Find out the types of research carried out, the methods and sources of research and the purposes of the research

This blog post is going to be talking about the types of research carried out, the methods/sources of research and the purpose of research.

Type of research	Explanation
Qualitative	When research is used to gain an understanding of reasons (underlying), opinions and motivations.
Quantitative	Used in research when it wants to obtain information about the world
Clinical
Trail	This means when the research is directly involves a particular person or group of people, which uses material from humans (e.g. their behaviour)
Medical	This research is when it is the broad area of science and it involves the investigation of the biological process, and also the causes of the disease – this is done carefully through experimental/observation and lab work.
Market	The action/activity of gathering information about consumers’ needs/preferences.
Survey	It is one of the most important areas of measurement in applied social research.
Participatory	This research is an approach which communities/emphasizes participation and action.

Methods	Meaning and examples
Practical	This means when planning of a project is done correctly.  Surveys, interviews and field-level investigation are examples of this method and they all allow achieving the correct information.
Theoretical	This is a non-empirical approach to research.  Examples of this method involves public libraries, court rooms and also academic journals (which are published)

Sources	Examples
Primary	Letters Official records Survey results Unanalysed statistical data
Secondary	Discussions Evaluations Syntheses Analyses of primary/secondary source information

There are loads of different reasons why we do research – the three purpose examples are exploratory, descriptive and explanatory.  Explanatory research means the research is conducted for a problem which has not been identified very clearly.  This type of research happens often before we know enough to make a conceptual distinctions or an explanatory relationship which also helps to determine the best research design/data collection methods/selection of subjects.  The purpose of this research is when a researcher has an idea/observed something/seeks to understand more about it.  Descriptive research is when a study that is designed to depict the participants in an accurate way – this research is more of describing the people taking part instead of the research itself.  The purpose of descriptive research is that it is where the researcher tries to describe what is happening in a lot more detail, filling in the missing parts and also expanding the understanding.  Explanatory research means research which is implies that is questioned and intended to be explained, rather than describing it.  The purpose of this is to have an attempt to connect ideas I order to understand the cause and effect, meaning that the researchers need to explain what is currently happening.