Types of Research

Exploratory Research: When a researcher wants to deal with a new issue or try to begin a new research is called exploratory research. The objective of such research is to formulate very precise questions that can answer in future research. It might be the first stage of the series of studies.
Studies which usually go deep into the causes of things or events that interest us, using very small samples and very deep probing data gathering devices. The research may be exploratory or it may be formalized. - C R Kothari
K. PADMAVATHI

Types of Exploratory Research

Different types of exploratory researches are Literature Survey Experience Survey and Study of problems to have an insight

K. PADMAVATHI

Literature Survey
Literature survey is a study involving a collection of literatures in the selected area of research in which the researcher has limited experience, and critical examination and comparison of them to have better understanding.

Example: Review of wholesale price index, demographic analysis, cross comparison of census details of different countries etc.

K. PADMAVATHI

Experience Survey
Experience survey is a survey of experience of experts or specialists in a particular field which will act as a database for future research. This survey gathers the experience of specialists in terms of their skill and knowledge which have been developed over a period of time, or through other studies. Example: Bidding of tenders, Technology forecasting, Materials planning, Manpower planning, Portfolio management, Product pricing etc.
K. PADMAVATHI

Study of insight stimulating examples

This is a special kind of study oriented to have insight into research topics. This kind of study mainly case study oriented.

K. PADMAVATHI

Nature of Exploratory Research

Initially a research is conducted to explain the nature of the problem. The researchers having limited amount of experience or knowledge about the issues could pick the exploratory research as a preliminary step which could be very useful to ensure more conclusive study in future. Exploratory research finding will emphasize the researcher to learn more about the particular problem in subsequent conclusive studies.
K. PADMAVATHI

Cont
Definite answers cannot be produced by exploratory research. It has very few guidelines to follow so that it is difficult to conduct. Exploratory research is not typically generalizable to the population at large.

K. PADMAVATHI

Goal of exploratory research

Familiarity with basic details, settings and concerns. Well grounded picture of the situation be developed. Generation of new ideas & assumption, development of tentative theories or hypothesis. Determine whether study is feasible in future. Issues get refined for more systematic investigation & formulation of new questions.
K. PADMAVATHI

Causal Research
If the objective is to determine which variable might be causing certain behaviour, i.e. whether there is a cause and effect relationship between variables, causal research must be undertaken. In other words causal research is undertaken to see if there is a cause and effect relationship between variables.

K. PADMAVATHI

Methods of Causal Research

There are two research methods for exploring the cause and effect relationship between variables.
Experimentation or natural experimentation. Simulation

K. PADMAVATHI

Experimentation or natural experimentation

This highly controlled methods allow the researcher to manipulate a specific independent variable in order to determine what effect this manipulation would have on other dependent variables. Experimentation also calls for a control group as well as an experimentation group, and subjects would be assigned randomly to either group. The researcher can further decide whether the experiment should take place in a laboratory or in the field, i.e. the natural setting as opposed to an artificial one.

K. PADMAVATHI

Cont
Laboratory research allows the researcher to control and\or eliminate an many intervening variables as possible.

K. PADMAVATHI

simulation
Another way of establishing causality between variables is through the use of simulation. A sophisticated set of mathematical formula are used to simulate or imitate a real life situation. By changing one variable in the equation, it is possible to determine the effect on the other variables in the equation.

K. PADMAVATHI

Classes of designs in natural experiment

For the natural experiment there are three classes of designs. They are Time-Series and trend designs Cross-Sectional designs and A combination of the above two.

K. PADMAVATHI