TYPES OF RESEARCH

Research can be classified from three perspectives:

1. Application of research study
From the point of view of application, there are two broad categories of research:
- pure research and
- applied research.
Pure research involves developing and testing theories and hypotheses that are intellectually challenging to the researcher but may or may not have practical application at the present time or in the future.

Applied research is done to solve specific, practical questions; for policy formulation, administration and understanding of a phenomenon. It can be exploratory, but is usually descriptive. It is almost always done on the basis of basic research. Applied research can be carried out by academic or industrial institutions. Often, an academic institution such as a university will have a specific applied research program funded by an industrial partner interested in that program.

2. Objectives in undertaking the research

From the viewpoint of objectives, a research can be classified as:
-descriptive
-correlational
-explanatory
-exploratory
Descriptive research attempts to describe systematically a situation, problem, phenomenon, service or programme, or provides information about, say, living condition of a community, or describes attitudes towards an issue.
Correlational research attempts to discover or establish the existence of a relationship/ interdependence between two or more aspects of a situation.
Explanatory research attempts to clarify why and how there is a relationship between two or more aspects of a situation or phenomenon.
Exploratory research is undertaken to explore an area where little is known or to investigate the possibilities of undertaking a particular research study (feasibility study / pilot study).
In practice most studies are a combination of the first three categories.

3. inquiry mode employed

From the process adopted to find answer to research questions – the two approaches are:
- Structured approach
- Unstructured approach
Structured approach: The structured approach to inquiry is usually classified as quantitative research. Here everything that forms the research process- objectives, design, sample, and the questions that you plan to ask of respondents- is predetermined. It is more appropriate to determine the extent of a problem, issue or phenomenon by quantifying the variation. e.g. how many people have a particular problem? How many people hold a particular attitude?
Unstructured approach: The unstructured approach to inquiry is usually classified as qualitative research. This approach allows flexibility in all aspects of the research process. It is more appropriate to explore the nature of a problem, issue or phenomenon without quantifying it. Main objective is to describe the variation in a phenomenon, situation or attitude. e,g, description of an observed situation, the historical enumeration of events, an account of different opinions different people have about an issue, description of working condition in a particular industry.

In many studies you have to combine both qualitative and quantitative approaches. For example, suppose you have to find the types of cuisine / accommodation available in a city and the extent of their popularity.
Types of cuisine is the qualitative aspect of the study as finding out about them entails description of the culture and cuisine. The extent of their popularity is the quantitative aspect as it involves estimating the number of people who visit restaurant serving such cuisine and calculating the other indicators that reflect the extent of popularity.