%0 Journal Article %T A pesquisa %A Clark %A Ot¨¢vio Augusto Camara %A Castro %A Aldemar Araujo %J Pesquisa Odontol¨®gica Brasileira %D 2003 %I Scientific Electronic Library Online %R 10.1590/S1517-74912003000500011 %X this text presents a reflection on the chief steps involved in experimental execution, and approaches sequentially the following aspects: a) what is research?, b) why carry out a research?, c) how can a research be useful in the future?, d) what are the stages involved in a research?, and e) who should be considered authors of a research? finally, this article mentions the importance of results analysis and the relevance of the obtained results to the community. %K research %K ethics [research]. %U http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_abstract&pid=S1517-74912003000500011&lng=en&nrm=iso&tlng=en