What is research?
This seems a fundamental first question, but one that many people involved in research may not be able to answer easily.
Essentially, research is about finding things out.
But it is more than this.
It is an organised, systematic way of answering questions; in health services research such questions might be, for example,
- What is being done?
- Why is it done in that way?
- How could it be improved? and
- Who is involved in the delivery of care?
Thus research may be
purely descriptive, it may search for explanations, or it may test hypotheses.
Next page: What is good research?
Study guide collated by: Sandra Hollinghurst, Vicky Wood (Bath RDSU) and Michael Harris 
Last updated: 08 September 2003