Research and Epistemology

So we had a lecture about research and epistemology. We were briefed on the key things expected in our academic work in order to be a successful practitioner-  reflection, analysis, evaluation. Also we looked at the structure of our modules and broke them down into three main directions which we need to improve along side each other:
Context of Practice- theory, Personal Professional Practice- professionalism, Studio Practice- practice. Basically, CoP is there for integrating theory into practice. Synthesis, evaluation, knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis.
You have to start somewhere, and the best place to start is research.
Research can be many things, it can be a process of finding out, of trying to do something. Research as a process is more important than the end result. It is a part of growing. It's not about clarifying, it's about exploring. Research is about brighter ideas putting them together and its okay to fail!
The main driving force of research is ideas. In order to generate ideas you have to engage into things that stimulate us. When you're working with that kind of approach, you see what is out there and use it for your own ideas. There's also a systematic approach is taking something, change and play with it to generate ideas. There is also the intuitive approach. It is a sort of eureka moment. So then, what is research? Its a process of learning facts, it is based on using what you already know and expanding on that. Its also collection of information, using a verity of sources and then analysis of the gained knowledge.  If you're not asking questions, you are not researching. Research can be broken down into 4 types:
Primary research- it doesn't exist yet, we create it for a specific problem.
Secondary research- its already existing research that we use to relate to our problem.
Quantitive research- relies on factual statistical research.
Qualitative research- its based on something that is impossible to measure. But you can gather information and weigh the probabilities.
All this poses a question: Whats is information in Relation to research?
Is results from a process. It has to be relevant and useful. It has to be competently gathered.
There is a range of methods to research;
Phase one, assimilation. It is an accumulation and ordering of general information
Phase two, general study
Phase three, development
Phase four, communication

It can also start from analysis-
What the problem is about
What am I asked to do
You might have to go back and forth on analyzing and what you are doing currently.
After research, there is evaluation, and then solution.
The key to this is STARTING ANYWHERE!!!
Research is what you do when you don't know what to do. That's the premise of research. Its about developing something new.