Research at the ith is basic research, which is a prerequisite for working with and on theory; at the same time, applied research is also conducted in experimental testing of theories. This pragmatic approach does not mean that research serves any old external purposes, but that it takes place and is exposed in certain specific social and cultural contexts and examines its own potential significance and meaning for these.
Research is explicitly critical in that the research process itself is always the subject of discussion and it is explicitly political in that it sees itself as one of a number of cultural processes that form a fundamental part of the development of a society's social sphere. In this dual approach, research is the terrain on which theory can be tested and proven as a performative force in the realm of knowledge creation and the formation of public life.