Research - in praise of the prefix 're-'

Along with widespread distrust in authority, experts and professionals, we see the very common suggestion (or sometimes taunt) online to ‘do your own research’.

I know several people who have 'done their own research' - spending three or four years of their lives working extremely hard on a specific question to earn a PhD. Having watched just how difficult it is, and how they had to put the rest of their life on hold, I don't really want to 'do my own research'.

So, why is it so commonly suggested? And why is it so often accompanied by poor spelling and insults?

Unless… perhaps they don't really mean 'research.'

What is research?

To explore this idea, let’s start with the dictionary definition of research (noun):

♦️ careful or diligent search (#1)
♦️  the collecting of information about a particular subject (#2)
♦️ studious inquiry or examination, especially investigation or experimentation aimed at the discovery and interpretation of facts, revision of accepted theories or laws in the light of new facts, or practical application of such new or revised theories or laws (#3).

Mmm... it seems to me that the first two definitions contradict the third (my numbering added for reference). I don't think my friends with PhDs would say they spent three years collecting information, even diligently so.

Definitions #1 and #2 are what I mean when I tell the builder that I have 'researched' bathroom vanities - I have collected information about them to help me decide what to buy. But research is about much more than searching and collecting.

When researchers themselves define research, they mean the third definition. Here's just two (of thousands of sources) from researchers themselves:

♦️ a systematic investigation, including research development, testing and evaluation, designed to develop or contribute to generalizable knowledge
♦️ a process of systematic inquiry that entails collection of data: documentation of critical information; and analysis and interpretation of that data/information, in accordance with suitable methodologies set by specific professional fields and academic disciplines

What that means in practice is a bit opaque to the non-researcher though.

It seems to me that definition #3 (as indicated by its synonyms including investigation, examination) encompasses #1 (search) and #2 (collect), but with so much more going on. 

A lot more re-

The role of the prefix re-

The word research came from the Old French recercher (verb) meaning 'seek out, search closely'. By the 1600s, the word research had come to mean ‘diligent scientific inquiry and investigation directed to the discovery of some fact’.

In Modern French the word chercher means 'to look for' and reschercher means 'to research'. Similarly, in English we differentiate the words search meaning 'to look for' and research using the same very useful prefix of re-

From Latin to French and English, the prefix re- means ‘again, back, anew'. So, etymologically, re-search means to search again, anew, back again.

The online haranguers might write 'do yur onw reserach sheepel', but they actually mean 'Do your own google search.' A search or a collection of information. No re- required.

The re- in research is what makes it research

How does the prefix re- change the meaning of search? What does it mean to search again, anew, and then perhaps back again?

Unlike the straight line of search → find → bother people online with what you found, the re- indicates that research is no straight line. Each step will be re-visited, re-examined, re-fined, with ideas sometimes re-vised entirely in the process of conducting research. 

Lots of again, back, anew.

In fact, without resorting to any technical jargon to describe research, we could sum up the process of research in a lengthy series of re- words.

♦️ Refine - read a lot and develop your ideas and skills

♦️ Refer - integrate other people’s work, other people’s theories

♦️ Reflect and revise - examine your own assumptions and ideas

♦️ Reconsider and re-evaluate - reframe previous knowledge

♦️ Reconsider - abandon expectations of finding simple answers or black and white findings

♦️ Recognise existence of bias - accept your own biases by acknowledging that everyone has them

♦️ Reduce complexity - generate a very small question to allow the exploration of a tiny part of a complex topic, recognise this 'reduction' and then (way later) reintegrate your findings into the existing complexity

♦️ Reason and resist the easy way out - look at evidence and rearrange your ideas to fit the data and results (in contrast to the much easier rearranging results to fit existing ideas)

♦️ Revisit - persist and find the energy to keep facing the questions and the personal challenges of research

♦️ Re-orientate and reframe - face uncomfortable results that challenge your expectations and assumptions

♦️ Rectify the inevitable errors - at every stage, remain alert to error and bias through constant vigilance, yes constant; and swallow your pride when errors and biases become apparent (it can give you reflux, for sure)

♦️ Repeat and recheck and reproduce - stay on guard to the high possibility of misleading relationships and findings in data, even with the best statistical tools; make sure findings are not merely due to chance or accident

♦️ Refrain from - jumping to conclusions, relying on assumptions, taking shortcuts, cherry picking, going with the comfortable answers

♦️ Report and revise - receive critical, sometimes devastating, feedback from supervisors

♦️ Review by peers and other experts - wait anxiously to see if your hard mental labour will be considered of sufficient standard

♦️ Revise again - incorporate others' ideas, criticisms and questions

♦️ Reflect, rethink, revise - rewrite until you almost cannot bear to look at that document anymore (more persistence)

♦️ Recognise - your now published work is a small contribution, not the big answer

♦️ Retract - own up to flaws or errors in public

♦️ Reply rather than argue - present rational arguments (not dispute) in response to criticisms

♦️ Respect - understand the social responsibility inherent in knowledge work. 

All those re- words are the difference between a search and genuine research. And all those re- words are why genuine research takes years. It requires persistence and dedication to constantly look again, back, anew.

 

Courage and personal responsibility to re-

The many re- words above are built into genuine re-search in order to identify thinking errors, assumptions, biases in interpretation, and distortions in thinking about the implications of findings and results. All very common human tendencies. Research principles and methods have been refined over centuries to try to reduce these tendencies: to try to be less wrong about the world, not necessarily to be comfortable or confident.

Therein lies the core requirement for research: courage and personal responsibility.

It is confronting to have one’s assumptions and biases revealed and challenged, to have one's understanding of the world pushed and pulled about, and to commit the time and energy to continuing to look again, back, anew, at every step of the way.

These  many re- words integral to research are challenging to the ego. To do useful work, a researcher must have courage and humility. Research aims to advance society's knowledge and understanding, but this can only happen if a researcher takes personal responsibility to re-

Every researcher worth their salt knows that their own human attributes and weaknesses (particularly hidden biases) can all too easily impact on their work. Rigorously and carefully following the scientific methods pertinent to each field of study is the best way to minimise this (although it may never remove it entirely).

From outside the research world, it can be hard to know what 'the scientific method' is all about. So much written about research focuses on the technical skills, the complicated methodologies, the expertise and hard-won knowledge. For non-researchers, it's not clear what it all means.

I think the core aspect of 'doing your own research' is the willingness to explore one's own hidden assumptions and thinking errors and biases. Researchers have to face the very real possibility their assumptions and starting ideas could be wrong.

 

What happens if we take the re- out of research?

If you drop the re-, you get a simple search. Anyone can do an internet search. So, yes anyone can 'do their own search'. Any search engine (Google, Duck-Duck-Go, etc.) will accept the key words you provide and give you some results (more accurately 'hits').

What the search engines won't tell you is how to search better, what you haven't searched for, what assumptions and biases are wrapped up in your search terms, or how the algorithm that supports the search is designed to deliver certain outcomes. It certainly won't tell you to revise your starting assumptions and ideas!

In fact, because Google and co want you to keep using their service so they can continue to make a profit, the 'results' they provide to you are the ones their algorithm says you WANT to see. Not what's out there in total, not a balanced overview of positions, not ensuring 'results' are based on sound research. Just delivering you satisfaction!

Unless you are very, very careful, search engines will help you find information that aligns with the assumptions and conclusions you hold before you do a search. Online searching is all too likely to tell you what you already believe. 

In fact, online searching reinforces every aspect of human bias, thinking errors and hidden assumptions that re-search has been developed to minimise.

 

So, yes, anyone can ‘do their own research’ if they remove the re- 

Some other prefixes to replace the re-

Trying to explain that 'an online search' is not the same as 'research' doesn't seem to cut through. Some people seem to think their google search is better than the entire body of research work in a field over 20 years. 

It's tempting to use the wonderful prefix schm- to mock or dismiss, and say 'research-schmesearch', but again, not at all clarifying.

Perhaps some new words might point out the distinction between research and a google search - words that draw attention to the value of the prefix re- in research.

If we start with the definition of search meaning 'to look for', we can go to town with prefixes:

♦️ Bee-search – just buzzing around picking the pollen (goodies) from the brightest and smelliest ‘flowers’ aka hits on an e-search. (This is fine for buying underwear or finding a good risotto recipe perhaps.)

♦️ C-search – 'c' stands for consumer, and a c-search is what we all do when we are checking out things we might buy. The internet is good for that - for finding new cabinets for your kitchen or the top ranked Italian restaurant in your town.

♦️ De-search – not daring to look beyond what you are told by your existing community of belief and ideology, fear of contradiction and loss of certainty.

♦️ E-search – internet search, or just plain old 'search' in the contemporary era. (I live for the day we can start dropping the E- from words.) Anyone can do it, sure, but who is really doing the searching: you or the AI in the commercial product (Google) that you use to find things? Again, this is adequate for seeing what other people like you think about things and good for looking up things you've heard about but don't know about (like the slang the youth are using these days!)

♦️ Gee-search – wondering if something exists or happened, and then, astoundingly, finding it when you go online. You 'find' a (suppressed!) tweet or watch a video from your algorithm-controlled hits, because that algorithm is all about matching your biases and expectations. You feel good about that, and you are happy to call what you find 'proof'.

♦️ He-search – (or sometimes she-search, and recently Q-search) blind adherence to what ‘he’ says, following one person’s ideas and dictates and not looking for contradictory ideas.

♦️ Key-search – choosing key words to do an e-search that narrow down what you will find, using leading questions to get the answer you want, not fully understanding what you’re looking for, biasing the results with the search terms.

♦️ Lee-search – looking only for information that provides you with ‘shelter’ and reassurance, staying in the lee side of information away from the ‘wind’ or stormy mental weather that contradictory information might lead to.

♦️ Me-search – what people usually mean when they say, ‘Don’t be so dumb, do your own research’. The me-search is all about ‘me’. It makes ‘me’ feel good to tell you off for ‘blindly and foolishly' following, e.g. the scientific health advice. In fact, the me-search is the opposite of re-search: me-search is never about challenging oneself or contributing to the knowledge of a community, it's about making 'me' feel good, assuming that 'me' alone can know it all (while suppressing any personal concerns or doubts).

♦️ Ne-search (knee-search) – privileging and focusing on certain information that you find in your ‘search’ because it confirms your ideology; the ne-search often begins with kneeling to the ‘gods’ of individualism and anti-intellectualism, but other gods abound.

♦️ Pee-search – the information you find in an e-search in the time it takes to go to the toilet

♦️ See-search – opening the first result in a google search and going with that IF it is something you agree with already, and confirms your existing biases, and not thinking that maybe, just maybe, someone has paid money to influence the list order in the results of a search.

♦️ Tea-search – the information you can find in the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, although beverage type is not important, 'searching' while drinking coffee, beer or wine also referred to as a tea-search.

♦️ V-search – this is another common driver for taunts to others to 'do your own research'. The V-search is aimed at achieving victory over others; looking for information to beat someone else with, 'searching’ in order to win an argument and to demonstrate how everyone else is wrong. The me-search and the V-search can be difficult to distinguish if you are not an expert on prefixes.

♦️ Wee-search – UK version of the pee-search (or the Irish version of a tea-search).

You might think of some more, I chose only re- rhyming prefixes.  The list is potentially endless.

Business trying to be all sciencey

So how did we get here? I think the idea that a 'search' is 'research' has come from business and marketing. No surprise there: simple one-dimensional answers are the bread and butter of marketing.

At some point, probably in the drive to be 'more scientific' and 'more professional', business and marketing companies adopted the term research to mean collecting and analysing information to guide their decisions for investment, staffing, focus messaging, etc. 'Market research' involves collecting information about what sort of people buy what sorts of product, so advertising can be better targeted. In technology, the concept of 'keyword research' applies to search engine optimisation, looking for what type of questions people ask, how popular which questions are, etc. It's not science, but it's useful for them, and it is sciencey.

So, the aim of 'market research' is to find and collect information to guide business decisions. Not actual research in the refining, reintegrating, reiterative, reframing meanings explored above; only looking at human biases and thinking errors of consumers to take advantage of them. Market research is more like a C-search.

Business describing their collection of information as 'research' has shifted the original meaning from something complex, time-consuming and personally challenging to something anyone with some basic keyboard skills and a calculator can do - all the while keeping your assumptions and biases intact.

It moved the word research into everyday talk. But it ignored the important prefix re- to do so. Research now commonly means to find the information you want and use it to guide your decisions.

 

Prefixes to respond to the online taunts

Okay, now we have some words to respond to the taunt of 'You should do your own research'.

Soooo many examples of THAT taunt. These from The Poke and IFL Science FB pages

It likely won't change their opinion, but it's more satisfying than raising your arms in exasperation while swearing, or writing long rants on social media.

It might go something like this: 'I can see you did your own me-search, I see some he-search, and a lot of V-search, but I can't see any actual research.' Or 'Yes, bee-searching would get you that answer I guess.' I wonder how they might answer!

And from Wordly Exploration's point of view, it gives some dignity back to the word research.

Images used under Creative Commons Licences (but most of these snipped from social media)

• Research through a magnifying glass at https://owl.excelsior.edu/research/research-process/ [CC BY]
• Difference between Research versus Search from http://www.differencebetween.net/language/difference-between-search-and-research/ [fair dealing]
• Keeping the re- in research by the author
• WileyInk cartoon snipped from the socials, shared by multiple but can't find the original on Instagram. Here's one https://www.picuki.com/media/2337840653705498969 [please advise original source if you know it]
• Harper Lee quote snipped from the socials, no source
• I need to inform you cartoon snipped from the socials, no source
• Honey, come look! cartoon found at Hell and Earth FB page , no source
• Do your own research taunts snipped from The Poke, thepoke.uk.com and IFL Science FB pages