Some Researcher's motivations Main problems are solving global problems, increasing knowledge or improving jobs in universities.
The investigation is a process that consists in investigating around a specific subject to solve a problem, to answer a doubt, to solve a conflict, among others.
Investigations can be forced or motivated. In the case of the former, the investigated or the researcher does not decide what the subject will be, but this is entrusted to him by another individual.
On the other hand, in the motivated investigations, it is the same researchers who decide the subject to investigate and the approach that they want to give to that subject.
The motivations to carry out can be diverse, from academic reasons, like the desire to obtain a university degree or a promotion, to more humane reasons, like the need to give back to the society through the resolution of a problem.
To establish why an investigation is being carried out, researchers must answer a series of questions:
- What do I want to know?
- Why I want to know?
- Who is my research profitable for?
- Who is most interested in the subject of my research?
- What do other people want to know about this topic?
List of ten reasons why people conduct research
1- Research allows to solve various problems
The researches are not only theoretical works, destined to remain in a library, but they allow to analyze and to understand problematic that can appear in any level of our society (in the familiar, educative, labor, among others) environment.
In this way, the investigations can shed new light on this phenomenon, since they allow to know the history of the problem and the consequences that it generates or could generate. Research also offers alternative solutions.
This is why many individuals, when facing a problem, decide to carry out research and not other types of work.
2- Through the investigations, it is possible to deepen in the subjects that interest us
One of the most important reasons for conducting research is interest. When an individual is interested in a topic, the most common is to investigate about this to know more in depth.
For example, if a person is interested in painting, he could investigate the various artistic movements that have arisen around the painting, the characteristics and the exponents of each movement, and so on.
In this way, the researcher will have expanded his knowledge on the subject that is of interest to him.
3 - Many researchers seek that thanks to their research work, other people can understand a specific topic
Research work (academic research, variants of research) provides detailed and analyzed information on a particular topic.
Thus, if such research work can be satisfactorily distributed and is available even if it is a portion of the population, it will allow other people to understand and even be interested in the problems exposed by the researcher.
4- Through academic research (degree work, promotion thesis), people can choose a university degree or a better position in their workplace
University students conduct academic research, called degree work, because it allows them to obtain a college degree.
The work of degree is indispensable requirements in many educational institutions, however, it is not considered that this type of investigation is of obligatory type since the student is who decides the subject.
In the same way, professionals already graduated carry out promotion theses to obtain promotions in the workplace.
5- Many researchers seek the recognition of other exponents of their area of knowledge
Research is a way for researchers to gain recognition from other members of their guild.
If these are carried out correctly and are on a transcendental subject, they can generate prestige for the researcher.
6- Love the research: Many people prefer to focus on the theoretical part of their field of study rather than the practical part
Another of the essential reasons for conducting research is the love of theory. All areas of study have two sides: a practical and a theoretical, both necessary since the practice without theory is blind and the theory without practice is sterile.
For this reason, some professionals in a knowledge area are engaged in research so that other members of the area may benefit from them in practice.
7- The willingness and interest to learn are reasons for research
As already explained, people conduct research because they are interested in a topic. However, not everyone has the time or the tools to carry out the process.
This is why the provision is an important factor when deciding to carry out an investigation.
8- Many people decide to investigate to focus their object of interest
When talking about research, it refers not only to research papers (such as theses), but to any process that involves investigating a particular topic.
In this sense, many researchers use this process of gathering information as a method to focus their object of interest.
For example, if you are interested in literature, the researcher could inquire about the different literary styles, genres, the most relevant exponents of each genre.
In this process, the researcher might be interested in a specific author and, having researched the works of this author, could focus his interest in a specific book.
9- Investigations allow the collection of information from other sources
Research is a valuable study for researchers because it allows them to collect information and statistical data from a variety of sources.
For this reason, many professionals decide to carry out investigations, since they can be useful for future studies.
10- The investigations offer a greater scope than the evaluations
When you want to deepen a problem in a professional way, there are two alternatives: evaluations and research.
The evaluations are shallow studies that do not have the scope that an investigation could have.
This is why many professionals prefer research before other jobs.
References
- Motivational factors for researchers. Retrieved on July 3, 2017, from risepartnerguide.org
- Maintaining researchers' motivation. Retrieved on July 3, 2017, from vitae.ac.uk
- Research motivations. Retrieved on July 3, 2017, from goodfromwoods.wordpress.com
- Why do research? Retrieved on July 3, 2017, from erm.ecs.soton.ac.uk
- Motivation for research and publication. Retrieved on July 3, 2017, from sciencedirect.com
- Research Methodology. Retrieved on July 3, 2017, from research.vtu.ac.in
- What can we do to motivate scientific research in the academic field? Retrieved on July 3, 2017, from researchgate.net.