Exploratory research is one of the types of scientific research. It consists of conducting a study to familiarize the researcher with the object being investigated during the research.
It is applied so that the researcher has a greater proximity to the universe of the object of study and that provides information and guides the formulation of research hypotheses.
It also allows the researcher to choose the most appropriate techniques for his research and so that he can decide on the issues that need more attention during the investigation.
Through exploratory research, it is possible obtain an explanation of the phenomena that were initially not accepted by other researchers, even with the evidence presented, in addition to discovering new phenomena and formulating new ideas and hypotheses.
The method used in exploratory research involves, in addition to bibliographic research, interviews with people who have mastery of the subject studied, field research and analysis of other examples that encourage the understanding of the theme.
Exploratory Research Example
A good example of exploratory research is the case studies, as they show evidence of phenomena that occurred in the experiments.
For example, the researcher who aims to work on exploratory research should gather a set of hypotheses and speculations that will serve as a starting point for his study.
After "exploring" the causes, consequences and other involvements that are related to the problem, the researcher will be able to find the answer for his case study. From then on, it is up to him to start a descriptive or explanatory research to deepen the subject.
Difference between exploratory, descriptive and explanatory research
It is common for researchers, when starting their studies, to have some difficulty in adapting research methods to the correct classification of scientific research.
Exploratory research
Exploratory research is one that seeks, through its methods and criteria, a proximity to the reality of the studied object.
In this type of research, as mentioned above, there is still not much information on the topic analyzed. The researcher aims to carry out the construction of the bibliographic survey on the subject.
This bibliographic survey can be done through interviews, for example. Exploratory research is considered a methodology initially applied in scientific research, but later it can be better developed with descriptive research.
descriptive research
Descriptive research, on the other hand, performs a more detailed study, with data collection, analysis and interpretation.
The researcher must work as an observer, keeping away from the object of study, so that he does not influence the results obtained.
In fact, in this research model, the answers are limited to qualitative and, mainly, quantitative data. To collect this information, the researcher uses questionnaires and other data collection techniques.
The main difference between descriptive and exploratory research is the knowledge that the researcher has about the object of study.
explanatory research
The explanatory research, in addition to carrying out this in-depth study, also relates theory and practice in the research process.
As the name suggests, this type of research has the main purpose of explaining the cause of things (the functioning of phenomena, identifying the reasons for problems, etc).
Explanatory research is a more detailed study model, which is why it is usually considered an advanced stage of exploratory and descriptive research.
See too:
- What to write in the methodology
- Bibliographic research
- descriptive research
- Exploratory, descriptive and explanatory research
- How to make the methodology for the TCC
- Search Types