The cycle is complete. The resolution of the problem or tentative answer to the question completes the cycle. Such is the format of all research. Different academic disciplines merely use different routes to arrive at the same destination. What seems like a neatly closed circles, however, deceptive.
Research is never conclusive.
In exploring an area, one comes across additional problems that need resolving. Research beget research. The core concept underlying all research is its methodology. The methodology controls the study, dictates the acquisition of the data, arranges them in logical relationships, sets up a means of refining the raw data, contrives an approach so that the meanings that lie below the surface of those data become manifest, and finally issues a conclusion or series of conclusions that lead to an expansion of knowledge. To control and dictate the acquisition of data.