Types of research and Types of research and theoretical perspective of theoretical perspective of

researchresearch

Zuleima YañezYessica Serna

According to Kerlinger (1986), research can be conducted as exploratory,

explanatory or descriptive.

Exploratory researchExploratory research

Exploratory research is about putting one’s self deliberately in a place- again and again- where discovery is possible

and broad, usually (but not always) nonspecialized interest can be pursued’’

Stebbins (2001)

Explanatory researchExplanatory research

Explanatory research has the aim of finding relationships among variables from

theory based expectations whereas descriptive research aims to describe a situation or context. Malhotra & Grover

(1998). 

Descriptive researchDescriptive research

- According to Best and Kahn (2006), descriptive research is to find general

attributes in the present condition.

It provides systematic information about social phenomena

observing and describing.

Theoretical perspective 

“The philosophical stance informing the methodology

and thus providing a context for the process and

grounding its logic and criteria methods and linking the

choice and use of methods to the desired outcomes”

(Crotty, 1998).

Although they are related, they are not the same.

Each one is the base for the next one

- Epistemology: theory of knowledge- Theoretical perspective: philosophical

position- Methodology: strategies for conducting a

research

Some types of theoretical perspectives

- Positivism

- Interpretivism

- Critical inquiry

Positivism Positivism

- The only authentic knowledge is scientific knowledge.- Researcher should be objective.- Quantitative data- Aim: offers explanations using scientific sciences.

Objectivism (epistemology) Positivism (theoretical perspective) Survey research (methodology) Statistical analysis (method)

(taken from

Crotty, 1998)

Interpretivism

- The methods of natural science are seen as inappropriate for study of people’s behavior.

- The focus of interpretivism is not numbers; it is words.

- Qualitative data

Constructionism Interpretivism Etnography Participant Observation (Crotty,1998)

Critical Inquiry

- Related to interpretivism

- This takes a critical look at society and tries to identify inequities and ways to remedy them.

- Promotes democracy making differences in different contexts

- The goal of critical inquiry is emancipation of the oppression.

Crotty, M. (1998). The Foundations of Social Research: Meaning and Perspective in the Research Process. London: SAGE Publications Ltd.

Kerlinger, E. (1986). Foundations of behavioral research (3rd 4.). New York: Holt, Rinehart &Winston

Malhotra, M. & Grover, V. (1998). An Assessment of Survey Research in POM:from constructs to theory. Journal of Operations Management, vol. 16: 17, pp. 407-425

Crotty, M., (1998), The Foundations of Social Research: Meaning and Perspective in the Research Process, Allen and Unwin

Best, J. W., & Kahn, J. V. (2006). Research in education. (10th ed.). Boston: Allyn Bacon

Blaxter. L.., Hughes. C, and Tight. M (2001) How to research. 3 ed. Buckingham: Open University Press.