Is research necessary?

I think we've all seen studies that are not necessary; studies that basic assumption or logic can define the outcome; not research. Communication research is a systematic process of posing questions about human communication, answering those questions, and then persuading others that your results are valid. With this in mind it is important that the research we conduct not only is done in the right manor and for the right reasons, but also that it is necessary to be done. There are cases were research might - simply - be a terrible idea to even attempt; it can be meaningless, irrelevant, and frankly a waist of time. The headline below - I believe - highlights this point we talked about in class the first day. We have to weight the positives and negatives, the strengths and weaknesses before any research is conducted.