Basic research Problem oriented research

This research is conducted largely for the Research is done by industry apex body for
enhancement of knowledge and is research sorting out problems faced by all the
which does not have immediate commercial companies. Eg:- WTO does problem oriented
potential. The research is done for human research for developing countries, in India
welfare, animal welfare, and plant kingdom agriculture and processed food export
welfare. It is called basic, pure, fundamental development authority (APEDA) conduct
research. The main motivation here is to regular research for the benefit of agri-industry.
expand man's knowledge, not to create or
invent something. According to Travers, “Basic • As the name indicates, Problem
Research is designed to add to an organized identifying researches are undertaken to know
the exact nature of problem that is required to
body of scientific knowledge and does not
necessarily produce results of immediate be solved.
practical value.” Such research is time and cost • Here, one clarification is needed when
intensive (Example: An experimental research we use the term ‘Problem’, it is not a problem
that may not be or will be helpful in human in true sense. It is usually a decision making
progress). It is used to solve a problem by dilemma or it is a need to tackle a particular
adding to the field of application of discipline. business situation.
Applied Research • It could be a difficulty or an
Applied research is designed to solve practical opportunity.
problems of the modern world, rather than to For e.g.:-Revenue of Mobile company has
acquire knowledge for knowledge's sake. The decreased by 25% in the last year. The cause of
goal of applied research is to improve the the problem can be any one of the following:
human condition. It focuses on analysis and
solving social and real-life problems. This • Poor quality of the product. • Lack of
research is generally conducted on a large scale continuous availability. • Not so effective
basis and is expensive. As such, it is often advertising campaign. • High price. • Poor
conducted with the support of some financing calibre / lack of motivation in sales
agency like the national government, public people/marketing team. • Tough competition
corporation, world bank, UNICEF, UGC, Etc. from imported brands. • Depressed economic
According to Hunt, “applied research is an conditions
investigation for ways of using scientific
• In the same case, suppose the prime
knowledge to solve practical problems” for
cause of problem is poor advertising campaign
example:- improve agriculture crop production,
& secondary cause is higher pricing. • To
treat or cure a specific disease, improve the
tackle the problem of poor advertising, we have
energy efficiency of homes, offices, how can
to answer questions like, what can be the new
communication among workers
advertising campaign, who can be the brand
ambassador, which media, which channel, at
what time & during which programme that the research may be replicated by others, if
advertisements will be broadcast. necessary. Quantitative can also be called
Analytical Research.
Problem solving
Qualitative Research
This type of research is done by an individual
company for the problem faced by it. Marketing Qualitative research presents a non-
research and market research are the applied quantitative type of analysis. Qualitative
research. For eg:- an airline conducts research research is collecting, analyzing and interpreting
to study customer satisfaction level, it will be data by observing what people do and say.
problem solving research. In short, the main Qualitative research refers to the meanings,
aim of problem solving research is to discover definitions, characteristics, symbols, metaphors,
some solution for some pressing practical and description of things. Qualitative research is
problem. much more subjective and uses very different
methods of collecting information,mainly
Quantitative Research individual, in-depth interviews and focus
This research is based on numeric figures or groups.
numbers. Quantitative research aim to measure The nature of this type of research is
the quantity or amount and compares it with exploratory and open ended. Small number of
past records and tries to project for future people are interviewed in depth and or a
period. In social sciences, “quantitative research relatively small number of focus groups are
refers to the systematic empirical investigation conducted. Qualitative research can be further
of quantitative properties and phenomena and
classified in the following type.
their relationships”. The objective of
quantitative research is to develop and employ I. Phenomenology:-a form of research in
mathematical models, theories or hypothesis which the researcher attempts to understand
pertaining to phenomena. how one or more individuals experience a
phenomenon. Eg:-we might interview 20
The process of measurement is central to
victims of bhopal tragedy.
quantitative research because it provides
fundamental connection between empirical II. Ethnography:- this type of research
observation and mathematical expression of focuses on describing the culture of a group of
quantitative relationships. Statistics is the most people. A culture is the shared attributes,
widely used branch of mathematics in values, norms, practices, language, and material
quantitative research. Statistical methods are things of a group of people. Eg:-the researcher
used extensively with in fields such as might decide to go and live with the tribal in
economics and commerce. Andaman island and study the culture and the
educational practices.
In sum, the research using the normative
approach conducts why may be called III. Case study:-is a form of qualitative
quantitative research as the inferences from it research that is focused on providing a detailed
are largely based on quantitative data. account of one or more cases. Eg:-we may study
Moreover, objectivity is the primary guard so
a classroom that was given a new curriculum for Pure and applied research
technology use.
Pure research (also known as “basic” or
“fundamental” research) is exploratory in nature
IV. Grounded theory:- it is an inductive and is conducted without any practical end-use in
type of research,based or grounded in the mind. It is driven by gut instinct, interest, curiosity
observations of data from which it was or intuition, and simply aims to advance knowledge
and to identify/explain relationships between
developed; it uses a variety of data sources, variables. However, as the term “fundamental”
including quantitative data, review of records, suggests, pure research may provide a foundation
for further, sometimes applied research.
interviews, observation and surveys
In general, applied research is not carried out for
V. Historical research:-it allows one to its own sake but in order to solve specific, practical
discuss past and present events in the context questions or problems. It tends to be descriptive,
rather than exploratory and is often based upon
of the present condition, and allows one to pure research. However, the distinction between
reflect and provide possible answers to current applied and pure research may sometimes be
unclear; for example, is research into the genetic
issues and problems. Eg:-the lending pattern of codes of plants being carried out simply to advance
business in the 19th century. knowledge or for possible future commercial
exploitation? It could be argued that the only real
Types of Research difference between these two categories of
research is the length of time between research
How do we know something exists? There and reasonably foreseeable practical applications,
are a numbers of ways of knowing… either in the public or private sectors.

 -Sensory Experience The favorite crime investigation TV

 -Agreement with others programs (e.g., Crime Patrol, Arjun,
 -Expert Opinion Savdhaan India, etc) give a pretty good
 -Logic example of the research design. These
 -Scientific Method (we’re using this shows typically start with a crime that needs
one) to be investigated. The initial step is to look
for hints which can help establish what has
The Scientific Process (replicable) happened (exploratory). The clues found in
the exploratory phase of the research
1. Identify a problem usually point in the direction of a specific
2. Clarify the problem hypothesis or explanation of the events
3. Determine what data would help solve which happened, and investigators start
the problem focusing their efforts in this direction,
4. Organize the data performing interviews with witnesses and
5. Interpret the results suspects (descriptive).

General Types of Educational Research

 Descriptive — survey, historical,

content analysis, qualitative
(ethnographic, narrative,
phenomenological, grounded theory,
and case study)
 Associational — correlational, causal-
comparative
 Intervention — experimental, quasi-
experimental, action research (sort of)