Who is a good inquirer?

As I begin to prepare applying for the Doctoral programmes, I seem quite unsure of what aspects of my profile is pertinent to be underscored. While at this juncture what best impresses upon the admissions committee should be salient, some fundamental doubts seem to prod me in a different direction.

In particular, I wonder whether my "world view" gained in more than a decade of work experience will constrict my ability to undertake academic inquiry. For one, I am afraid whether I become inclined towards only those interpersonal encounters, phenomena and contexts that have intrigued me along; and two, whether I knowingly or unknowingly search for confirmatory scientific evidence to those that I have brooded over.

I am not anxious about the prospect that these inquiries get shunned by the sentinels of knowledge, or whether the knowledge eventually begotten is deemed "unscholarly". However, what is disconcerting is what do I, as a thus-far-practitioner, bring to the domains of theorizing and disseminating.

This brings me to a few questions:

• Is "true" knowledge beyond the relativity of the knower, the known and the process of knowledge?
• If so, what qualifies a good researcher? What cognitions,emotions and volitions characterize such an individual?
• How critical is being passionate about the subject, but dispassionate about the findings of inquiry?

I acknowledge that I have a long way in attaining meaningful cessations on these fronts. For now, I better get some good sleep before tomorrow's TOEFL!