Research: leaving your comfort zone but staying in the reality of the experiment

All experimental research is subject to a rigorous protocol that aims to validate or reject a hypothesis with a view to communicating new knowledge on a specific issue.

From the observation grid to the collection of data, from the presentation of results to their interpretation, theoretical readings provide a common thread that supports reflection. The young researcher is given a methodological guide, which he or she is obliged to follow to the letter. But the moment comes when doubt creeps in: is the protocol suited to this field? How relevant is the data collected? What can we do with the unanswered questions and the answers that don't fit into the defined framework? Could this variable be an invariant given the context?

These and many other questions inevitably arise. The researcher retraces his steps, checks the outline of his study, reviews the data, realises the fragility of certain methodological elements, adjusts and refines the methodology... without ever leaving his particular field of experiment.

The field is disconcerting and questions the researcher about the meaning of his/her research. He/she may rework his/her protocol, venture down a path that had not been thought about. The carefully-marked landscape appears foggy, or worse: swampy. It is precisely here that the reality of the experiment comes to the rescue. That's what research is all about: daring to question certainties in order to move into the unknown, but always keeping in touch with the reality of the data.

Research is not about comfort, because comfort means having found a fixed and reassuring certainty. Certainty is limited to a time and a place; it comes from the partial or total validation or invalidation of a hypothesis, using a demanding protocol. Research also means accepting that the certainties of one time can be called into question by some other research. When reasoning and certainties are shaken, only a return to the reality of the experiment can enable the search for meaning that characterises research.