The question has been posed to me and a good number of classmates: "What makes good research?" This question is set in the context of a graduate programme in Educational Technology, but I suspect there are a number of general principles that will apply. Here's an unorganized listing of 10 criteria I think could be necessary...
- an interesting, open-ended question
- complex subjects/participants
- conclusions that beg new questions
- a good guiding question that focuses the research's perspective and data collection
- fair, balanced acknowledgment of prior research on the topic
- new answers to old questions
- answers to new questions
As I'm writing this, the idea of the Nobel Prizes comes up - these are the world's best-recognized awards for research. But, do they recognize innovative research or solutions to new problems? Not necessarily - they usually recognize good, definitive answers to long-established questions.
So, maybe a couple more criteria for good research...
- conclusions must be sound
- as a result of good research, old questions should be subsumed by new questions that go beyond the original scope of the problem
One last idea here...
- the research must be presented in a compelling way - good research is useless if it causes drowsiness
So, what am I missing?
DGM
