Why research is extremely essential for policy makers

Or in other hand research is a process of steps used to collect and analyze information to increase our understanding of a topic or issue.

At a general level, research consists of three steps: First, pose a question. Second, collect data to answer the question. Third, present an answer to the question. This should be a familiar process. You engage in solving problems every day and you start with a question, collect some information, and then form an answer. Research is important for three reasons. First, research adds to our knowledge: Adding to knowledge means that educators undertake research to contribute to existing information about issues. Second, research improves practice: Research is also important because it suggests improvements for practice. Armed with research results, teachers and other educators become more effective professionals. Third, research informs policy debates: research also provides information to policy makers when they research and debate educational topics. 

A research project may also be an expansion on past work in the field. Research projects can be used to develop further knowledge on a topic, or in the example of a school research project, they can be used to further a student's research prowess to prepare them for future jobs or reports. To test the validity of instruments, procedures, or experiments, research may replicate elements of prior projects or the project as a whole. The primary purposes of basic research (as opposed to applied research) are documentation, discovery, interpretation, or the research and development (R&D) of methods and systems for the advancement of human knowledge. Approaches to research depend on epistemologies, which vary considerably both within and between humanities and sciences. There are several forms of research: scientific, humanities, artistic, economic, social, business, marketing, practitioner research, life, technological, etc. The scientific study of research practices is known as meta-research.

In 2009, Tsige Gebre-Mariam, professor of pharmaceutics and drug delivery at Addis Ababa University was excited when he discovered a drug to expel worm-like parasites from the human body.

Besides the anti-parasitic drug, Gebre-Mariam also had a breakthrough in the treatments hemorrhoid and eczema and developed a formula from medicinal plants for the treatment of malaria. He had been working on it for 20 years. More than 213 million people were affected by malaria in Africa in 2018, with 380,000 deaths, according to WHO’s World Malaria Report 2019.

But after reaching out to the government and other funders to bankroll the project, he discovered financial support in his country and across continent was still reluctant to translate laboratory findings into locally relevant evidence. “Production in large scale requires substantial investment—cultivation of the plants, extraction facilities and standard production that meets good manufacturing standards,” Gebre-Mariam said, noting that setting up a factory is beyond researcher’s financial capacity. Since then, the discovered medicines have not reached any drug store, even in Addis Ababa.

Like the case of Gebre-Mariam, who also president of the Ethiopian Academy of Sciences, limited funding on research and development (R&D), is a challenge for scientists across Africa, significantly hampering innovation.  

Even though a few African countries are rising up to the challenge of spending on R&D, their efforts remain largely epileptic. Africa has fewer than 1 per cent of patents on earth. This implies that their findings are hardly converted into workable solutions even when money is spent on research.

Against this backdrop, for decades now many African scientists have been forced to leave their home countries to work abroad where there is better funding.