Exploratory Research:

Exploratory research, as the name implies, intends merely to explore the research
questions and does not intend to offer final and conclusive solutions to existing
problems. This type of research is usually conducted to study a problem that has not
been clearly defined yet.

Conducted in order to determine the nature of the problem, exploratory research is not
intended to provide conclusive evidence, but helps us to have a better understanding of
the problem. When conducting exploratory research, the researcher ought to be willing
to change his/her direction as a result of revelation of new data and new insights.

Exploratory research design does not aim to provide the final and conclusive answers to
the research questions, but merely explores the research topic with varying levels of
depth. It has been noted that “exploratory research is the initial research, which forms
the basis of more conclusive research. It can even help in determining the research
design, sampling methodology and data collection method”. Exploratory research “tends
to tackle new problems on which little or no previous research has been done.
Unstructured interviews are the most popular primary data collection method with
exploratory studies.

Examples of Exploratory Research Design:

The following are some examples for studies with exploratory research design in
business studies:

 A study into the role of social networking sites as an effective marketing

communication channel
  An investigation into the ways of improvement of quality of customer services
within hospitality sector in London
 An assessment of the role of corporate social responsibility on consumer
behaviour in pharmaceutical industry in the USA

Exploratory Means to Explore the hidden things, which are not clearly visible.
Exploratory research is a type of Research conducted for a problem that has not been
clearly defined. Exploratory Research Studies are also termed as formulate Research
studies.

In this lesson you will learn about a Exploratory research. You will achieve a general
understanding of the topic through the Some Few basic Examples.

For Example,

It is one thing to describe the crime rate in a country, to examine trends over time or to
compare the rates in different countries, it is quite different thing to develop explanations
about why the crime rate is as high as it is why some types of crime are increasing or
why the rate is higher in some countries than in others.

Exploratory Research provides insights into and comprehension of an issue or situation.

It draws definitive conclusions only with extreme caution. Exploratory research is a type
of research conducted because a problem has not been clearly defined.

Exploratory research helps determine the best research design, data collection method
and selection of subjects. Given its fundamental nature, Exploratory Research often
concludes that a perceived problem does not actually exist.

Types of Exploratory Research Design:

Some of the more popular methods of exploratory research design include literature
searches, depth interviews, focus groups, and case analyses.
Literature Search: It is one of the fastest and least expensive means to discover
hypotheses. There is enormous quantity of information available in libraries, via internet
sources, in commercial data bases, and so on. The literature search may include
newspapers, magazines, trade literature, academic literature, or published statistics
from research organizations or governmental agencies Census Bureau. Example:
Assume an issue is “Why are product sales lower?” This can easily be evaluated with
the aid of published data which should indicate “whether the issue is an “industry
problem” or a “firm problem”.

If we acknowledge the specific situation that our company’s sales and profits are lower
regardless of the market showing an up trend, then we must evaluate the marketing mix
variables.

Depth Interviews: It’s important to start with a good literature search, but at some point
it is desirable to talk to persons who are well informed in the area being investigated.
These people could be professionals or persons outside the organisation. Here, we
don’t need questionnaire. The approach adopted should be highly unstructured, so that
the participant can give divergent views.

Depth interviews are widely used to tap the knowledge and experience of individuals
with information strongly related the situation or opportunity at hand. Anybody with
related information is a potential candidate for a depth interview, such as existing
clients, members of the target market, executives and supervisors of the client
organization, sales representatives, suppliers, retailers, and so on.

Focus Group: Yet another frequently used method in exploratory research is the focus
group. In a focus group, only a few people are brought together to study and talk over
some theme of interest. The discussion is directed by a moderator who is in the room
with the focus group participants. The group usually is of 8-12 persons. While choosing
these individuals, care must be taken to see that they should have a common
background and have comparable experiences in buying. This is certainly needed since
there should not be a conflict among the group members on the common problems that
are being talked about. Throughout the discussion, future buying attitudes, present
buying opinion etc., are collected.

Case Analyses: Researchers can understand a lot in regards to a problem by studying

carefully selected examples or cases of the phenomenon. Case histories of businesses
that have gone through an identical problem may be available. These case studies are
suitable to undertake exploratory research. A researcher must examine carefully the
previously published case studies with regard to variables like price, advertisement,
changes in the trend, etc.

Literature Search Examples

Example 1: A Washing machine producing firm feels that its share of the market is
decreasing whereas the overall industry is thriving.

Example 2: As a result of a trade restriction imposed by a country, auto exports are

down and hence sales of a company making cars for exports is on the decline.

The above mentioned information enables you to pinpoint the reason for declining
sales.

Depth Interviews

For example, a children’s book publisher obtained useful information regarding a sales
decline by speaking with librarians and school teachers who revealed that increasing
numbers of people were using library facilities and possibly buying fewer books for their
children.

Case Analyses

For example, L.L.Bean is recognized for its exceptional order fulfillment. Even during
the busy Christmas season, the corporation usually fills over 99 % of its orders
correctly. For that reason, various other businesses have sought to improve their own
order fulfillment by benchmarking L.L.Bean.

This research is conducted to clarify ambiguous problems.

Uses of Exploratory Research:

 Increased Understanding: The main objective of exploratory research is to

improve a researcher’s knowledge of a topic. It shouldn’t be employed to draw
definite conclusions, because of its lack of statistical strength, however it can
help an investigator begin to determine why and how things happen.
 Concept Testing: A typical basis for performing exploratory work is to check
concepts before they are put in the marketplace, usually a very costly endeavour.
 Assistance to Researchers: It assists market researchers to find potential causes
to the signs or symptoms conveyed by decision makers. Researchers may carry
out research to build up a list of possible causes to the problem. Additional more
extensive study may then verify which possibility or possibilities are most the
likely causes.
 Flexibility of Data Sources: Exploratory studies use secondary sources for
example published literature. Other resources utilized in exploratory studies
include informal discussions, formal structured interviews, pilot studies or case
studies. These may well include consumers, colleagues, patients or customers.
 It can help to find out possible ways to achieve decision makers goals: For
instance, assume a marketing manager is provided with a goal to boost product
 sales by 50 percent in the next couple of years. Selecting strategy might initially
require creating a list of available strategies before evaluating which stood the
best chance of success. Creating a set of realistic strategy options might first
require exploratory study. Then, once created, a bigger more formal study could
estimate which was most likely to achieve the sales goal.
 Exploratory research provides answers to questions related to actually
administering a big and costly research project: One example is, researchers can
make use of exploratory study to understand words and phrases important to the
individuals being researched. They can also get a feeling of how best to reach
the people (e.g., email versus phone versus World wide web).
 Better Conclusions: It can be extremely beneficial in guiding future research
techniques. A better knowledge of a topic helps hone subsequent research
questions and will significantly raise the effectiveness of a study’s findings. It is
also very helpful in figuring out the best approach to achieve a researcher’s
objectives.
 Over time it can assist decision makers and research workers cut costs: In spite
of its expense, most often employed techniques cost considerably less than large
scale formal research like surveys or experiments. Thus, if exploratory work aids
researchers address the correct questions and avoid mistakes in the conduct of
these larger research projects, then they merit their expenditure.
 Strategic Planning: Exploratory design in some circumstances can save a lot of
time and money by flagging dead ends early.

Descriptive research:

Descriptive research is research used to “describe” a situation, subject, behavior, or

phenomenon. It is used to answer questions of who, what, when, where, and how
associated with a particular research question or problem. Descriptive studies are often
described as studies that are concerned with finding out “what is”. It attempts to gather
quantifiable information that can be used to statistically analyze a target audience or a
particular subject. Description research is used to observe and describe a research
subject or problem without influencing or manipulating the variables in any way. Hence,
these studies are really correlational or observational, and not truly experimental. This
type of research is conclusive in nature, rather than exploratory. Therefore, descriptive
research does not attempt to answer “why” and is not used to discover inferences,
make predictions or establish causal relationships.

Descriptive research is used extensively in social science, psychology and educational

research. It can provide a rich data set that often brings to light new knowledge or
awareness that may have otherwise gone unnoticed or encountered. It is particularly
useful when it is important to gather information with disruption of the subjects or when
it is not possible to test and measure large numbers of samples. It allows researchers
to observe natural behaviors without affecting them in any way. Following is a list of
research questions or problems that may lend themselves to descriptive research:

Market researchers may want to observe the habits of consumers.

A company may be wanting to evaluate the morale of the staff.

 A school district may research whether or not students are more likely to access
online textbooks than to use printed copies.
 A school district may wish to assess teachers’ attitudes about using technology in
the classroom.
 An educational software company may want to know what aspects of the
software make it more likely to be used by students.
 A researcher may wish to study the impact of hands-on activities and laboratory
experiments on students’ perceptions of science.
 A researcher could be studying whether or not the availability of hiking/biking
trails increases the physical activity levels in a neighborhood.

In some types of descriptive research, the researcher does not interact with the
subjects. In other types, the researcher does interact with the subjects and collects
information directly from them. Some descriptive studies may be cross-sectional,
whereby the researcher has a one-time interaction with the test subjects. Other studies
may be longitudinal, where the same test subjects are followed over time. There are
three main methods that may be used in descriptive research:

 Observational Method – Used to review and record the actions and behaviors of
a group of test subjects in their natural environment. The research typically does
not have interaction with the test subject.
 Case Study Method – This is a much more in-depth student of an individual or
small group of individuals. It may or may not involve interaction with the test
subjects.
 Survey Method – Researchers interact with individual test subjects by collecting
information through the use of surveys or interviews.

The data collected from descriptive research may be quantitative, qualitative or both.
The quantitative data is typically presented in the form of descriptive statistics that
provide basic information such as the mean, median, and mode of a data set.
Quantitative date may also be tabulated along a continuum in numerical form, such as
scores on a test. It can also be used to describe categories of information or patterns of
interactions. Such quantitative data is typically represented in tables, graphs, and
charts which makes it user-friendly and easy to interpret. Qualitative data, such as the
type of narrative data collected in a case study, may be organized into patterns that
emerge or it may be classified in some way, but requires more detailed analysis.

Types of Descriptive research:

There are three main types of descriptive methods: observational methods, case-study
methods and survey methods.

 Observational Method:

With the observational method (sometimes referred to as field observation) animal and
human behavior is closely observed. There are two main categories of the
observational method — naturalistic observation and laboratory observation.

The biggest advantage of the naturalistic method of research is that researchers view
participants in their natural environments. This leads to greater ecological validity than
laboratory observation, proponents say.

Ecological validity refers to the extent to which research can be used in real-life
situations.

Proponents of laboratory observation often suggest that due to more control in the
laboratory, the results found when using laboratory observation are more meaningful
than those obtained with naturalistic observation.

Laboratory observations are usually less time-consuming and cheaper than naturalistic
observations. Of course, both naturalistic and laboratory observation are important in
regard to the advancement of scientific knowledge.

 Case Study Method:

Case study research involves an in-depth study of an individual or group of indviduals.

Case studies often lead to testable hypotheses and allow us to study rare phenomena.
Case studies should not be used to determine cause and effect, and they have limited
use for making accurate predictions.

There are two serious problems with case studies — expectancy effects and atypical
individuals. Expectancy effects include the experimenter’s underlying biases that might
affect the actions taken while conducting research. These biases can lead to
misrepresenting participants’ descriptions. Describing atypical individuals may lead to
poor generalizations and detract from external validity.

 Survey Method:
In survey method research, participants answer questions administered through
interviews or questionnaires. After participants answer the questions, researchers
describe the responses given. In order for the survey to be both reliable and valid it is
important that the questions are constructed properly. Questions should be written so
they are clear and easy to comprehend.

Experimental Research:

Experimental research is any research conducted with a scientific approach, where a

set of variables are kept constant while the other set of variables are being measured as
the subject of experiment.

Experimental research is one of the founding quantitative research methods.

The simplest example of an experimental research is conducting a laboratory test. As

long as research is being conducted under scientifically acceptable conditions – it
qualifies as an experimental research. A true experimental research is considered to be
successful only when the researcher confirms that a change in the dependent variable
is solely due to the manipulation of the independent variable.

It is important for an experimental research to establish cause and effect of a

phenomenon, which means, it should be definite that effects observed from an
experiment are due to the cause. As naturally, occurring event can be confusing for
researchers to establish conclusions. For instance, if a cardiology student conducts
research to understand the effect of food on cholesterol and derives that most heart
patients are non-vegetarians or have diabetes. They are aspects (causes) which can
result in a heart attack (effect).

Experimental research is conducted in the following situations:

 Time is a vital factor for establishing a relationship between cause and effect.
 Invariable behavior between cause and effect.
 The eminence of cause-effect relationship is as per desirability.

Types of Experimental Research Design:

There are three primary types of experimental research design:

 Pre-experimental research design

 True experimental research design
 Quasi-experimental research design

The different types of experimental research design are based on the how the
researcher classifies the subjects according to various conditions and groups.
1. Pre-Experimental Research Design: This is the simplest form of experimental
research design. A group, or various groups, are kept under observation after factors
are considered for cause and effect. It is usually conducted to understand whether
further investigation needs to be carried out on the target group/s, due to which it is
considered to be cost-effective.

The pre-experimental research design is further bifurcated into three types:

 One-shot Case Study Research Design

 One-group Pretest-posttest Research Design
 Static-group Comparison

2. True Experimental Research Design: True experimental research is the most

accurate form of experimental research design as it relies on statistical analysis to prove
or disprove a hypothesis. It is the only type of Experimental Design that can establish a
cause-effect relationship within a group/s. In a true experiment, there are three factors
which need to be satisfied:

 Control Group (Group of participants for research that are familiar to the
Experimental group but experimental research rules do not apply to them.) and
Experimental Group (Research participants on whom experimental research
rules do apply.)
 Variable which can be manipulated by the researcher
 Random distribution
 This experimental research method is commonly implemented in physical
sciences.

3. Quasi-Experimental Research Design: The word “Quasi” indicates resemblance. A

quasi-experimental research design is similar to experimental research but is not
exactly that. The difference between the two the assignment of a control group. In this
research design, an independent variable is manipulated but the participants of a group
are not randomly assigned as per conditions. The independent variable is manipulated
before calculating the dependent variable and so, directionality problem is eliminated.
Quasi-research is used in field settings where random assignment is either irrelevant or
not required.

Advantages of Experimental Research

 Researchers have a stronger hold over variables to obtain desired results.

 Subject or industry is not a criterion for experimental research due to which any
industry can implement it for research purposes.
  Results are extremely specific.
 Once the results are analyzed, they can be applied to various other similar
aspects.
 Cause and effect of a hypothesis can be derived so that researchers can analyze
greater details.
 Experimental research can be used in association with other research methods.

Concept of Independent & Dependent variables:

A variable is anything that can vary, i.e. changed or be changed, such as memory,
attention, time taken to perform a task, etc. Variable are given a special name that only
applies to experimental investigations. One is called the dependent variable and the
other the independent variable.

In an experiment, the researcher is looking for the possible effect on the dependent
variable that might be caused by changing the independent variable.

 The independent variable is the variable the experimenter manipulates (i.e.

changes) – assumed to have a direct effect on the dependent variable.

 The dependent variable is the variable the experimenter measures in their

experiment.

For example, we might change the type of information (e.g. organized or random) given
to participants to see what effect this might have on the amount of information
remembered.

In this particular example the type of information is the independent variable (because it
changes) and the amount of information remembered is the dependent variable
(because this is being measured).

There are two key variables in every experiment:

the independent variable and the dependent variable. The independent variable is the
variable whose change isn’t affected by any other variable in the experiment. Either the
scientist has to change the independent variable herself or it changes on its own;
nothing else in the experiment affects or changes it. Two examples of common
independent variables are age and time. There’s nothing you or anything else can do to
speed up or slow down time or increase or decrease age. They’re independent of
everything else.

The dependent variable is what is being studied and measured in the experiment. It’s
what changes as a result of the changes to the independent variable. An example of a
dependent variable is how tall you are at different ages. The dependent variable (height)
depends on the independent variable (age).

An easy way to think of independent and dependent variables is, when you’re
conducting an experiment, the independent variable is what you change, and the
dependent variable is what changes because of that. You can also think of the
independent variable as the cause and the dependent variable as the effect.

It can be a lot easier to understand the differences between these two variables with
examples, so let’s look at some sample experiments below.

Examples of Independent and Dependent Variables in Experiments

Below are overviews of three experiments, each with their independent and dependent
variables identified.

Experiment 1: You want to figure out which brand of microwave popcorn pops the most
kernels so you can get the most value for your money. You test different brands of
popcorn to see which bag pops the most popcorn kernels.

Independent Variable: Brand of popcorn bag (It’s the independent variable because you
are actually deciding the popcorn bag brands)

Dependent Variable: Number of kernels popped (This is the dependent variable

because it's what you measure for each popcorn brand)

Experiment 2: You want to see which type of fertilizer helps plants grow fastest, so you
add a different brand of fertilizer to each plant and see how tall they grow.

Independent Variable: Type of fertilizer given to the plant

Dependent Variable: Plant heigh

Experiment 3: You’re interested in how rising sea temperatures impact algae life, so
you design an experiment that measures the number of algae in a sample of water
taken from a specific ocean site under varying temperatures.

Independent Variable: Ocean temperature

Dependent Variable: The number of algae in the sample

For each of the independent variables above, it’s clear that they can’t be changed by
other variables in the experiment. You have to be the one to change the popcorn and
fertilizer brands in Experiments 1 and 2, and the ocean temperature in Experiment 3
cannot be significantly changed by other factors. Changes to each of these independent
variables cause the dependent variables to change in the experiments.

Qualitative and quantitative research:

Qualitative Research:

Qualitative Research is primarily exploratory research. It is used to gain an

understanding of underlying reasons, opinions, and motivations. It provides insights into
the problem or helps to develop ideas or hypotheses for potential quantitative research.
Qualitative Research is also used to uncover trends in thought and opinions, and dive
deeper into the problem. Qualitative data collection methods vary using unstructured or
semi-structured techniques. Some common methods include focus groups (group
discussions), individual interviews, and participation/observations. The sample size is
typically small, and respondents are selected to fulfil a given quota.

Quantitative Research:

Quantitative Research is used to quantify the problem by way of generating numerical

data or data that can be transformed into usable statistics. It is used to quantify
attitudes, opinions, behaviors, and other defined variables – and generalize results from
a larger sample population. Quantitative Research uses measurable data to formulate
facts and uncover patterns in research. Quantitative data collection methods are much
more structured than Qualitative data collection methods. Quantitative data collection
methods include various forms of surveys – online surveys, paper surveys, mobile
surveys and kiosk surveys, face-to-face interviews, telephone interviews, longitudinal
studies, website interceptors, online polls, and systematic observations.

Quantitative data can help you see the big picture. Qualitative data adds the details and
can also give a human voice to your survey results.

Let’s see how to use each method in a research project:

 Formulating hypotheses:

Qualitative research helps you gather detailed information on a topic. You can use it
to initiate your research by discovering the problems or opportunities people are
thinking about. Those ideas can become hypotheses to be proven through
quantitative research.

 Validating your hypotheses:

Quantitative research will get you numbers that you can apply statistical analysis to
in order to validate your hypotheses. Was that problem real or just someone’s
perception? The hard facts obtained will enable you to make decisions based on
objective observations.

 Finding general answers:

Quantitative research usually has more respondents than qualitative research

because it is easier to conduct a multiple-choice survey than a series of interviews or
focus groups. Therefore it can help you definitely answer broad questions like: Do
people prefer you to your competitors? Which of your company’s services are most
important? What ad is most appealing?

 Incorporating the human element:

Qualitative research can also help in the final stages of your project. The quotes you
obtained from open-ended questions can put a human voice to the objective
numbers and trends in your results. Many times it helps to hear your customers
describe your company in their own words to uncover your blind spots. Qualitative
data will get you that.