Pure Research

Much of the research done in Universities is pure research. Researhers try to find out the nature of some aspect of the world we live in just for the purpose of knowing how it works. There may or may not be any idea of just how this new informationmight find practical application,but if there is, it is not the main focus of the undertaking.

In an academic setting , pure research is usually conducted from within one of he disciplines which focus on certain types of questions), across disciplines if it is thematic in nature, or from within one of the professions if activity-oriented in nature. It may also:

• be approached by researchers situated intellectually in any one of a number of traditions or philosophical perspectives
• relate to any of the Types of research problems
• use any of a number of research strategies or "methodologies"
• use any of a number of data gathering methods
• use primary or secondary materials
• Make use of quantititative or qualitative data
• use any of a number of analytical procedures
• .(re-)present the data and findings in any of a number of ways.

Pure research used to be conducted froma primarily "positivist" perspective, but that has changed over the past half-century, owing to the challenges to this outlook from the many "post-modernisms" which arose in the "Lit-Crit" field of the Humanities, spread through the Humanities and into the Social Sciences, and now assault the gates of the Natural Sciences themselves. [] As Dr. Ken Beesley [] noted, if one's research methodology and execution are sound and appropriate, then the results one brings to the table today are regarded valid and as bringing another perspective on a subject. Formerly, results from non-positivist perspectives were suspect or rejected outright.