CLASSIFICATION OF RESEARCH

Research comes in many shapes and sizes. Before a researcher begins to conduct a study he or she must decide on specific type of research. Good researcher understand the advantages and disadvantages or each type.
For classification of research we shall look from four dimension:
1. The purpose of doing research;
2 . The intended uses of research;
3. How it treats time the time dimension in research and
4. The research data collection techniques used in it.

PURPOSE OF DOING RESEARCH

a. Exploratory/ Formularize Research
b. Descriptive Research
c. Explanatory Research

a.  EXPLORATOYR / FORMULATIVE RESEARCH
You may be exploring a new topic or issue in order to learn about it if the issue was new or the researcher has written little on it you began at the beginning. This is called exploratory research the research goal is to formulate more precise questions that future research can answer
Exploratory research may be the first stage in sequence of studies. A researcher may need to know enough to design and execute a second more systematic and extensive study.
When a researcher has limited knowledge about a research issue exploratory  research is useful preliminary step that helps ensure that a more rigorous more conclusive future study will now begin with an inadequate understanding of the nature of the management problem.
Exploratory research rarely yields definitive answer it addresses the what question what is this social activity really about it is difficult to conduct because there are few guidelines to follow. Specifically there could be a number of goals of exploratory research.
Exploratory researcher are creative open minded flexible adopt an investigative stance and explore all sources of information.
Exploratory researchers frequently use qualitative to using as range of evidence and discovering new issues.
For example research on AIDS, for the first time around 1980 illustrates exploratory research. At that time no one knew what type of disease it was, or even it was a disease. No one knew what caused it, how it spread and why it appeared.
 GOALS OF EXPLORATORY RESEARCH:
1. Become familiar with the basic facts, people and concerns involved.
2. Develop a well-grounded mental picture of what is occurring.
3. Generate many ideas and develop tentative theories and conjectures.
4. Determine the feasibility of doing additional research.
5. Formulate questions and refine issues for more systematic inquiry.
6. Develop techniques and a sense of direction for future research.