirmation of a belief; accumulation of material; or free in its method.
The test for a topic: could it be answered by reading and reporting? If yes, it is not yet a research question.
Test yourself
1. Define research in exam wording. The systematic, objective and reproducible investigation of a defined question in order to discover facts, establish relationships, test propositions or arrive at conclusions that add to existing knowledge, conducted by a stated method and supported by evidence that another person could inspect and repeat.
2. What distinguishes research from looking something up? Looking something up retrieves an answer that already exists. Research produces an answer that did not exist in that form before, which is why a dissertation assembling what is already written is a summary however long it runs.
3. Name the four kinds of knowledge research can produce, and say which a legal survey usually produces. Description, explanation, prediction and evaluation. A legal survey usually produces evaluation, since it asks whether a rule or an institution is working against a stated standard.
4. Why must the method be stated and not merely used? Because a conclusion whose route is hidden cannot be judged or repeated, and reproducibility is what separates research from opinion. A reader must be able to see how the conclusion was reached in order to test it.
The rest of this subject
These notes are cut from the University's printed syllabus. Open the syllabus itself, or the past papers, for the same subject.