yes, you can. We call it "citizen science." But it is hard work and it helps to get critical feedback from professional academics. You need to subject your paper to an informal peer review process before you submit it to a journal, which will then submit it to formal peer review.

What sort of "research"? Scholarly work (critical, literary, interpretive, conceptual, archival, or philosophical) in the humanities by independent scholars is publishable in many journals. Also, sometimes a business or company employer might be used as a affiliation if one is desired.