<p>Research in college depends heavily on your major and field. Every field’s research is done differently.</p>
<p>For example, as a graduate student in recreation, my thesis will likely study how people perceive and connect with different methods of interpretation and education at a national forest recreation area. It will involve field data collection, interviews, recording, etc. - the goal is to better understand how effective various interpretive techniques are. A graduate student in history, on the other hand, would be reading various sources in archives and museums, examining field sites, etc. with the aim of developing an original historical study of a particular person, location or subject.</p>
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<p>There is plenty to be discovered in economics. Our understanding of the ways people, organizations and nations interact economically is complex, incomplete and always controversial.</p>
<p>The key to remember is that, especially at the start, you don’t go out and create a grand new theory to shock the world. Your thesis/dissertation is just a demonstration that you are capable of independent, academic-quality research. New knowledge doesn’t have to be earth-shaking or news-making. It just has to contribute something - even if that something is “well, there’s a good chance this is true, but a lot more needs to be done before we can really be sure.” The secret of science is that… we’re never really sure. There’s always more to be done.</p>
<p>Whether you decide to pursue research or not depends on your career interests. Research-based graduate degrees are generally (but not always) aimed at students who plan to go into teaching and research as a career - that is, become a professor. On the other hand, an MBA is a non-research degree - it’s an intensive two-year program on advanced business management techniques.</p>