Types of Research: Pure vs Applied and Objectives

Types of Research Based on Application

• Pure/ Basic/ Fundamental Research: concerned with generalizations and formulation of a theory
• Applied/ Decisional Research: aims to find a solution for an immediate problem facing a society or an industrial/business organization

Types of Research Based on Objectives

• Descriptive Research: provides a description of the state of affairs as it exists at present, measures two variables, and understands the relationship between them
• Correlational Research: measures the relationship between two variables without influence from any extraneous variable
• Explanatory Research: explains why events occur, builds, elaborates, extends, or tests a theory
• Exploratory Research: finds a solution for a problem that has not been studied more clearly, intended to establish priorities, develop operational definitions, and improve the final research design

Types of Research Based on Inquiry Mode or Approach

• Quantitative Approach: involves the generation of data in quantitative form, which can be subjected to rigorous quantitative analysis in a formal and rigid fashion
• Qualitative Approach: concerned with subjective assessment of attitudes, opinions, and behavior, using techniques like focus group interviews, projective techniques, and depth interviews

Quantitative Approaches

• Inferential Approach: studies a sample of population to determine its characteristics, and infers that the population has the same characteristics
• Experimental Approach: characterised by much greater control over the research environment, manipulating variables to observe their effect on other variables
• Simulation Approach: involves the construction of an artificial environment to observe the dynamic behavior of a system under controlled conditions

Other Types of Research

• Conceptual Research: associated with theoretical ideas or presuppositions, used to develop new concepts or to better understand an existing concept in practice
• Empirical Research: relies on experience or observation alone, often without due regard for system and theory, data-based research, and coming up with conclusions that are capable of being verified by observation or experiment

Research Definitions

• Thesis: a proposition stated or put forward for consideration, a subject for a composition of essay, a dissertation on a particular subject in which one has done original research
• Stephenson's Definition of Research: the manipulation of things, concepts, or symbols for the purpose of generalizing to extend, correct, or verify knowledge
• Research: the search for knowledge through objective and systematic methods of finding solutions to a problem, a scientific way of answering questions and testing hypotheses
• Clifford Woody's Definition of Research: defining and redefining problems, formulating hypotheses, collecting, organizing, and evaluating data, making deductions, and reaching conclusions, and carefully testing the conclusions to determine whether they fit the formulating hypothesis