Isolation refers to the separation or restriction of individuals, groups, or organisms from others. In research, isolation can refer to a variety of scenarios such as isolating variables in an experiment in order to study their effects in a controlled environment, isolating specific genes or proteins in molecular biology studies, or isolating individuals or groups in social science research to study their behavior or interactions. Isolation can also refer to the physical separation of individuals or populations in the context of ecology or evolutionary biology. Overall, isolation in research allows for the study of specific factors or entities in a controlled or separated environment to better understand their impact or behavior.