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Exploratory research: Definition, Types and Methodologies

exploratory research design

This design is used to study and attain understanding into situations that have not previously attracted severe investigations and research. Its goal is to more succinctly define a problem and develop courses of action that will lead to its solution. In order to improve the appropriate use of this research design in management science, this study examined the conduct and application of an exploratory research design for research students and novice researchers with little prior knowledge in the field. It is designed to help researchers understand when and how to use exploratory research design at any stage of their research. It highlighted the various types and methodologies of exploratory research design. It also highlighted some of the benefits and limitations of using an exploratory research design.

METHODOLOGY

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Every research problem is uniquely different, but almost all research problems and research objectives can be categorised into one of the types of research designs, viz., exploratory and conclusive (Asika, 2004). When conducting research, the researcher’s choice of design is influenced by the available information. Researchers may decide to work on a problem that has not been thoroughly studied in order to establish priorities, develop operational definitions, and improve the final research design. According to Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill (2016) an exploratory research design is a valuable means of finding out ‘what is happening; to seek new insights; to ask questions and to assess phenomena in a new light. Since the problem is known to be very limited, the research is flexible in relation to the methods used to understand the problem and to put forward hypotheses.

Beyond exploratory: a tailored framework for designing and assessing qualitative health research

The second research can produce research findings that can be of a practical use for decision making. And if you're surveying 15,000 people rather than just 1,000, this can take a while to receive and examine the results. When you're blazing a trail for a new concept, you need questions answered and problems solved. Exploratory research will help you better understand the problems and offer solutions you could focus on to transform the idea into reality.

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SurveyMonkey Audience can craft a research panel to help you address them in just a flash. Put together your survey panel, then get the insights you need in minutes—not months. The results of exploratory research are not usually useful for decision-making by themselves, but they can provide significant insight into a given situation. Although the results of qualitative research can give some indication as to the "why", "how" and "when" something occurs, they cannot reveal "how often" or "how many".

exploratory research design

The cost of designing and developing a product that may not do well on the market can be higher than what you spend when doing exploratory research. When you have an idea about a new product, you're excited about the prospect that customers will be lining up at the door to purchase it. Before spending money on design and development, determine if customers will love it as much as you do. Focus groups continue to be one of the most common uses of exploratory research, providing researchers with a great foundation on where people stand on an issue. The open and natural discussion format of a focus group allows for a wider variety of perspectives in a shorter period of time. As long as the research has importance or value, any approach, or combination of approaches can be used to gather the data.

exploratory research design

Questionnaire – Definition, Types, and Examples

The study examined the conduct and application of exploratory research design in management science. Articles that utilised exploratory research design in management sciences were reviewed using a content analysis. Further, an evaluation of the types and methodologies, conduct, and application of exploratory research design in the field of management sciences was carried out. The study’s findings revealed that some researchers used exploratory research design appropriately in their studies, whereas others did not, resulting in inappropriate research design usage.

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You could count how long they spend in each aisle (a quantitative approach), or take notes on the direction they take when walking around the store (a qualitative approach). Exploratory research design does not aim to provide the final and conclusive answers to the research questions, but merely explores the research topic with varying levels of depth. It has been noted that “exploratory research is the initial research, which forms the basis of more conclusive research. It can even help in determining the research design, sampling methodology and data collection method”[2]. Exploratory research “tends to tackle new problems on which little or no previous research has been done”[3].

Secondary research methods

Adding a few open-ended questions in surveys with large amounts of respondents can be somewhat difficult and time-consuming to sort through, but it can indicate important trends and opinions for further research. Used properly, exploratory research will provide rich quality information that will help identify the main issues that should be addressed in our surveys and significantly reduce a research project’s level of bias. For the rest of the article, we’ll go over the different ways people can incorporate exploratory research in their projects. Exploratory research rarely uses structured or standardized data collection tools like closed-ended surveys. That’s because those forms of data collection restrict the nature of the data to be collected. A more unstructured approach, for example involving open-ended questions, will facilitate the exploration of different dimensions of interest, and allow you to find out novel information you might not have expected to learn.

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For example, if the researcher is analyzing social network data, network analysis can help identify the most influential users and their connections to other users. This involves consulting with experts or professionals in the field to gain their insights, expertise, and opinions on the research topic. This type of research can be useful in identifying the key issues and concerns related to the topic, and in generating ideas for further research. Exploratory research is a type of research design that is used to investigate a research question when the researcher has limited knowledge or understanding of the topic or phenomenon under study. According to Goundar (2019), primary research entails gathering information directly from the subject. This type of research can be carried out directly by the researcher or by a third party on their behalf.

Secondary research involves gathering information that others have already collected. This could include conducting online searches, reviewing industry reports, or visiting the library to read books and journals. Secondary research aims to gather information that can help you better understand your target market and industry trends. We can then use these three topics as our main focus or research objectives for a new survey that will look to statistically quantify people’s issues with the website with closed-ended questions. The mere fact that you allow respondents to provide any feedback they please, gives you the opportunity to gain insights on topics you haven’t previously thought of.

This data type does not typically contain common variables to compare corresponding data points to. However, quantitative data points can be pulled if studies are conducted with a large enough sample size. Still, unstructured data is more valuable because it's open-ended qualitative feedback that will help direct your project.

Primary research is conducted specifically to investigate a specific problem that necessitates an in-depth investigation (Formplus, 2019). Benefits and limitations of Exploratory Research Design Voxco (2021) and Tegan (2021) pointed the following benefits and limitation of exploratory research design in management sciences. Primary research takes the longest because of the necessary steps to collect the information you need. The more people involved in surveys, focus groups, and interviews, the more time it will take to extract and analyze the data. If the research that you did helps the design process of your product, you now have a proven avenue for future research in product design, manufacturing, market introduction, and customer experiences for your business.

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