Since the very start of the semester, Arts Scholars has raised one central question:
what is research?
The more you think about research, the more complicated and confused you get. Where does research start? Where does research take us? And, most importantly, what does research mean to us individually? Emma Willis provided some answers to these fundamental academic questions in her lecture. So, let’s take a look!
Where does research start?
By definition, research must start with an unanswered question – ideally, a question originating in a familiar field. However, the beginnings of research is a lot simpler. Research can easily be initiated by a passion or something that sparks your interest. To get some of my creative juices flowing, I surround myself with pictures of my passions. When it comes to conceptualising ideas in research, we must feel first and think slightly later!
Where does it take us?
As Emma Willis elucidated in her lecture, research is intensely broad ranging and has the ability to take us anywhere. Willis’ research into the idea of dark tourism took her worldwide, raising questions of the ethics of spectatorship and how sites connect. However, physically, research doesn’t necessarily need to go anywhere. Research doesn’t have to lead to a particular destination and the researcher isn’t required to come up with an answer. We put an immense amount of pressure on ourselves to first come up with a question and then answer it. Sometimes research is simply an exercise of interest, flexing and training our research muscles for a future concept that we can more adeptly tie together.
What does it mean to us?
Research is how we convey our passions and interests. Research frees. It allows us to communicate with like-minded people and those whose opinions differ. Essentially, just like any other art, research connects, communicates and expresses. To me, research encompasses all these ideas, allowing me to verbalise and free my creativity.
So what is research? At its most basic and fundamental level, research is the process of answering a question. How are powerful women treated? What makes the human body tick? Why do people have proclivities for certain behaviours? Research can answer all of these questions. However, as Emma Willis made clear, research can be far broader than just a single question and also more personal. By nature, research can even create more questions – always self-proliferating. The start of research can be generated by just a single thought and can begin from anywhere. Research is not tied to any one department and can be strengthened by the amalgamation of different people and perspectives. It allows us to express our passions and interests. In this way, a medium is created in which others hear and critique output. Each researcher builds on existing voices for a more well-rounded combined corpus of academic work. The researching world is our oyster – so let’s start shucking!
