Michael Ogbu

It is quite amazing to find how my idea and approach to research has in recent days, taken a completely different turn. To think that after almost a decade of experience in the field, I would come to feel like I’m just starting off, almost afresh, and unabashedly enthused like I were a rookie is something I find not only amusing, but captivating.

Interestingly, I have taught research methods to hundreds of college students, out of whom I have supervised the research projects of well over forty, and have been serving as a member of the Research Coordinating Committee, and have published a good number of scholarly articles, among other things. Yet, in spite of it all; in spite of this pontificated wealth of experience, I have only recently gotten to the stage where I’m beginning to have the feeling of having finally stumbled on the gold mine. Like a serendipity, I’m finally at the Aha! moment of my journey, whereby with both hands, I’m beginning to dig, enthusiastically, unearthing what I consider the most exciting approach to conducting research. 

I’m merely unlearning and relearning, focusing primarily on that one goal I have had as a researcher, all the years. To demystify research. Year after year, as I encountered different sets of students, with their variations of questions and problems concerning various aspects of research, I have only had the singular nudge to not only advance my knowledge of the subject, but to be able to devise the most seamless and ebullient ways of engaging it. This is because, with my experience, I have come to understand that the most challenging thing, is that research appears quite drab and monotonous to almost everyone, including me. And for this reason, my goal has been about making it more entertaining and exciting for all the students I have worked with, irrespective of their backgrounds.

So, each year, as I worked with varied types of students, I would incorporate a fresh simplistic approach, objectively seeking to improve on a previous one. And because our education system is conceived in a rather rigid form, there has been a bigger challenge with how best a novel idea could be integrated into such an obsolete curriculum. Navigating those crucibles, therefore, only would condition me to search beyond letters, and have an introspective conceptualisation of this term – research. Re-search. To search again.

Fundamentally, that is it. That’s what research is all about. It is about searching for an idea, and/or searching all over again, and doing so with the aid of simple proven guidelines. So, unlike the very common academic definition of research: “a systematic and scientific method of inquiry” in which the words, “systematic” and “scientific” apparently appear to have terrified most of the students more than the exercise itself, I learned to accentuate the underlying principle of research in the simplest terms, emphasizing that it all boils down to looking for answers to a particular problem using a simple set of principles that not only make the process easier, but ensure acceptable results.

This is not to say that the majority of the students may not have understood the meaning of the term in the first place, but to be reminded of its simplicity by that one person whom they had expected nothing short of sophistry is the outright leveller. And when they submitted a topic, I would simply turn the various variables into questions which they supplied answers to. In so doing, I made them understand that they had already taken the first most pertinent step of their research project. The rest of it was just about following certain simple other steps (as simple as the ones they have just taken) as outlined in the departmental format.

With this approach, I have been able to create a more convivial atmosphere around this once most dreaded academic undertaking, recreating it into a congenial one. In essence, just like most other engagements, an academic research, as colourless as it may seem, can become a very interesting thing if approached simply in a basic stimulating manner. This is more so in fundamental research. Research can be an exciting exercise, and I will be showing you how much so in my subsequent posts.

How do you like to approach research and how easy do you find the process? Let’s read your ideas in the comment section.