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Understanding the Purposes of Research
Kaplan University
CJ490 Research Methods in Criminal Justice
December 18, 2012
Prof. W. Roberts
The purpose or purposes underlying a research study guide the choice of the specific research methods that are used. Any individual research study may address multiple questions, not all of which share the same purpose. Consequently, more than one research method may be incorporated into a particular research effort. Because methods of investigation are not pure (i.e., free of bias), several types of data and methods of gathering data are often used to "triangulate" on the answer to a specific question (Education Encyclopedia).
Research can be classified according to the nature of the research enquiry, descriptive, exploratory, explanatory, and evaluative. Which of the particular research methods to use is entirely contingent upon the question being studied. Descriptive research attempts to define and describe the social phenomena under investigation. Finding the answers to the Who? What? Where? When? How? and How many? questions. While exploratory research can provide description, the purpose of descriptive research is to answer more clearly defined research questions. Descriptive research aims to build a picture, a social phenomenon, a set of experiences, for example. It aims to identify, describe and in some cases count things. It can be used to examine some of the key issues facing marketers and policy makers ("Science, society, and,”).
Exploratory research is, as its name suggests, research undertaken to explore an issue or a topic. It is particularly useful in helping to identify a problem, clarify the nature of a problem or define the issues involved. It can be used to develop propositions and hypotheses for further research, to look for new insights or to reach a greater understanding of an issue. For example, you might conduct exploratory research to understand how consumers react to new product...