There is no denying that technology has made huge changes to how we live. Every major walk of life has been affected, either positively or negatively, by technological advancements. The pros, however, often outweigh the cons. When you realize that it is because of technology that we are able to do most of what we do on a daily basis, be it shopping, running a business, video chatting, watching a movie, or getting treated for a disease, you can easily recognize just how much various technologies have improved our lives.
One area in which scientific advancements have made big changes is education. Particularly, the use of information technology in research that young learners and seasoned professionals conduct is to be noted. “There are so many advancements that help academic researchers do their work that it is hard to list them down. Someone who studies in a university may often be using a lot of the technologies without even realizing it”, says Duncan Jones, a leading writer at PapersOwl who also happens to be an academic researcher. When it comes to scientific research, the assistance a student or a professional can get from various tools is very significant.
How Technology Has Changed Education
Before we talk about research, let’s briefly go over some of the major changes that have been made to educational processes thanks to developments in science.
- The ability to create study materials, manage them, organize them, and share them with different people all from a central system was not possible a few years ago.
- The collaborative work that college-goers often do, using apps and programs, while sitting in different parts of the world is all thanks to such developments.
- The ability for schools to conduct remote classes during the pandemic was also because of these developments.
- Schools can now offer online programs for those who cannot afford to travel to another country to get a top-notch educational experience. There are also various MOOCs that can help people develop their skills while sitting at home!
- Teachers can easily get in touch with the learners, and vice versa, to discuss their assignments and any other issues.
There is a lot more that our educational institutions do on a daily basis that is all thanks to the advances made in various IT departments. The use of electronic bulletin boards in schools, the use of artificial intelligence to help out a student, and the everyday utilization of special software to help with communications are some of the things that should be given their due attention.
5 Ways Technology is Helping with Research
1. Programs for Analysis
Since the 1960s, when a program named SPSS started helping researchers complete complex statistical tasks like linear regression, tech developments have been a big part of conducting advanced research. Whether we talk about computer scientists working on complex models and analyzing experimental data or young college-goers sitting in a library with heaps of data collected for sophisticated analysis, it is all because of various programs running on computers that such tasks can be completed easily. This kind of advanced technology has increased not only the processes’ speed but also their accuracy.
2. Data Collection
Imagine how difficult it would be if you didn’t have virtual programs and platforms to reach out to thousands of potential subjects for a study. A lot of today’s research projects, especially those undertaken by graduate students, utilize such platforms to conduct their research. Platforms like Facebook and Google Forms help researchers create questionnaires and send them out to countless subjects in a matter of minutes. There is no longer a need to print out hundreds of surveys and mail them to others in the hope that they will actually pay attention to theirs and try to assist you. This is one of the most underappreciated forms of research technology that helps collect insight for multiple projects every year.
3. Landing Interviews
Those who go to universities know how important it is that when they write a paper or an article, they include high-quality references. One way to do this is by interviewing professionals and experts on the subject. With the help of digital platforms and services, it has become simpler to get in touch with an expert who is sitting on the other side of the globe. This was not possible about a decade ago. You would have to try and set up meetings with them and then actually manage to visit them. If they were in a different country or a faraway city, you might not have been able to get your reference. These days, all it takes is one Zoom call.
4. Sharing Outcomes
A big part of academics is to share the outcomes of a study once completed. In today’s day and age, this is simpler than it was decades ago. Any faculty member or student who has published some sort of academic research in the past would know that the ability to upload your work after you have created it can be very rewarding. Not only can others end up learning from it, but they can also be so impressed with the social impact your statistical analysis can make that they offer to collaborate with you.
5. Easier Interface for Learners
For college-goers who are used to online learning and using search engines on a daily basis, it is easier to design surveys and polls using digital programs than making such elements by hand. With such options at their disposal, they can focus more on the content of their research than worry about handling and safeguarding large amounts of physical data. The ease of use that they can find when given access to simple ways to collect data makes an otherwise complicated process very easy for them.
Conclusion
While traditional elements of conducting research still exist and are appreciated, having the ability to back them up with technological advances is something that saves time and also often produces better results. Anyone who has ever conducted some in-depth research would understand how much time and effort it can require. The developments in the fields of IT are helping to cut down that effort while allowing more researchers to emerge and share their work with the world.
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