My definition of research is "an activity to lower uncertainty."


This definition may differ from others because it does not assume that the results of research can guarantee an absolute truth, which can only rarely happen (e.g., a mathematical proof in a condition of a specific axioms). 

The practical value of this defintion is helping researchers know what to focus when they conduct research. Because of the current academic research accumulation processes, researchers often focuses on persuading reviewers. 

This also makes me humble as a researcher. We do not invent something new. We merely discover and verify what is there. "Nothing new under the sun," a verb in Bible match well with this definition.

According to defintion, researchers should measure their research outcomes in a sense that their research actually lowers uncertainty of a fact that they attempt to know. 

There could be some activities that are not actually lower the uncertainty but eventually lower uncertainty, such as a literature reivew paper and a perspective paper. These activities do not necessarily lower uncertainty of human's knowledge about the world. However, they help other researchers the state of the art quicker and discern which of many research questions are more compelling. These eventually and collectively help lower uncertainty.

The magnitude of the reduced uncertainty is usually determined by social, indirect, often crude measures (e.g., citations to an academic paper of research outcomes). Even though these measures could be important to make a particular research endeavor sustainable (e.g., attracting research funding to a particular research), it may not be 
Add a new article, definition of research
Add a new article, definition of research
