“Perfect Research is Impossibility”
Hoping for a perfect research is tantamount to hoping that life on earth would be eternal. Perfect is synonymous to ideal and ideal is unchanging as Plato declared (qtd. in Boeree part 2). In reality, nothing is unchanging except for change itself, an idea which stimulates man to undertake research. People view things differently and they desire to discover something new or to confirm the validity of a discovery presented. What was believed to be true before may no longer be acceptable at present or what has been presented might have posed curiosity or challenge upon them. Changes have taken place. Flaws on the data were observed. Curiosity was triggered. Challenge was posed. Hence, investigation and validation of the research previously performed arose. The hope to come up with a perfect version of the research presented compelled researchers to employ various means. Reading related materials, interviewing people, watching documentaries and visual presentations and others were executed. Then, editing and revising of the data gathered came afterwards. Nonetheless, nobody has ever claimed that perfect research was attained. This is because perfection is relative as Spinoza claimed (qtd. in Cohen 8). Every person has his own criteria of perfection depending upon his perception of things and experiences.
Research is undertaken not to attain its perfection but to modify or confirm what has been made known to man. For example, Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone and it was applauded by people in his time. Years later, according to Bellis in her newsletter published in About.com.inventors, Thomas Edison improved the invention as he discovered the compressed carbon disc. Later, Emile Berliner followed by William Blake came up with better ideas and their contributions led to much refined communication via telephone. But such modification has not ended the telephone improvement series because in 1947, Bell laboratories introduced the idea of cellular phones whose actuality was made possible by Dr. Martin Cooper for Motorola in 1975. At present, cellular phone is very much in use and it is still being modified and improved, acts which exemplify that perfect research is impossibility. Different users desire for different features of the invention and it is that desire that make imperfection of the invention visible. According to Voltaire, excellence can be attained but perfection cannot (www.famous-quotes.net/Quote.aspx?The-perfect-is-the-enemy-of-the-good). Thus, one can only hope for an excellent but never for a perfect research.
References :
Bellis, Mary. “Selling the Cell Phone”. Inventors Guide since 1997. April 23, 2011.
Boeree, George C. “The Ancient Greeks: Part Two Socrates, Plato and Aristotle.” April 23,
Cohen, Elliot D. Ph.D. “Absolute Nonsense: The Irrationality of Perfectionistic Thinking.” April
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