If you have an Internet connection, you can visit sites to give you information about just about any topic under the sun. Depending on the sites you visit, you can get facts, opinions, pictures, stories, statistical data, first-hand accounts, retractions, newspaper stories and many other types of online sources. As long as you verify your facts and stick to trustworthy sites, you can get the majority of your research done on the Internet.
You can also use a computer to access software and other educational materials, such as journals, books and articles that have been scanned and sent to your computer or that are accessed at databases you can get to through your computer. All of these various places have information you may need for research. When you use software or documents you have uploaded to your computer, you don't need to be connected to the Internet to conduct your research.
You might also use a computer in your own research, to store, organize and analyze your own data. You can use spreadsheet programs to enter your own stats and to see what they mean, or you can use graphing programs or other types of software to input your own statistics and data to analyze them. Computers can make calculations, discover patterns and process information so you can understand it. You may decide to use your computer and its software to turn your own data into research you can use.
Computers are also useful in research when it comes to putting it all together. With your computer, you can create spreadsheets of what you've learned, write a report or document detailing the research you've done, make charts or graphs to depict information you find important or create a presentation to show your research off to the world. With presentation and document software, you can put your research all together to come up with your results and to present them effectively.