Applied Linguistics at KMUTT

How important is practicality in research? How can you judge whether the time/energy/resources necessary for completing a research study are 'worth' it?

I am looking at 'practicality' from the methodology perspective. For example, to know what Thai college students think about X, it is not practical to involve all college students across Thailand (well, this is a bit too extreme). It's time consuming and you won't get to disseminate your work (either getting rejected or never getting it done).

If it's really innovative and meaninful, and is very likely to create massive impacts, such resources are worth it. But normally isn't every research supposed to be innovative and create something new?

Here's the quote in the very first page of the book I read during my masters https://pic.in.th/image/aIs6ZC

Thank you so much, Aj. Richard, for reviving this forum! I have been trying to log in since yesterday, and finally I made it! Ron, I love the quote! It reminded me of the sympathies my university colleagues express whenever I mention that I just started my PhD study.
Personally, practicality is essential in research. I would be happy if the outcome of my study helps me improve my teaching practices, and would be thrilled if it helps others do so! The question is how I can enhance the practicality of my research. I look forward to reading your posts.

In my opinion, practicality plays an important role in conducting research. This is because we aim to reach the desired outcome within the constraints of our limited resources, such as time, energy, and, of course, money. To answer how we can judge our resources are worth conducting a research study, similar to what Ron pointed out, we must accept the reality of what can be achieved under these constraints, rather than striving for an ideal. It's possible to accomplish less than the ideal - and this doesn't imply a lack of effort - in order to create a greater or broader impact as Yukari mentioned (it may help others).

I think there’s a lot of discussions on research that needs to be valid and reliable generally, which I think it is important. As I am finding my way on how to do research and trying to be better at this, I think being practical is also important and a good reminder to my future-self. Being practical is not easy sometimes when one is passionate (as in Aj Ong’s picture!), so in many ways, it is good that we have revive a forum to discuss with friends and colleagues to share our thoughts and experiences!