Research Writing Tips: 7 Types of Research You Should Know About
Research allows us to find more useful information about a specific topic or situation. It is widely used in many studies that explain and describe problems and events. There are many different types of research, and it is hard to understand which one is best to use for your own task.
In this article, you can find the most popular types of research that are used to gather data and come up with new ideas. If you are going to write research, this list is going to help you decide which type it is best to use.
Most common types of research and how to use them
There are so many different types of research that it becomes very easy to get confused. Down below, you can find detailed information about the research and how many types of it you can use. Learn more here:
- Basic research. Sometimes it is also called theoretical research. Basic research is about studying a subject or phenomena and explaining how something works and why. With the help of basic research, you will gather all the facts about a topic and prepare a foundation for another type of research which is called applied research.
- Applied research. For this one, you study a specific case and develop some techniques or products. One of the good examples of applied research is the case study where you deeply examine a subject to come up with some changes and new ideas regarding it.
- Quantitative research. This type of research focuses on numbers and uses statistics and mathematics in order to collect data. Often results are represented in graphs or tables and sometimes it can be used to describe the population and certain groups of people.
- Qualitative research. For this type of research, you cannot apply numbers and maths to collect data. Instead, you use words to describe a researched topic. You also can’t use graphs to represent data. It is used to find reasons, motivations, and opinions in order to understand the case or situation. With the help of qualitative method, you can develop new ideas or hypotheses.
- Mixed research. This type of research is used when you decide to combine both qualitative and quantitative methods. You can use words to describe why and how something happens and apply mathematics to evaluate the subject of the research. It can sometimes be harder to use the mixed research, but you will be able to handle it if you do it right.
- Descriptive research. As you can say from the name of the method, its goal is to answer one simple question: “What is it?”. During your research, you should gather all the information and facts about the subject of your research. In other words, instead of explaining why something occurred, you will describe it.
- Explanatory research. The goal of explanatory research is to explain why and how do some events or situations happen. It can also help you understand the relationship between some individuals, groups, or events.
Conduct high-quality research easily
If you get a task to research something, you should always first prepare before you actually start working on your assignment. You should go on the internet and find all the resources that will be useful for your research. After you do that, form a list of all the sources you gathered by priority. That way, you will be able to write good research with all the facts and arguments.
After you are done writing your research, ask someone else about their opinion. Give them your research to check out, and don’t be afraid of negative feedback. Constructive criticism can help you make your research even better.