"Nice Poem, Now Eat the Potatoes."
- Irish Farmer
Answer:
<em>Research </em>is a <em>process of generating new knowledge about a specific subject by acquiring new information, analyzing it and putting it into the framework of existing knowledge in order to make new conclusions.
</em>
Let us take as an <u>example </u>the salient issue of electronic cigarettes. Being on the market in many countries for several years now, e-cigarettes have both their supporters and opposers. Some people <u>claim</u> that e-cigarettes is a good alternative to smoking tobacco and while they can be harmful they are less harmful than tobacco. Some people share an <u>opinion</u> that e-cigarettes are dangerous and should be banned.
Only <u>research </u>can educate both of these opinions with validated scientific outcomes. That is why so many institutions are currently running extensive research on the impact of e-cigarettes on human health. Until robust scientific data is collected, which takes a lot of time with subjects that are expected to have a long-term effect on human health, ideas in favor or against will prevail the agenda on this subject. Moreover, the lack of research can result in fear mongering <u>ideas</u> about e-cigarettes, or opposite to that, fashion to use e-cigarettes among people who were not smoking tobacco before.
