Exploratory Research - Applied Research

Applied Research

Applied research in administration is often exploratory because there is need for flexibility in approaching the problem. In addition there are often data limitations and a need to make a decision within a short time period. Qualitative research methods such as case study or field research are often used in exploratory research.

There are three types of objectives in a marketing research project.

• Exploratory research or formulative research
• Descriptive research
• Causal research

Exploratory research or formulative research: The objective of exploratory research is to gather preliminary information that will help define problems and suggest hypotheses.'

Descriptive Research: The objective of descriptive research is to describe things, such as the market potential for a product or the demographics and attitudes of consumers who buy the product.'