Whether it be in regards to school, or just for personal knowledge, most everyone in the world has to do research at one point or another in their lives. Studying and learning new things additionally, is an important part to continuing to grow as a person. However, with this being said, there are simply some forms of research that are more effective than others when it comes to obtaining new information, and to make education more efficient, it is crucial that these forms are known.
Online
One of the most common today, and probably the most easiest is doing research online. The reason why this is so prevalent is for how quick and easy it is. Doing a search on the internet for a topic can bring up millions of result in milliseconds, making everyone with stable internet connection and an electronic device available to tons of information at any given moment.
While it is very easy, it is important to use caution when doing research online, for the sake of credibility. Just as it is simple to get information online, is it similarly as quick to put and post things online. With this being said, depending on the website, sometimes anyone can post anything they want. Just because something is on the internet does not automatically mean that the information is valid or true.
Simply keeping this in mind when doing research is important, as the learning party should be sure to use websites that have some form of credibility, to ensure that the information they are receiving is correct. Generally speaking, sites that end in “.gov” and “.edu” are known to be valid, as well as there are many websites online that allow one to type in a site name, to check to see its validity.
A lesser used, but just as valid form of research is using print, or physical books to do so. This has it’s pros and cons, because though the facts in books tend to be more truthful and secure than ones found online, a lot of the items they can be outdated, so in reality they aren’t actually true anymore. Secondly, it can be hard to obtain the book needed, as not everyone has a library for their exact topic at their fingertips at any given time. Sometimes the physical public libraries do not have books that cover the topic, or they are not in stock. However, if this is the issue, many books are available online for sale as well.
Experience
Finally, another form, and some might say the most informative form of research is simple experience. In a lot of cases, some concepts cannot be completely understood until one goes through them themselves. This is where the concept of wisdom ties in, because people who have lived longer have more knowledge simply from what they have experienced.
Observational research, or witnessing something for oneself, while proven to be an adequate form of obtaining knowledge sometimes is simply not realistic, depending on the topic of research. But, if the situation permits, physically seeing and learning about the matter for oneself is definitely a great way to get familiar with it and remember it better.
Conclusion
Overall, research is something that mostly everyone has to do at some point in their life. However, though everyone does it, the form of which is best fit for them depends on both the subject being researched, and the party doing the studying. When it comes to a school assignment, online research and print may be the best forms, because they offer extensive amounts of information, and in most cases it is readily available. However, online maybe the better form, as it is a lot more recent and updated than most physically printed books.
In short, these forms of research allow people to learn about things that their life has not permitted them to experience. When it comes to becoming educated on life lessons and guiding principles however, encountering the situation first hand may prove to be the best way to learn and research about it, because somethings simply cannot be taught in books. Similar, these concepts may stick better when one learns them for them self through experience.
