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research

/rɪˈsɜːrtʃ//rɪˈsɜːtʃ/·noun, verb
careful, systematic investigation to discover and establish facts
Fig. 1 — Clues are pinned all around the edge of a single board, with a question mark waiting in the middle of it.
01Definition

Research is the patient, systematic search for knowledge — gathering evidence, testing a hypothesis, and building conclusions you can defend. The word comes through French from re- and cercher, 'to seek again', and that repetition is the point: research circles back, checks, and scrutinizes until a finding holds. As a noun it is almost always uncountable — you do research, not 'a research', a slip that trips up many candidates. As a verb, to research a topic is to investigate it methodically rather than to guess.

02In use
  • iYears of research were needed to substantiate the drug's safety.
  • iiHer research focuses on how coral reefs adapt to warming oceans.
  • iiiCareful research lets you infer general patterns from limited data.
03Collocations
  • conduct research
  • carry out research
  • a body of research
  • research suggests
  • extensive research

Family researcher (noun) · researched (adjective)

04Relations

=investigation, study, inquiry, examination, analysis

06TOEFL & IELTS

Extremely high-frequency and a classic accuracy trap: research is uncountable, so write 'a piece of research' or 'some research', never 'a research' or 'researches'. Build the collocations — 'conduct / carry out research', 'research suggests / indicates', 'a body of research'. Note the US–UK stress difference (REsearch vs reSEARCH). It is indispensable for TOEFL integrated writing, where you report what research shows.

07Asked
Is research countable — can I say 'a research'?
No — research is uncountable, and 'a research' or 'researches' is among the most common accuracy errors examiners see. The fixes are ready-made: a study, a piece of research, a research project (attributive research before a noun is fine). If you need a plural, count the containers, not the substance: three studies, several research papers, a growing body of research.
Is it research on, into, or about?
On takes topics and fields: research on memory, on coral reefs. Into takes questions and problems and adds a sense of digging: research into the causes of the crash — the preposition of inquiries. About is looser and more conversational, better kept out of formal writing. When the noun after is a mystery to be opened, into; when it is a subject to be covered, on.
Do you do, make, conduct or carry out research?
Do, conduct and carry out — never make. 'Make research' is a double error waiting to happen alongside 'a research', and both often arrive in the same sentence. Conduct and carry out are the formal pair for papers and reports; do research is fine in speech. The verbs of reporting then take over: research shows, indicates, suggests — each claiming a different strength.
What's the difference between research and a study?
A study is countable and single: one investigation with a design, a sample and a result. Research is the uncountable activity and the accumulated body: studies are bricks, research is the wall. The scene above is the wall's-eye view — no single clue answers anything; it is the threading of all of them that sharpens the question into something solved.
What does 'research suggests' actually claim?
The gentlest rung on a ladder of confidence. Suggests reports a pattern without insisting; indicates firms it up; shows and demonstrates assert it; proves — rare in careful prose — closes the case. Academic writing lives on the lower rungs deliberately: 'research suggests' lets you report a body of evidence while leaving room for it to be overturned, which is precisely the register exams reward.