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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.
The following are some examples for studies with exploratory research design in
business studies:
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 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.
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.
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.
Descriptive research:
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.
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.
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:
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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
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.
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)
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.
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 Research:
Quantitative Research:
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.
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.
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.
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.