This document discusses the nature and importance of research. It defines research as a systematic investigation and study of materials and sources to establish facts and reach new conclusions. Research is important for gathering necessary information, improving standards of living through new inventions, having a safer life through health and technology discoveries, knowing the truth by investigating beliefs, exploring history to understand the past, and understanding arts. Research benefits society by connecting to development and affecting people's lives through its findings. The economist Earl Robert Babbie is cited as defining research as a systematic inquiry to describe, explain, predict, and control observed phenomena.