There Is No Hope Of Doing Perfect Research (Griffiths, 1998, P97)

                               The term Research is a very common term we often listen and use. The word research is

derived from the French recherché, from recherché, to search closely where "chercher" means "to look for or to search”. Research can be defined as “the search for knowledge, or as any systematic investigation, with an open mind, to establish novel facts, usually using a scientific method” (Wikipedia), or it can be termed as “an Investigation intended to extend the limits of human knowledge.” (campuspol.chance.berkeley.edu/ GlossaryofTerms.doc). Over the last few decades research has become an indispensable part of Education and Scientific advancement but at the same time the question has been raised more strongly over the chances of its perfection as many believe that “ there is no hope for doing a perfect research” (Griffiths, 1998, P97). I completely agree with what Griffiths has said about research and I have got some supporting examples which I’m going to narrate here.

First of all we should look into the meaning of the word "Perfection", which stands
for something complete and flawless but to err is the human so no human can ever be flawless. The process of research is totally a scientific process comprised of the different stages through which a research worker or group has to undergo. A perfect research demands absolute precision and accuracy throughout the process which is almost impossible to attain as we can never do away with human errors.

                                These errors affect the liability of a research work on a large scale and make it doubtful or imperfect. There are several things playing a pivotal role in shaping the research work like :

•  Systematic or Random Errors.
•  Biases.
•  Limited access to the subjects of Research.      
•  Inadequate time or facilities to gather information.

                                  During my Graduation ,I’ve been a member of a student research group ,who had been assigned a topic that “The boys have very less interest in studies as compared to the girls”. The group included all the girls who subconsciously favored the statement and so they drove the research the way they wanted to by extracting information from mostly from women. This made our research biased.
Another such instance of an imperfect research was observed by me during my Post Graduate studies where I’d been studying Literature. As a final assignment the two groups of students were allocated with the task of finding out “whether American and English Literature has similarities between them regarding their themes and style or not.” By coincidence one of the groups came across such work in both literatures that had striking similarities in style and ideas, while the other came across the work which widely differed from each other in every way .As a result both of the groups came forward with conflicting results after their research work and both had quite strong evidences and examples to support their point making every one confused whether to rely on the work of one group or the other.

                                Hence it has become a crystal clear fact that Research is not a stale process but it is a continuous one, as every research gives way to another research which may prove the first one wrong. This quality of research has been a cause of many scientific innovations and new discoveries. Had a research work been accepted as a Perfect one there would not have been any growth in many fields like Science and education. During my graduation I had studied Genetics where I came across Gregor Mendel’s work who was considered as the Father of Genetics. Mendel's Second Law, which was result of his continuous research of several years, stated:

During the formation of sperm and egg, the segregation of alleles for

one gene is independent of the segregation of alleles for another gene.

This law was slightly more complex to demonstrate, requiring the

statistical analysis of offspring of plants that differed in two separate characteristics.         

( Gregor Mendel, 1865 & 1866).

                               This law is believed to be the foundation of genetics and was believed to be totally correct in its entire disposition but later the result of the experiments of Thomas Hunt Morgan questioned its complete truth. In 1910, Thomas Hunt Morgan’s research in turn led to the idea of genetic linkage, which means that “when two genes are closely associated on the same chromosome, they do not assort independently”. (Morgan, 1911). Morgan's proposal was an early suggestion that “genes were real, physical objects that were located on chromosomes” (Robbins, 2000). Indeed, this knowledge of genetic linkage was critical to prove that genes were actual objects that could be inherited, undergo recombination, and be mapped to specific locations on chromosomes.
     
                               It is implied from the above given examples and research findings that there is no word like Perfection when we talk about a research work .These findings had convinced me to believe Griffith’s quote and I, myself is a strong supporter of the view that we can’t hope to come across a Perfect Research ever.

Works Cited
“Glossary of Terms”. Berkeley Education.n.p. n.d.
.2nd Jan. 2011
"Gregor Mendel." 123HelpMe.com. n.d

Morgan, T. H. “Sex-limited inheritance in Drosophila”. Science 132, 120–122 (1910) and Random segregation versus coupling in Mendelian inheritance. Science 34, 384 (1911)
T. H. Morgan “R. J. Introduction to sex-limited inheritance in Drosophila”.Electronic Scholarly Publishing, 2000