RESEARCH FEASIBILITY: MEANING AND EXAMPLES - SCIENCE - 2024

The feasibility of the research is the aspect of a science project that is related to whether this can be carried out in real life or not. If a research idea is not considered viable, it will be impossible to carry it out and, therefore, must be discarded.

The feasibility of the investigation has a lot to do with the resources available to carry it out. Among the different types of resources that may be needed to carry out a successful experiment or scientific research, the materials, human and economic or financial, among others, stand out.

In other contexts, even the time and information available may be considered necessary resources for an investigation. Therefore, within science there must be a balance between the relevance of what is studied and the feasibility of the experiments necessary to do it.

Meaning

Viability literally means "ability to function or maintain itself over time." In the case of scientific research, this concept is related to the possibility of carrying it out in practice or not.

In all fields of science, theoretical developments and speculations about the different fields of knowledge must be supported by research carried out following the scientific method. However, on some occasions it is very complicated or downright impossible to carry out these experiments.

This is where the concept of feasibility comes into play. In these specific fields of scientific knowledge, researchers must think about how to carry out a viable experiment, but one that allows answering the most important questions posed by the theoretical development of science.

Similar concepts

Feasibility should not be confused with feasibility, which is another word that is sometimes used practically interchangeably with it. However, in the academic field, both concepts are differentiated.

While feasibility seeks to answer the question "is it possible to carry out this research?", Feasibility tries to find the strengths and weaknesses of an experiment that has already been approved.

Due to this, the feasibility has to take into account factors such as the relevance of the research in relation to the subject to be studied, its efficiency and the probability of success of the experiment.

Types of viability

Within the scope of the feasibility of an investigation we can find different types. The most important are the following:

Technical viability

It is related to the existence of the necessary resources to carry out an experiment or research.

For example, in the case of neuropsychology, until very recently there were no devices necessary to measure the functioning of the human brain in real time.

Economic feasibility

Sometimes, despite the existence of the necessary technical means to carry out an investigation, these are very expensive and cannot be implemented.

An example is the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland: the financial effort required to build it makes it unfeasible to develop a second, similar apparatus.

Temporary viability

Some types of research have to be done over many years, sometimes even decades. These investigations can be very difficult to carry out due to this factor and, therefore, in many cases it is considered that they are not viable.

Ethical feasibility

Finally, even if all the necessary resources are available to carry out an investigation, sometimes the methods that should be used to carry it out go against ethics or morals. In general, these experiments end up being discarded.

Examples in real investigations

Below you can find examples of various investigations that have not been carried out due to feasibility problems.

Construction of a nuclear fusion reactor

Despite the fact that nuclear fusion energy has been mentioned many times as the definitive energy, the reality is that its properties have not yet been properly investigated due to the technical impossibility of building a nuclear reactor that produces it in a controlled manner.

Scientists have known for decades how to cause a nuclear fusion reaction (for example, inside a hydrogen bomb).

However, due to the high temperatures required to begin the fusion process of hydrogen atoms, with the materials that we currently have we cannot replicate in a controlled environment. This would be a case of lack of technical feasibility.

Study on the influence of genetics vs. the environment

At the time when the debate about whether human beings are more influenced by our biology or by the society in which we live, a large number of experiments were proposed to try to find the answer once and for all. However, most of these could never be carried out.

One of the most radical involved taking large numbers of newborn children and isolating them in a closed environment, where they could not have any contact with an adult. The idea was to provide them with all the resources they needed to develop properly, but to do so without any social influence.

In this way, it could be observed exactly how human beings would be if we were not exposed to the society in which we live. But, obviously, the experiment violated the laws of morals and ethics, so it could never be carried out.

Zimbardo's experiment

The last example is an experiment that was possible to carry out in the past, but due to its results it is very likely that we will never be able to replicate it again.

This is the well-known Philip Zimbardo experiment: in this the researcher wanted to study the effects of social roles on people.

To achieve this, he divided a group of volunteers into two teams: prisoners and prison guards. The idea was to see to what extent having power would corrupt the false guards.

The experiment had to be stopped when the second group got out of control and began to use physical violence against volunteers who were prisoners.

This experiment could no longer be carried out in the present age, because, again, it violates the norms of ethics and morals.

References

1. "Viability of research projects" in: Chronicle. Retrieved on: March 30, 2018 from Chronicle: cronica.com.ec.
2. "Viability" in: Definition Of. Retrieved on: March 30, 2018 from Definition Of: definicion.de.
3. "Example of feasibility in research" in: Slideshare. Retrieved on: March 30, 2018 from Slideshare: es.slideshare.com.
4. "Feasibility and feasibility in research" in: Prezi. Retrieved on: March 30, 2018 from Prezi: prezi.com.
5. "10 Psychological Experiments That Could Never Happen Today" in: Mental Floss. Retrieved on: March 30, 2018 from Mental Floss: mentalfloss.com.