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There is no hope of doing perfect research (Griffiths, 1998, p97). Do you agree?

 There is no hope of doing perfect research (Griffiths, 1998, p97). Do you agree?

Research has and will always be part of human nature because we are naturally curious. It is a path we follow to deepen, stretch or revise our knowledge of things not for accuracy of fact but of the senses of memory. The word ‘research’, though often associated with scholarly inventions can be put in common terms as ‘looking again’. We use it every time in our daily lives without our knowing. A typical example is giving two different people the same recipe to prepare a meal. They will both come up with meals which might probably look similar but with completely different tastes. The Cambridge online dictionary defines research as a detailed study of a subject, especially in order to discover (new) information or reach a (new) understanding. This means that for as long as we are ready to ‘look again’ at a subject, we are likely to discover new ideas or information; hence the purpose of research.

I agree that there is no hope of doing perfect research because humans are not perfect. The word perfect as defined by the Cambridge online dictionary means complete and correct in every way, of the best possible type or without fault. This is not so with humans, we are likely to produce errors and flaws along the way in our quest to discover new ideas.

 I studied two researches to find out if sugar is the cause of diabetes. I discovered from information published on the diabetes UK website that there are two types of diabetes. Type 1 diabetes is when no insulin is produced at all because the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas have been destroyed. Nobody knows for sure why these cells have been damaged but the most likely cause is the body having an abnormal reaction to the cells. There is nothing that you can do to prevent Type 1 diabetes. This type of diabetes is always treated with insulin injections. It also revealed that type 2 diabetes is when the body either does not produce enough insulin, or the insulin it produces does not work as well as it should (insulin resistance). This type of diabetes is treated with lifestyle changes, following a healthy balanced diet, increasing physical activity, and losing weight if you need to. Some people may need medications and/or insulin injections to achieve normal blood glucose levels. Some  of the risks factors associated with Type 2 diabetes are out of your control while others, such as being overweight, you can act on to reduce the risk of developing diabetes.

The website revealed that if : you’re overweight or if your waist is 31.5 inches or over for women; 35 inches or over for Asian men and 37 inches or over for white and black men, you have high blood pressure or you’ve had a heart attack or a stroke, you’re a woman with polycystic ovary syndrome and you are overweight, you’ve been told you have impaired glucose tolerance or impaired fasting glycaemia, you’re a woman and you’ve had gestational diabetes, you have severe mental health problems the greater your risk of having diabetes.

 My further research on the British heart foundation website confirmed that there are two types of diabetes. With the type 1 your body cannot make insulin. This type usually affects children and young adults. With the type 2 diabetes your body can’t produce enough insulin or it doesn’t work properly. It is more common and tends to develop gradually as people get older – usually after the age of 40. Type 2 diabetes is now being diagnosed in younger people. Some ethnic groups have a much higher rate of diabetes – particularly people of African Caribbean and South Asian origin.

 Both research proved that sugar isn’t what causes diabetes. Though both researches gave me similar results, one was more in depth than the other. This means that researching helps us to expand on a previous finding. Humans are unique in our ways of thinking. There is no hope of doing perfect research (Griffiths, 1998, p97) because our interpretation on the same idea will produce different outcomes.  Any research irrespective of what type it is is affected by certain conditions which would in the end give it a completely different result. Conditions such as the place, location or atmosphere under which the research is carried out, the state of mind of the person or people carrying out the research, the time the research is carried out, the data or raw materials available and the systematic pathways followed by the researcher(s). With research we are able to come to a conclusion which confirms, challenges, expands or provides a new context to a previous search.

Works cited,

Maitland, Sarah. Finding out more. Imaginative non fiction. The Open College of the Arts, 2009

What is diabetes. Guide to diabetes[online]. Diabetes UK website. Available from http://www.diabetes.org.uk [accessed 1 January 2011]

Diabetes and the heart. Diabetes[online]. British Heart foundation website. Available from

http://www.bhf.org.uk [accessed] January 2011]

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