Scientific research is an organized method of investigation with integrated, studied processes that take into account the data of the present and the needs of the future, and as a result, it progresses behaviorally and psychologically with confident steps until achieving the desired results. Hence, its adoption by researchers most likely helps in reaching the truth they aspire to, whether this concerns knowledge of a natural or human science, or a solution to a personal, individual, general, social, or global human problem, or a prediction of a future phenomenon or incident.
Scientific research is thus an enlightened path or a path of salvation from ignorance, confusion, or a predicament facing individuals/groups, to confident knowledge of a situation, or a successful solution to a difficulty. It is a universal path with general principles, steps, or stations, taken by individuals who seek to reach a right or obtain a truth.
Scientific research does not find itself in studying practical problems in physics, biology or chemistry, for example, but rather deals with treating and solving our natural scientific, social, human, specialized academic, theoretical, practical behavioral, or other areas and individual and social interests. It also differs in its goal and procedure entirely from the method of trial and error or the method of common sense or others. It occurs as a system characterized by purposefulness, accuracy and control in its inputs, processes and results.
Scientific research, with its purposeful, drawn-up methodology, is, as we have noted, a behavioral system that consists – like any system – of processes, inputs, outputs and evaluation controls.
1- Inputs: The inputs of the research system consist of a number of elements, the most important of which are: the researcher and his specialized knowledge of scientific research, the problem and his feeling about it and his choice of research, then the purpose or question of the research, previous studies and knowledge to solve it, questions/objectives, hypotheses for addressing the problem, the scope or limits of its treatment, the shortcomings or difficulties that hinder the research processes, the importance of solving it for knowledge, the individual and society, the concepts/terms that will be addressed, the available capabilities for it, then the directed plan to obtain the required results.
2- Operations: It consists of the methodology of researching the problem or procedures and designing its solution to reach the intended results. It includes, among many, the operation of tools, samples, materials and experiments useful for all data and methods of analysis and interpretation.
3- Outputs: It consists of the results of the scientific research, i.e. the solutions that were reached from conclusions, recommendations and implications, then a written report that usually embodies all the previous elements of the system – inputs, operations and outputs.
4- Evaluation Controls: Previously, specialists (including the author himself) in the components of systems stopped at the three elements above: inputs, processes, and outputs. However, a modern, reflective look at the nature and work of any system prompted the author to propose a new fourth element: Quality Evaluative Controls. Why? Because the procedural specifications that must be available in the system in order to be purposeful and productive are, in our opinion, the quality of the components, discipline, accuracy, and control over their performance, and the possibility of repeating the research and obtaining similar or convergent behavioral interactions and results.
Meaning: The components of the system and how they work together, then their methods of interaction and behavioral outcomes are: known, disciplined, and precise in their formation and operational relationships, and they are also governed in their interactions by specific logical and applied principles and steps, leading to their use in other similar situations to the desired results. That is, all elements of the system in this way: inputs, processes, and outputs appear reliable in their performance, i.e. repeated from one situation or environment to another.
The intended controls as a fourth element in scientific research are represented by indicators or evaluation criteria for the validity of the research for the problem being studied, and then for the quality of its effectiveness in treating it and eliminating its negative effects.
Researcher’s competencies parallel to the inputs, processes, outputs and controls of the scientific research system:
1- The researcher’s scientific competencies, which are represented by the primary research system inputs – the theoretical and applied frameworks of scientific research. Scientific competencies are the source of the researcher’s insight, through which he distinguishes his problems and builds strategies to address them, and realizes the nature of the expected results to solve them. They also constitute a basis for his specialized behavior and a general framework for his identity and his cognitive processes as a researcher.
2- The researcher’s logical competencies, which are equivalent to feeling a problem or research topic and deciding to address it based on convincing logical foundations. In reality, they appear to the researcher in the form of individual abilities that enable him to uncover the nature of the problem, analyze its various circumstances and factors, and then determine the extent of the need to solve it.. The result of which decides whether to proceed with the research or stop it due to lack of need or low importance.
3- The researcher’s planning competencies, which are represented by the researcher’s abilities to analyze the available capabilities to research the problem and develop appropriate plans to solve it, while paralleling the third and final inputs of the scientific research system. In other words, it is the researcher’s ability to legislate studied methods to address the problem and determine the type of results required as effective solutions to it..
4- The researcher’s procedural competencies mean his ability to implement the plans set to research the problem, including research management, collecting, analyzing and interpreting data with the aim of reaching the desired appropriate solutions.
5- The researcher’s technical and evaluative competencies are represented in his ability to survey and review the research he has conducted and sift through his activities and results to reveal their suitability for the problem being studied and their effectiveness in overcoming its observed negatives, and then write and produce the appropriate report to publish or circulate the research results, or for use by the relevant parties.