Explain the various types of research

Explain the various types of research

The various important types of research are:

•        Scientific and Social Research.
•        Qualitative and Quantitative Research.
•        Applied and Fundamental Research.
•        Conceptual and Empirical Research.
•        Descriptive and Historical Research.
•        One-time and Longitudinal Research.
•        Field Setting and Laboratory Research.
•        Conclusion-oriented and Decision-oriented Research.

    1) Scientific and Social Research:

Scientific Research: 

    Scientific research is a systematic, controlled, empirical, and critical investigation of hypothetical propositions about the presumed relations among natural phenomena. This definition makes emphasis on two aspects:

1. Scientific research is systematic and controlled. We mean that scientific investigation is so ordered that investigators can have critical confidence in research outcomes.
2. Scientific investigation is empirical. Subject to belief must be checked against objective reality. The scientist must always subject his notions to the empirical enquiry.

Social Research: 

    Social research is the scientific analysis of the nature and trends of social phenomenon of groups or in general of human behaviour so as to formulate broad principles and scientific concepts. Social research is the systematic method of discovering new facts or of verifying old facts through sequence interrelationship, causal explanations and the natural laws which cover them.

2) Qualitative and Quantitative Research:

    There are two basic approaches to research, viz., quantitative approach and the qualitative approach. The former involves the generation of data in quantitative form from which can be subjected to rigorous quantitative analysis in a formal and rigid fashion. This approach can be further sub-classified into inferential, experimental and simulation approaches to research.

    Qualitative approach to research is concerned with subjective assessment of attitudes, opinions and behaviour. Research in such a situation is a function of researcher's insight and impression. Generally, the techniques of focus group interview, projective techniques and depth interviews are used.

    Qualitative research is especially important in the behavioural sciences where the aim is to discover the underlying motives of human behaviour.

3) Applied and Fundamental Research: 

    Research can either be applied research or fundamental research. Applied research aims at finding a solution for an immediate problem facing a society or an industrial/business organisation, whereas fundamental research is mainly concerned with generalization and with the formulation of a theory.

a) Fundamental or Pure Research: 

    Pure research aims at the achievement of knowledge. Pure research is organised only for the attainment of knowledge and truth. Thus pure research is concerned with the theoretical aspect of a science. It aims at the attainment, increase and verification of knowledge. It tries to find out cause-effect relationship in social phenomena. For example, the relationship between crime and economic status is a proper subject of pure research. Pure research is the fundamental basis of the progress and evolution of different sciences.

b) Applied Research: 

    Applied research is concerned with the solution of particular problems. Applied research is concerned with the applied aspect of life. For example, research in the field of family planning aims at certain application of some principles. Similarly, administrative plans need applied research in order to find out necessary theoretical basis. In fact, applied research gives complete and valid information about the many facts of social problems.

4) Conceptual and Empirical Research: 

    Conceptual research is that related to some abstract idea(s) or theory. It is generally used by philosophers and thinkers to develop new concepts or to reinterpret existing ones. On the other hand, empirical research relies on experience or observation alone, often without due regard for system and theory. We can also call it as experimental type of research.

    Experimental research is one in which the researcher makes changes in independent variables and studies their effects on dependent variables under controlled condition. In such a research, the researcher must first provide himself with a working hypothesis or guess as to the probable results. He then works to get enough facts (data) to prove or disprove his hypothesis. Such research is thus characterised by the experimenter's control over the variables under study and his deliberate manipulation of one of them to study its effects.

  Three essential components of experimental research are control, manipulation and measurement. Non-experimental research possesses only one component, viz. measurement. The researcher does not exercise any control over the extraneous variables not related to his study nor does he manipulate the independent variable. Empirical research is appropriate when proof is sought that certain variable affect other variables in some way. But in cases where the variable are not manipulate, e.g., sex, intelligence, honesty, home environment etc., non-experiments approach may be used.

5) Descriptive and Historical Research:

a) Descriptive Research: 

    Descriptive research aims at answering the ‘what’ and ‘why’ of the current state of some system. Description is, for example, the objective of a researcher who wants to answer such questions as: What was the employee turnover rate for last year? What are the leaves of job satisfaction among managerial and non-managerial employees? How does the productivity of production workers compare with established goals? What percentage of the organization's employees earn more than Rs. 2,000 (gross) per month?

    A descriptive research can be either static, dynamic or historical in nature. A descriptive study is static in nature if it involves a single measurement of the phenomena in question. A descriptive study is dynamic in nature if it goes beyond the simple measurement of variable and examines the relationship among variables by using either cross-sectional or longitudinal design.

b) Historical Research: 

    Historical research is a critical evaluation and examination of past events, developments, and experiences.

1. It helps in understanding the roots of all modern theories. To understand the contemporary ideas in sociology, psychology, economics or political science, one has to search for their historical roots.
2. It helps in establishing the genuineness of the sources of data. This research suffers from two serious limitations. One, the history never repeats itself. Second, the finding themselves may suffer from bias because in the absence of any methodological control, the researcher may misinterpret the data in order to validate his hypothesis.

6) One Time Research and Longitudinal Research: 

    From the point of view of time, we can think of research either as one-time research or longitudinal research. In the former case, the research is confined to a single time-period, whereas in the latter case, the research is carried on over several time-periods.

7) Field Setting and Laboratory Research: 

    Research can be field-setting research or laboratory research or simulation research, depending upon the environment in which it is to be carried out.

8) Conclusion Oriented and Decision Oriented Research: 

    Research can also be classified as conclusion-oriented research, a researcher is free to pick up a problem, redesign the enquiry as he proceed, and is prepared to conceptualise as he wishes, Decision-oriented research is always for the need of a decision maker and the researcher in this case is not free to embark upon research according to his own inclination.

Operation research is in example of decision oriented research.