Objectives & Types
of Research
A Movement from Known Unknown
Presented By: Bindu
Research Scholar
Research
A voyage of discovery

Research-The art of
Scientific Investigation
Research is a systemic & organised way of finding answers to
questions.
SYSTEMATIC because there is a definite set of procedures and steps which you will follow. There are certain
things in the research process which are always done in order to get the most accurate results
ORGANISED in that there is a structure or method in going about doing research. It is a planned procedure,
not a spontaneous one. It is focused and limited to a specific scope.
FINDING ANSWERS is the end of all research. Whether it is the answer to a hypothesis or even a simple
question, research is successful when we find answers. Sometimes the answer is no, but it is still an answer
QUESTIONS are central to research. If there is no question, then the answer is of no use. Research is
focused on relevant, useful, and important questions. Without a question, research has no focus, drive, or
purpose.

What is research?
• Finding out, in a more or less systematic way, things you did not know. Research involves
finding out about things that no-one else knew either. It is about advancing the frontiers of
knowledge.
• A way to gather evidence for your practice.
• A systematic investigation to find answers to a problem.
• Careful investigation or inquiry special through searches for new facts in any branch of
knowledge.
Research is a process for collecting, analysing and interpreting information to answer certain
questions. But to qualify as research, the process must have certain characteristics: it must, as
far as possible, be controlled, rigorous, systematic, valid and verifiable, empirical and
critical.
Research is about acquiring knowledge and developing understanding, collecting facts and
interpreting them to build up a picture of the world around us, and even within us.

• Defining & Redefining Problem
• Formulating Hypotheses
• Collecting, Organising and Evaluating Data
• Making Deductions
• Reaching Conclusions
• Carefully testing of conclusions to determine whether they fit the formulating
hypotheses
Voyage of Research

1. To gain familiarity with a phenomenon to achieve
new insights into it.
2. To portray accurately the characteristics of a
particular individual, situation or a group.
3. To determine the frequency with which
something occurs or with which it is associated
with something else.
4. To test a hypothesis of a causal relationship
between variables.

Types of Research
1. Descriptive vs Analytical
2. Applied vs Fundamental
3. Quantitative vs Qualitative
4. Conceptual vs Empirical
5. Some Other Types of Research

Descriptive vs Analytical Research
Descriptive research is based on the description what exists or what has
been observed. It includes surveys and fact findings enquiries of social or
economic types: It aims at describe social events, relations and events.
Ex Post facto research: No control over variable. Only reporting of what
has happened or what is happening Example: Preference of people,
Frequency of shopping, attempts by researchers to discover causes even
when they can’t control the variable.
Methods used: Survey methods, comparative and correlational methods
Usually it forms preliminary study of a research project.
It provides background information about an event in question.
Analytical: Researcher has to use facts or information already available,
and analyze these to make critical evaluation of the materials.

Applied vs
Fundamental Research
Applied research finds solution for the immediate problem facing a society or an
industrial or business organization. Example: Plant breeding research for drought
tolerant varieties.
Example: Certain conclusions related to concrete social or business problem like
Research to identify social, economic or political trends that may affect a particular
institution , marketing research, evaluation research.
Fundamental Research: Gathering knowledge for knowledge shake. It is mainly
concerned with generalisation and with the formulation of a theory. It is directed
towards finding information that has a broad base of applications and thus, adds to
the already existing organised body of scientific knowledge.
Example: Natural Phenomenon, Pure Mathematics, studies about human behaviour,

Qualitative vs Quantitative
Research
Qualitative Research: It is based on qualitative phenomenon i.e., phenomena related to quality or kind.
Example: Investigating the reasons for human behaviour, Motivation Research, Attitude or Opinion Research,
This research aims at discovering the underlying motives and desires using the depth interviews for the
purpose.
Importance: Behavioural science; where aim is to discover the underlying motives of human behaviour.
Types: Perception studies, Attitudes, Opinion and/or motivation research, Ethnography etc., Techniques: Word
association tests, Sentence completion tests, Story completion tests etc.,
Quantitative research: Based on the quantitative measurements of some characteristics. mostly in
economics, is based on the quantitative data where variables are quantitatively measured and analysed.
Example: crop cutting survey or production related research.

Conceptual vs
Empirical Research
Conceptual: Something that is related to some abstract ideas or theories.
Those who like to develop or generate new idea, or reinterpret existing facts or information use conceptual
research • Used by philosophers and thinkers
Empirical: Relies on experience or observation.
It is data based research, coming up with conclusions which are capable of being verified by observation or
experiment.
Requisites:
• Get facts at first hand.
• Working hypotheses
• Experimental design
This research is appropriate when proof is sought that certain variables affect other variables in some way.
Evidences gathered through experiments or empirical studies are considered to be the most powerful support
possible for testing a given hypotheses.
Concept

Some Others Types of
Research
Historical Research: Use historical source (documents, remains) to study events or ideas of the past.
Simulation Research: Particularly modelling used by scenario analysis or crop production/ marketing model
Exploratory Research: The development of hypotheses rather than their testing.
Formalised Research: studies are those with substantial structure and with specific hypotheses to be tested
One Time Research: Confined to single time period
Longitudinal Research: Carried out for several time periods at least at two points in time. The information are collected in
different time period of time and compared. Example: Time series analysis of income-expenditure, consumption survey,
employment survey
Laboratory Research: Involves case study methods.
Diagnostic Research: In-depth approaches to reach the basic causal relationship.
Conclusion Oriented Research: Researcher is free to pick up a problem, redesign the enquiry as he proceeds and is prepared
to conceptualise as he wishes
Decision Oriented Research: Need of a decision maker and the researcher in this case is not free to embark upon research
according to his own inclination. Example: Operations research

References
1. Kumar R, “Research Methodology” 3rd Edition 2011
2. Kothari C R, “Research Methodology” 4th Edition 2019
3. Walliman N, “Research Methods” 1st Edition 2011

Thank You