"I’ve Done My Research." No, You Haven’t. You Just Googled It.
A short rant. Or a plea. Or both.
During my years in academia, I worked alongside actual researchers. People trained in the discipline and rigor of research. People who spend years refining questions, testing hypotheses, analyzing data, and subjecting their findings to skeptical scrutiny.
The kind of work that, quietly and painstakingly, makes us safer, healthier, and better informed.
So yes, this is a bit of a rant. But it’s also a defense of rigor, discernment, and the kind of thinking that takes time.
What Real Research Looks Like
Question Formation
It begins with a focused, well-formed question, rather than a hunch, a headline, or a vibe.Literature Review
A deliberate survey of what's already known: what's been asked, tested, and found wanting.Methodology Design
You don’t just gather information. You design a method to test, measure, and interpret with care.Data Collection
Interviews, experiments, fieldwork, archives. Sometimes months, sometimes years.Analysis
Pattern-finding. Anomaly-hunting. Applying logic and statistical rigor.Peer Review
Others trained in the field critique your process, your conclusions, and your blind spots.Revision
You change your mind. You rethink your conclusions. You improve your work.Synthesis
You connect your findings to what came before… and to what comes next.Replicability
Real research invites challenge. Others can retrace your steps and see if they arrive at the same place.
What Google Is
Clicking isn't thinking.
You're not discovering insight. You're collecting headlines.
Google is the fast food of knowing.
Quick. Tasty. And rarely nourishing.
Algorithms aren't experts.
They reward what spreads, not what holds up.
Search is not scrutiny.
A search bar is not a method. It's a suggestion box.
If you found it in under a minute, it’s not insight. It’s background noise.
“I Googled it” is the modern “I heard it somewhere.”
Equally shallow. Equally suspect.
Google simulates understanding. Research earns it.
Research has steps. Google has scroll.
Just because it’s online doesn’t mean it’s settled.
Google shows you other people’s answers. Research helps you construct your own.
The Bottom Line
Stop calling it research when what you did was open a browser and skim.
Research is not just information gathering. It's a disciplined, skeptical pursuit of understanding.
Google is a tool. It can help you start, but it can’t carry you through. Research begins where search ends.
Knowing is harder than it looks. And more worth it, too.
==