Research Basics

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The research process deals with the ways and strategies used by researchers to understand the world around us. This is a guide to basic elements of scientific research.

Research Basics

Research Methods

Research Methods

Formulating questions, collecting data, testing hypotheses

Experimental Research

Experimental Research

Setting up experiments

Research Designs

Research Designs

Different types of designs used in research

Statistics Tutorial

Statistics in Research

A guide to statistics in research.

What is Research?

What is Research?

Basics of the Scientific Method

What is Empirical Research?

What is the Scientific Method?

Definition of Research

Definition of the Scientific Method

Definition of Science


Steps of the Scientific Method - The scientific method has a similar structure to an hourglass - starting from general questions, narrowing down to focus on one specific aspect, then designing research where we can observe and analyze this aspect.

At last, the hourglass widens and the researcher concludes and generalizes the findings to the real world.

Steps of the Scientific Method

Aims of Research

The general aims of research are:

Purpose of Research - Why do we conduct research? Why is it necessary?

Elements of Research

Common scientific research elements are:

Characterization - How to understand a phenomenon

Hypothesis and Theory

  • The research questions before performing research
  • Almost always based on previous research


  • What answers do we expect?
  • Reasoning and logic on why we expect these results

Observation or Experimentation

Full reference: 

(May 6, 2008). Research Basics. Retrieved Nov 10, 2019 from Snakk Om Mobbing:

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