Ensure you understand what ‘research’ is

INTERACTING WITH INFORMATION is at the very heart of the research process and as interacting with information is what librarians do, it's clear that we have a pivotal role in facilitating research. However, perhaps it's not as simple as it sounds. For anyone involved in facilitating the research process, our challenge is to identify opportunities for successful interventions and to develop strategies to implement them. In order to do that, we need to have a clear understanding of who researchers are, what research is all about and where in the research environment we can add value.

The first step, therefore, is to ensure you have a clear idea in your mind of what research is all about. Researchers describe what they do in a variety of ways. Some may see it as developing new theories based on existing evidence, others as collecting and interpreting new data. There is general agreement, however, that research is systematic or methodical and involves discovering, revising or interpreting facts and ideas. In some cases, this can be seen as a holistic activity, the term ‘research’ encompassing a broad understanding of the whole research lifecycle. Others interpret it more specifically as a linear or cyclical process or set of transferable skills. Depending on the situation, research may be firmly grounded within a discipline, but more commonly now can be multi- or interdisciplinary. Similarly, researchers can work independently or as part of a team. Researchers may undertake research in order to develop or contribute new knowledge or to provide a different understanding of existing material; however, the outcomes are only made meaningful if they are shared with a wider audience. This is a key issue in terms of knowledge transfer. In summary, we can say that research is a process of investigation leading to new insights, effectively shared.