What is Research: Definition

Research is defined as a careful consideration of study regarding a

particular concern or a problem using scientific methods. According to the
American sociologist Earl Robert Babbie, “Research is a systematic inquiry
to describe, explain, predict and control the observed phenomenon.
Research involves inductive and deductive methods.”

Inductive research methods are used to analyze the observed phenomenon

whereas, deductive methods are used to verify the observed phenomenon.
Inductive approaches are associated with qualitative research and
deductive methods are more commonly associated with quantitative
research.

One of the most important aspects of research is the statistics associated

with it, conclusion or result. It is about the “thought” that goes behind the
research. Research is conducted with a purpose to understand:

 What do organizations or businesses really want to find out?

 What are the processes that need to be followed to chase the idea?
 What are the arguments that need to be built around a concept?
 What is the evidence that will be required that people believe in the
idea or concept?

What are the types of Research?

Following are the types of research:

Basic Research: Basic research is mostly conducted to enhance knowledge.

It covers fundamental aspects of research. The main motivation of this
research is knowledge expansion. It is a non-commercial research and
doesn’t facilitate in creating or inventing anything. For example, an
experiment is a good example of basic research.

Applied Research: Applied research focuses on analyzing and solving

hreal-life problems. This type of research refers to the study that helps
solve practical problems using scientific methods. This research plays an
 important role in solving issues that impact the overall well-being of
humans. For example, finding a specific cure for a disease.

Problem Oriented Research: As the name suggests, problem-oriented

research is conducted to understand the exact nature of the problem to
find out relevant solutions. The term “problem” refers to having issues or
two thoughts while making any decisions.

For e.g Revenue of a car company has decreased by 12% in the last year.
The following could be the probable causes: There is no optimum
production, poor quality of a product, no advertising, economic conditions
etc.

Problem Solving Research: This type of research is conducted by

companies to understand and resolve their own problems. The
problem-solving research uses applied research to find solutions to the
existing problems.

Qualitative Research: Qualitative research is a process that is about

inquiry, that helps in-depth understanding of the problems or issues in
their natural settings. This is a non- statistical research method.

Qualitative research is heavily dependent on the experience of the

researchers and the questions used to probe the sample. The sample
size is usually restricted to 6-10 people in a sample. Open-ended
questions are asked in a manner that one question leads to another. The
purpose of asking open-ended questions is to gather as much information
as possible from the sample.

Following are the methods used for qualitative research:

1. One-to-one interview
2. Focus groups
3. Ethnographic Research
4. Content/ Text Analysis
5. Case study research
Learn more: Qualitative Research Methods
1. Quantitative Research: Qualitative research is a structured way of
collecting data and analyzing it to draw conclusions. Unlike qualitative
research, this research method uses a computational, statistical and
similar method to collect and analyze data. Quantitative data is all
about numbers.

Quantitative research involves a larger population as more number of

people means more data. In this manner, more data can be analyzed to
obtain accurate results. This type of research method uses close-ended
questions because, in quantitative research, the researchers are typically
looking at measuring the extent and gathering foolproof statistical data.

Online surveys, questionnaires, and polls are preferable data collection

tools used in quantitative research. There are various methods of deploying
surveys or questionnaires. In recent times online surveys and
questionnaires have gained popularity. Survey respondents can receive
these surveys on mobile phones, emails or can simply use the internet to
access surveys or questionnaires.

What is the purpose of Research?

There are three purposes of research:

1. Exploratory Research: As the name suggests, exploratory research is

conducted to explore the research questions and may or may not offer a
final conclusion to the research conducted. It is conducted to handle new
problem areas which haven’t been explored before. Exploratory research
lays the foundation for more conclusive research and data collection. For
example, a research conducted to know the level of customer
satisfaction among the patrons of a restaurant.

2. Descriptive Research: Descriptive research focuses on throwing more

light on current issues through a process of data collection. Descriptive
studies are used to describe the behavior of a sample population. In
descriptive research, only one variable (anything that has quantity or
quality that varies) is required to conduct a study. The three main purposes
of descriptive research are describing, explaining and validating the findings.
For example, a research conducted to know if top-level management
 leaders in the 21st century posses the moral right to receive a huge sum of
money from the company profit?

3. Explanatory Research: Explanatory research or causal research, is

conducted to understand the impact of certain changes in existing standard
procedures. Conducting experiments is the most popular form of casual
research. For example, research conducted to understand the effect of
rebranding on customer loyalty.

Types of Research Methods and Research Example

Research methods are broadly classified as Qualitative Research

and Quantitative Research.

Qualitative Research Methods

Qualitative research is a research method that collects data using

conversational methods, where participants involved in the research are
asked open-ended questions. The responses collected are essentially
non-numerical. This method not only helps a researcher understand
“what” participant think but also, “why”they think in a particular way.

Here are the widely used qualitative research methods:

 One-to-one Interview: This interview technique is systematically

planned and as the name suggests is conducted with one participant at a
given point in time. One-to-one interviews need a researcher to prepare
questions in advance and to make sure the researcher asks only the most
important questions to the participant. This type of interview lasts
anywhere between 20 minutes to half an hour. During this time the
researcher collects as many meaningful data as possible from the
participants to draw inferences.
 Focus Groups: Focus groups are small groups comprising of around
6-10 participants who are usually experts in the subject matter. A
moderator is assigned to a focus group who facilitates the discussion
amongst the group members. A moderator’s experience in conducting
focus group plays an important role. An experienced moderator can
probe the participants by asking the correct research questions that will
 help him/her collect a sizable amount of information related to the
research.
 Ethnographic Research: Ethnographic research is an in-depth form of
research where people are observed in their natural environment with
any alterations. This method can prove to be a bit demanding in terms of
a researcher getting adapted to the natural environment of the target
audience which could even be the Amazon rainforest! Geographic
locations can be a constraint in this type of research method. Instead of
conducting interviews a researcher needs to experience the settings in
person to collect information.
 Text Analysis: Text analysis is a little different from other qualitative
research methods as it used to analyze the social life by decoding words,
texts etc. through any available form of documentation. The researcher
studies and understands the context in which the documents are
furnished with the information and then tries to draw meaningful
inferences from it. In modern times, researchers follow activities on a
social media platform and try and understand the pattern of thoughts.
 Case Study Research: Case study research, as the name suggests is
used to study an organization or an entity. This research method has
evolved over the years and is one of the most valuable qualitative
research methods known to researchers. This type of research is used in
fields like education sector, philosophical and psychological studies. This
method involves a deep diving into the ongoing research and collects
data.
Quantitative Research Methods

Quantitative research methods are the methods that deal with numbers
and anything that can be dealt with a measurable form, in a systematic way
of investigating the phenomenon. It is used to answer questions in terms of
justifying relationships with measurable variables to either explain, predict
or control a phenomenon.

There are three methods that are often used by researchers to conduct this
type of research, they are:

 Survey Research- The ultimate goal of survey research is to learn

about a large population by deploying the survey. Gone are the days
where a survey was carried out using a pen and a paper. Today, online
surveys are a popular mode of research as they are convenient and can
 be sent in an email or made available on the internet. In this method, a
researcher designs a survey with most relevant survey questions and
deploys the survey. Once the researcher receives the responses he/she
summarizes them to tabulate meaningful findings and data.
 Descriptive Research- Descriptive research is a quantitative research
method, which corresponds to identifying the characteristics of an
observed phenomenon and collecting more information. This research
method is designed to depict the participants in a very systematic and
accurate manner. In simple words, descriptive research is all about
describing the phenomenon, observing and drawing conclusions from
it.
 Correlational Research- Correlational research examines the
relationship between two or more variables. Let us take an example to
understand correlational research. Let us take an example to understand
correlational research, Consider hypothetically, a researcher is studying a
correlation between cancer and marries women. Let us say married
women have a negative correlation with cancer. In this example, there
are two variables: cancer, and married women. When we say negative
correlation it means women who are married are less likely to develop
cancer. However, it doesn’t mean that marriage directly avoids cancer.