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Research
For the suburb of Melbourne, Australia, see Research, Victoria.
Research is an active, diligent and systematic process of inquiry in order to discover, interpret or revise facts, events, behaviors, or theories, or to make practical applications with the help of such facts, laws or theories. The term “research” is also used to describe the collection of information about a particular subject.
The word “research” derives from the Middle French (see French language) and the literal meaning is “to investigate thoroughly”.
Basic & Applied Research
Generally, one can distinguish between basic research and applied research.
Basic Research (also called fundamental or pure research) has as its primary objective the advancement of knowledge and the theoretical understanding of the relations among variables (see statistics). It is exploratory and often driven by the researcher’s curiosity, interest or hunch. It is conducted without a practical end in mind although it can have unexpected results that point to practical applications. The terms “basic” or “fundamental” research indicate that, through theory generation, basic research provides the foundation for further, often applied research. Because there is no guarantee of short-term practical gain, researchers often find it difficult to obtain funding for basic research.
Basic research asks questions such as:
- At what point in human history did logical thought arise?
- Are living organisms the rule or the exception?
- What is the mind-body connection?
- What is the specific genetic code of the oceanic whitetip?
Applied Research is done to solve specific, practical questions; its primary aim is not to gain knowledge for its own sake. It can be exploratory but often it is not. It is almost always done on the basis of basic research. Often the research is carried out by academic or industrial institutions. More often an academic instituion such as a university will have a specific applied research programme funded by a industrial partner. Common areas of applied research include electronics, informatics, process engineering and applied science.
Applied research asks questions such as:
- How can Canada’s wheat crops be protected from grasshoppers?
- What is the most efficient and effective vaccine against influenza?
- How can communication among workers in large companies be improved?
- How can the Great Lakes be protected against the effects of greenhouse gas?
There are many instances when the distinction between basic and applied research is not clear. It is not unusual for researchers to present their project in such a light as to “slot” it into either applied or basic research, depending on the requirements of the funding sources. The question of genetic codes is a good example. Unravelling it for the sake of knowledge alone would be basic research – but what, for example, if knowledge of it also has the benefit of making it possible to alter the code so as to make a plant commercially viable? Some say that the difference between basic and applied research lies in the time span between research and reasonably foreseeable practical applications.
Thomas Kuhn, in his book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, traces an interesting history and analysis of the enterprise of research.
Research process
Generally, research is understood to follow a certain structural process. Though step order may vary depending on the subject matter and researcher, the following steps are usually part of most formal research, both basic and applied:
- Formation of the topic
- hypothesis
- conceptual definitions
- operational definitions
- Gathering of data
- Analysis of data
- Conclusion, revisting of hypothesis
See also
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UCLA Parallel Computing Laboratory
Projects, research, papers, and free parallel simulation languages.
http://pcl.cs.ucla.edu/
Albuquerque High Performance Computing Center
Provides computational resources to researchers throughout the United States. Research, conference listings, and technical reports.
http://www.arc.unm.edu/
MCS at Argonne National Laboratory
Description of past and present research using supercomputers, abstracts of publications, and links to software being developed at the lab.
http://www.mcs.anl.gov/
Arctic Region Supercomputing Center
Description of computing facilities and links to research projects.
http://www.arsc.edu/
Gmd-First: Dependable Systems
Research and development in high performance architectures and their compilers, operating and runtime systems, and high-speed hardware.
http://www.first.gmd.de/
OSC
Ohio Supercomputer Center. Innovations in computing, networking, and education.
http://www.osc.edu/
Cornell Theory Center
News, publications, and research.
http://www.tc.cornell.edu/
CERFACS
The European Centre for Research and Advanced Training in Scientific Computation researches efficient algorithms for solving scientific problems. Information about research, seminars, and publications.
http://www.cerfacs.fr/
INRIA
French National Institute for Research in Computer Science and Control. Research areas include parallel and distributed computing, software safety and reliability, multimedia, and analysis, simulation, control and optimization of systems.
http://www.inria.fr/welcome-eng.html
EPCC
The Edinburgh Parallel Computing Centre provides computing resources to Edinburgh University and industry. Projects, technical support, and publications.
http://www.epcc.ed.ac.uk/
Institute of Information Science, Academia Sinica, Taiwan
Information about research groups, papers, and projects.
http://www.iis.sinica.edu.tw/
Computer Technology Institute
In association with the Computer Engineering and Informatics department of the University of Patras. News and links to other organizations.
http://www.cti.gr/
Center for Software Reliability
Group at University of Newcastle upon Tyne that conducts research on how to achieve improved dependability from computing systems.
http://www.csr.ncl.ac.uk/
Oak Ridge National Laboratory Computer Science and Mathematics Division.
Applied research in high performance computing, applied mathematics, and intelligent systems. Research and publication abstracts.
http://www.csm.ornl.gov/
RADIANT
The Research and Development in Advanced Network Technology is a part of the Network Engineering Group (CIC-5) at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Publications bibliography and project descriptions.
http://public.lanl.gov/radiant/
PSC
Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center. Research, educational outreach, and supercomputing news.
http://www.psc.edu/
Image Recognition Laboratory
University of Koblenz-Landau. Publications abstracts and research description.
http://www.uni-koblenz.de/~lb/
HPCLAB
University of Patras High Performance Computing Lab researches system software for parallel computing. Project descriptions and papers.
http://www.hpclab.ceid.upatras.gr/
Center for Computational Research
SUNY Buffalo. Links to other supercomputing resources and information about educational outreach programs.
http://www.ccr.buffalo.edu/
SCV
Scientific computing and visualization group at Boston University. Research in computational science and engineering, scientific visualization, and computer graphics.
http://scv.bu.edu/
Parallab
Institute for Informatics, University of Bergen, Norway. Description of computing facilities.
http://www.parallab.uib.no/
Center for Scientific Computing
Facility in Espoo, Finland. Research, collaborators, training, journals, and help desk.
http://www.csc.fi/english/
CSRG
University of Toronto Computer Systems Research Group promotes research in the design, implementation, and operating characteristics of complex computing systems. Research and searchable database of technical reports.
http://www.cs.utoronto.ca/csri/
University Corporation for Advanced Internet Development
Internet2 News, FAQ, and technical information.
http://www.ucaid.edu/
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
U.S. military research agency. Archive of news releases, description of offices, and budget information.
http://www.arpa.mil/
Scientific Computing and Imaging Institute
University of Utah. Researches visualization, imaging, and applications to biomedicine. Description of current projects.
http://www.sci.utah.edu/
NSF Science and Technology Center
A collaboration of five universities researches scientific visualization. Information about the group and educational opportunities.
http://www.cs.brown.edu/stc/
Swedish Institute of Computer Science
Research focuses on distributed interactive real-time systems. Publications and software.
http://www.sics.se/
CESUP-RS
The National Supercomputing Center is open to the academic and industrial community of Brazil. Description of computing resources and publications bibliography.
http://www.cesup.ufrgs.br/cesup-e.html
SCAI
Institute for Algorithms and Scientific Computing. Events and projects.
http://www.gmd.de/SCAI/
High Performance System Software Laboratory
University of Maryland, College Park. Group contact information and research description.
http://www.cs.umd.edu/projects/hpssl.html
ICSI
International Computer Science Institute at the University of California, Berkeley. Research groups and technical reports.
http://http.icsi.berkeley.edu/
USC Information Sciences Institute
Technical reports, software, research groups.
http://www.isi.edu/
Center for Parallel Computers in Stockholm
Provides computing resources primarily for Swedish academic research. Information about computing resources and research.
http://www.pdc.kth.se/
University of York Management and Information Systems Research Group
Aims to extend the discipline of information systems through a synthesis of the social and technical factors related to them.
http://www.cs.york.ac.uk/mis/
Central Institute for Applied Mathematics
Provides supercomputer resources for the scientific community in Germany. Research and publications.
http://www.kfa-juelich.de/zam/zam.html
Mississippi Center for Supercomputing Research
Provides high-performance computing support to the state-supported institutions of higher learning in Mississippi and the University of Mississippi Medical Center. Papers and description of computing resources.
http://www.mcsr.olemiss.edu/
Maui High Performance Computing Center
Affiliated with the University of New Mexico. Training workshops and supercomputer documentation.
http://www.mhpcc.edu/mhpcc.html
MIT Laboratory for Computer Science
Research in a variety of areas in computer science. Description of research, publications, and news.
http://www.lcs.mit.edu/
Supercomputing Institute
Provides supercomputing resources to the University of Minnesota. Description of computers and technical support.
http://www.msi.umn.edu/
Centre for Concurrent Systems and Very Large Scale Integration
Research center of South Bank University. Projects and technical reports.
http://www.scism.sbu.ac.uk/ccsv/
IBM Research Lab in Haifa
Perform research and development such as VLSI design, verification technology, storage subsystems, computer systems, programming languages and environments, advanced applications, multimedia and service technologies.
http://www.haifa.il.ibm.com/
San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC)
The central nexus for the National Partnership for Advanced Computational Infrastructure. Publications, research, and news.
http://www.sdsc.edu/
University of Cambridge HPCF
Description of computing resources available, research, and online manuals.
http://www.hpcf.cam.ac.uk/
The National Center for Supercomputing
Information about supercomputing applications and research in the United States.
http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/
Center for Reliable and High Performance Computing
The center focuses on research in the areas of high-performance computing, high-performance architectures, fault tolerance, and testing. Information about research groups.
http://www.crhc.uiuc.edu/
CSCS
The Swiss Center for Scientific Computing provides the Swiss research community with computing resources. Annual reports and papers available.
http://www.cscs.ch/
Georgia Tech Research Institute
Develops hardware and software and conducts studies for government, industry, and academia.
http://www.gtri.gatech.edu/
ASCI ( Lawrence Livermore National Lab)
Computing alliance funded by the Department of Defense to research modeling and simulation. Information about current research.
http://www.llnl.gov/asci/
Innovative Computing Laboratory
At the University of Tennessee. Research in various areas of high-performance computing. Publications, links to projects, and news.
http://icl.cs.utk.edu/
Interdisciplinary Research Collaboration in Dependability of Computer-Based Systems
Led by the University of Newcastle, UK. Addresses the dependability of computer-based systems. Information about research and job opportunities.
http://www.dirc.org.uk/
Computational Sciences Division at NASA Ames Research Center
News, publications, research areas, projects and highlights, contractors, and contact information.
http://ic.arc.nasa.gov/
Ontario Research Center for Computer Algebra
Researchers at ORCCA study algorithms and software systems for symbolic mathematical computation. At any given time a number of visitors and postdocs are hosted.
http://www.orcca.on.ca/
Mechanical Systems Services - Southwest Research Institute
Conducts research and applied engineering projects in a range of machine vision technologies.
http://www.swri.org/4org/d10/autoeng/msd/machvis.htm
MultiMedia Laboratory (MML), University of Zurich
Research and advanced development work in multimedia-based information system design, application prototyping, and media management.
http://www.ifi.unizh.ch/mml/
Advanced Telecommunication Laboratory of Sony CSL, Inc.
Resources and papers on software defined radio, space-time processing, ultra-wideband (UWB) systems and error correcting codes.
http://www.csl.sony.co.jp/ATL/
High Performance Computing Tools Group
At the University of Houston. Research in parallel computing, compilers, performance benchmarking, and parallel languages.
http://www.cs.uh.edu/~hpctools/
Bell Labs Computing Sciences Research Center
Lucent Technologies, Murray Hill, NJ, USA.
http://cm.bell-labs.com/cm/cs/
Information Systems Research Centres
List maintained by Espen Andersen.
http://www.espen.com/isworld/
Sun Microsystems Laboratories
Applied research and advanced development in asynchronous and high-speed circuits, optical interconnects, third-generation web technologies, sensors, network scaling and Java technologies.
http://research.sun.com/
Foundations of Computing Science
Universität Kaiserslautern, Fachbereich Informatik. Research and education in foundations of computer science. Staff, projects, publications.
http://www-madlener.informatik.uni-kl.de/ag-madlener/ag-madlener_en.html
BRICS
Basic Research in Computer Science, University of Aarhus, Denmark. News, projects, publications, personnel, meetings.
http://www.brics.dk/
Microsoft Research, Cambridge
Research into distributed systems, hardware, information retrieval and analysis, integrated systems, machine learning, networking, and security. Project information and publications.
http://www.research.microsoft.com/labs/cam.asp
Centre for Development of Advanced Computing
Bangalore, India. Research areas include parallel computing and multilingual technologies. Includes educational programs and conference schedule.
http://www.cdacindia.com/
Institute of Mathematics and Computer Science
At the Academy of Sciences of Moldova. Researches pure and applied mathematics, computer science, and information technologies.
http://www.math.md/
Adaptive Modeling and Pattern Recognition Research Group
Project descriptions, publications, and software/data downloads of new algorithms for modeling techniques, pattern recognition and optimization tasks. Part of the Center for Applied Computer Science, Berlin.
http://www.amspr.gfai.de
Center for Advanced Studies, Research and Development in Sardinia
Research into developing advanced simulation techniques and developing network distributed applications. Information about projects, staff, employment opportunities, and documentation.
http://www.crs4.it/
Embedded Systems Laboratory of the Turku Centre for Computer Science
News, publications, and information about staff and research. Turku, Finland.
http://www.eslab.cs.abo.fi/
NASA Advanced Supercomputing Division
Research and development of high performance computing technologies, device modeling, nanotechnology, and scientific visualization. Information about research and publications.
http://www.nas.nasa.gov/
OFFIS Research Institute
Oldenberg, Germany. Research and development in embedded systems, healthcare information and communication systems.
http://www.offis.de
LAPIS
University of Victoria Laboratory for Parallel and Intelligent Systems is a research group with interests in concurrent systems, interconnection networks, neural networks, diagnosis and design automation
http://www.lapis.ece.uvic.ca/WWW_LAPIS/index.html
ETH CoLab
The Computational Sciences Collaboration Lab provides an academic forum and the physical infrastructure for the exchange of interdisciplinary computational ideas among researchers, educators and students.
http://www.colab.ethz.ch/
Digital Systems and Media Computing Laboratory
Hellenic Open University. Fundamental and applied research in Image and Video Processing, Intelligent Information Access, Digital Libraries, Augmented Reality, and Semantic Web.
http://dsmc.eap.gr
LIRMM, Montpellier
Research activities in Computer Science, Robotics and Micro-Electronics.
http://www.lirmm.fr/top_en.html
Institut Gaspard-Monge
The research and training center of the university of Marne-la-Vallée in the fields of Computer Science, Electronic, Telecommunication and Networks.
http://www-igm.univ-mlv.fr./index_en.html
LSV, Cachan
The Laboratoire Spécification et Vérification is the Computer Science laboratory of the École Normale Supérieure de Cachan, with about twenty researchers, PhD students and post-docs on the themes of specification and verification.
http://www.lsv.ens-cachan.fr/index-en.php
IRISA - Institut de recherche en informatique et systemes aleatoires - Rennes
The INRIA, the CNRS, the Université of Rennes 1 and the INSA of Rennes participate to this academic structure. The research scope of this laboratory is related to Information Processing and Communication, including Systemics, Software, Advanced Computer Architectures, Automatism, Signal and Image Processing, Scientific Computation and Knowledge Representation.
http://www.irisa.fr/accueil/index_uk.htm
LORIA - Laboratoire Lorrain de Recherche en Informatique et ses Applications
Boasting more than 150 researchers and around a hundred postgraduates, LORIA carries out its research along two broad themes: theories and techniques of software production (supplying methods, languages and tools which ensure the development and maintenance of dependable, efficient software), human/machine communication and artificial intelligence (the definition of new models leading to an increase in the ability of computers to reason and communicate with humans, and the testing of them in realistic environments)
http://www.loria.fr/index.en.html
Institute of Informatics, University of Bern
Research projects, publications.
http://www.iam.unibe.ch/
NIST Information Technology Laboratory
Describes programs and projects at the NIST Information Technology Laboratory, which supports the information technology industry with measurements, standards, and research.
http://www.itl.nist.gov
IBM Almaden Research Center
Projects in software and hardware for data storage, scientific and technical applications and materials technology, based in San Jose, CA.
http://www.almaden.ibm.com/
ASCI (Sandia National Lab)
Current research and archive of newsletters.
http://www.sandia.gov/ASCI/
CEPBA
European Center for the Parallelization of Barcelona is a research, development and innovation center on efficient computing technologies both for academia and industry. Description of research, training programs, and events.
http://www.cepba.upc.es
Scalable Computing Lab
Iowa State University. Publications bibliography and description of computational resources.
http://www.scl.ameslab.gov/
Army High Performance Computing Research Center
Description of research, publications, and computing facilities.
http://www.arc.umn.edu
Czech Technical University
Description of supercomputing facilities and research papers.
http://www.civ.cvut.cz/
ANU
The Australian National University Supercomputer Facility provides computing infrastructure to students across Australia. FAQs and links to other resources.
http://anusf.anu.edu.au/
CLRC
Central Laboratory of the Research Councils. Research and annual reports.
http://www.clrc.ac.uk/
High Performance Computing at the University of Houston
Research information, supercomputer documentation, and links to other facilities.
http://www.hpcc.uh.edu/
ACPC
Austrian Center for Parallel Computation. Source code of projects and conference information.
http://www.coma.sbg.ac.at/acpc/acpc.html
Caltech Center for Advanced Computing Research
Provides facilities for computational science and engineering research at Caltech and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Research information, publications, and news.
http://www.cacr.caltech.edu/
CRIM
Computer Research Institute of Montreal. Information about the organization.
http://www.crim.ca/
The Paradigm Group
Research in parallel computing with applications to geographic/spatial information systems. Projects and bibliography of papers.
http://www.scs.carleton.ca/~gis
CERCA
Centre de recherche en calcul applique. Supports university research in computation of interest to industry and government. Research description and contact information.
http://www.cerca.umontreal.ca/
The Centre for Novel Computing
Researches operating systems and compilers. Project descriptions and published papers available.
http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/cnc/
Center for Research on Parallel Computation
A National Science Foundation Science and Technology Center. Parallel computing research, newsletter, and publications.
http://www.crpc.rice.edu/CRPC/
Icarus3 Project
The Intensive Computing for Advanced Interdisciplinary Research of European Scientists project is a consortium of Italian universities that provides researchers with supercomputing facilities.
http://www.cineca.it/projects/icarus/
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