What is Research?
Research means to search the existing thing ‘something’ but remains unknown to us. So, Research means to find out something new on the topic that already existed.
- It is a searching process for finding new information about the things we already know.
- It is a scientific examination for searching for important information on a specific topic.
- It can also be referred to as a ‘voyage of discovery’.
So, you can summarize the meaning of research as:
- An attitude of inquiry/search/investigation,
- A scientific and objective effort made to uncover facts,
- Hence, requires the application of scientific methods.
Some Important Definitions:
Here you can check some important definition about research according to some well-known scholars:
Young PV defines it as,
“Research may be defined as the systematic method of discovering new facts or verifying old facts, their sequences, interrelationships, causal explanations and the natural laws which govern them.”
Kerlinger defines it as,
“Research is a systematic, controlled, empirical and critical investigation of hypothetical propositions about the presumed relations among natural phenomenon.”
John W. Best defines it as,
“Research is the systematic and objective analysis and recording of controlled observations that may leave to development of generalizations, principles or theories result in prediction and possibly ultimate control of events.”
Characteristics of Research:
Some of the characteristics of research are as given below:
- It is a scientific examination.
- Scientific means it requires the use of scientific methods and procedures. That is, methods and procedures which have been tried and tested; and can produce similar or somewhat similar results on each application.
- The results or information that we get through scientific methods can be used to develop concepts and theories of their own.
Types of Research:
Here you will find the various types of researches as given below:
Fundamental Research
- Also known as basic or pure research.
- This kind of research helps to generate new information in a fundamental fashion.
- This is generally based on the principle of generalization. Sometimes, it can experiment in a laboratory also.
- Fundamental research can take shape in two ways- either in the form of a new theory or development of some existing theory.
Applied Research
- You should know that the theories developed by fundamental research are further applied to actual operational fields or population.
- Applied research is useful because it provides convincing evidence to the usefulness of basic research or theory.
- It aims at collection of data for verifying existing theories and models and helps to find a solution for real-life problems or situations.
Action Research
- It is an action-oriented research which is undertaken to find an immediate solution to a problem. Sometimes, the researcher himself or herself can take action and sometimes an authority takes the necessary steps or action.
Descriptive Research
- It is the description of the state of affairs as they are, in their own right. This means the researcher has no control over the variables. He or she should describe it as it is.Some of the methods used for descriptive research are field surveys, case studies, and interviews.
Analytical Research
- Here a researcher has to do analysis using logic and reasoning on previously existing data.
- This is usually an in-depth study. This works under a constrained set of variables.
- This requires the use of critical thinking and evaluation.
Quantitative Research
- Quantitative research is concerned with numbers. It is carried out to study a phenomenon that can be expressed in numbers.Quantitative is usually deductive in nature and begins with a given theory.
- Statistical concepts and software (such as STATA, R) are used to carry out this kind of research.
Qualitative Research
- Qualitative research is done to study the phenomenon that can be explained beyond numbers, that is, in a qualitative manner.
- Qualitative is usually inductive in nature and begins with a social reality followed by the construction of the theory around it.
Conceptual Research
- Conceptual research is usually undertaken by philosopher or thinkers to reinterpret an existing idea. Although, some researchers use a conceptual framework to study business or market phenomenon also.
- This kind of research doesn’t involve conducting experiments. It is abstract in nature.
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