Ph.D. research is not novel research in the sense you may be thinking. It's generally just exploring in depth a very focused issue or question in an already wel

Ph.D. research is not novel research in the sense you may be thinking. It's generally just exploring in depth a very focused issue or question in an already well-understood field. The work isn't necessarily very intellectually demanding but does require some academic discipline in the sense of keeping good notes, documenting experiments and results, and citing supporting or contributing work. Also whether the research is of any practical use is almost entirely irrelevant. I would add though, that if you only have a high school education I am not sure how or where you would get into a Ph.D. program. It may be possible, but I have never heard of it.