DIMENSIONS OF

RESEARCH
 APPLIED VS.
BASIC

DATA DIMENSION GOALS OF

COLLECTION OF STUDY
RESEARCH

LENGTH OF
TIME
• Dimensions of research looks at the
four important aspects in conducting
research.
1. Applied vs. basic research
2. Goals of a study
3. Length of time
4. Data collection
 1. BASIC VS. APPLIED RESEARCH

A. BASIC RESEARCH
• Basic research is also known as academic research or
pure research.
• It focuses on refuting or supporting theories that explain
how the social world operates, what makes things
happen, why society changes.
• Advantage: Basic research provides a
foundation for knowledge and
understanding that are generalizable to
many policy and problem areas.
• By employing empirical scientific methods,
basic researchers will painstakingly seek
answer using specific methodology, sets of
technique and theory in their studies.
• Basic researchers often ask the following questions in
their studies;
i. Why massive political violence occur?
ii. Why political participation in China is low?
iii. What is the relationship between aging and intention
to continue working in older age?
iv. Does the use of social media network improved
political support received by politician?
 The research questions are designed based on specific
model/ theory
 APPLY SCIENTIFIC
APPROACH

BASIC
RESEARCH -THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
-DEVELOP RESEARCH
QUESTIONS/OBJECTIVES
-CHOOSE UNIT OF STUDY
-POPULATION AND SAMPLING
-TECHNIQUES FOR DATA
COLLECTION
-GENERALISE FINDINGS
B. APPLIED RESEARCH
• Address a specific practical issue
• Offer solutions to a problem of various
context. It can be problem faced by
employer, organization they are affiliated
with or a social movement to which they are
committed.
• Applied researchers rely on a quick, small-
scale study that provides practical results
that people can use in the short term.
• A quick market survey to know employer
demands in job market.
• Government use the results of applied
research to improve university programs
and graduate employability.
 EXAMPLE OF MARKET
SURVEY
• What is your household size?
• What features do you look for when you
purchase this product?
• What is the social and environmental
impact of the ‘x’ highway project?
 SCIENTIFIC
EMPIRICAL
RESEARCH, BUT
-RARELY DO APPLIED
RESEARCHERS TEST A
MODEL OR APPLY A
THEORY IN THEIR STUDY
APPLIED -ADDRESS PRACTICAL
RESEARCH ISSUES
-TRY TO FIND A QUICK
SOLUTION
-TRANSLATE RESEARCH
FINDINGS INTO POLICY
STRATEGIES
 2. GOALS OF A STUDY
• The purpose of doing social research can be organized
into three groups
i. To explore a new topic
ii. To describe a social phenomena
iii. To explain why something occurs
• EXPLORATION
- You involved in exploratory study if the issue was new
or no researchers had written about it.
- Exploratory research may be the first stage in a
sequence of studies
• DESCRIPTION
- You want to describe a social phenomenon.
- Descriptive research presents a picture of the specific
details of a situation, social setting and relationship
• EXPLANATION
- Why things are the way they are.
- The desire to explain is the purpose of explanatory
research.
- It identify the reason something occurs. Explanatory
research focusing on a topic and looks for causes and
reasons.
 3. TIME DIMENSION IN RESEARCH
I. CROSS-SECTIONAL RESEARCH
- Here, researchers observe at one point in time
- This is the simplest and least costly
alternative.
 How do public evaluate the quality of
services provided by DBKL?
 What are the factors that lead to the transition
of political power in Penang?
II. LONGITUDIAL RESEARCH
-Examine features of people or other units at
more than one time. One group is study
over many years.
Example: The impact of HIV on newly
diagnosed patients
Feminisation of poverty: 20 years after the
Beijing platform for action
III. CASE-STUDY RESEARCH
- A researcher examines in depth many features of a
few cases over a duration of time. Takes a holistic
view of a situation.
- Cases can be individuals, groups, organizations,
etc.Example when you study one ethnic group in
small community OR when you focus to one
organization and study its operation
 Example: Enhancing urban governance through
the implementation local E-government: A case
study of Kota Kinabalu City Hall.
4. DATA COLLECTION TECHNIQUES
• The techniques may be grouped into two categories:
quantitative and qualitative.
1. QUANTITATIVE METHODS
• collecting data in the form of numbers
• It can be categorized into reactive and nonreactive
types of data collection.
Reactive research: Experimental research and survey
Nonreactive research: Content analysis and secondary
analysis research
2. QUALITATIVE METHODS
• collecting data in the form of words or pictures.
• Example is field research
-Field research is a qualitative research in which
researcher directly observes and records notes on
people in a natural setting for an extended period of
time
-Researcher can do observation, conduct interview and
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