Define business research & explain various types of research with suitable example (ROLL NO-1005) EXPLORATORY RESEARCH

Exploration is particularly useful when researchers lack a clear idea of the problems they will meet during the study. Through exploration the researchers develop the concepts more clearly, establish priorities, and improve the final research design. Exploration may also save time and money if it is decided the problem is not as important as first thought. When we consider the scope of qualitative research, several approaches are adaptable for exploratory investigations of management questions: 1. Indepth-interviewing (usually conversational rather than structured). 2. Participant observation (to perceive firsthand what that participants in the setting experience). 3. Films, photographs, and videotape (to capture what that participants in the setting experience). 4. Case studies (for an indepth contextual analysis of a few events or conditions). 5. Elite interviewing (for information from influential or well-informed people in an organization or community). 6. Document analysis (to evaluate historical or contemporary confidential or public records, reports, government documents, and opinions). 7. Proxemics and kinesics (to study of the use of space and body motion communication, respectively).

DESCRIPTIVE STUDIES
The objective of descriptive study is to learn the who, what, when, where, and how of a topic. The study may be simple or complex; it may be done in many settings. The simplest descriptive study concerns a univariate question or hypothesis in which we ask about, or state something about, the size, form, distribution, or existence of a variable. In an account analysis at a savings and loan association, we might be interested in developing a profile of savers. We may want first to locate them in relation to the association office. The question might be, What percent of the savers live within a two-mile radius of the office?

APPLIED RESEARCH
Applied research is research that is applied, accessing and using some part of the research communities' (the academy's) accumulated theories, knowledge, methods, and techniques, for a specific, often state, commercial, or client driven purpose. Applied research is often opposed to pure research in debates about research ideals, programs, and projects.

Although it is impossible to generalize completely, Applied Research deals with practical problems and is generally empirical. Because applied research resides in the messy real world, strict research protocols must often be relaxed. For example, it may be impossible to use a random sample. Thus, transparency in the methodology is critical. Implications for interpretation of results brought about by relaxing a more or less strict cannon of methodology should also be developed.

BASIC RESEARCH
Basic research or fundamental research (sometimes pure research) is research carried out to increase understanding of fundamental principles. Many times the end results have no direct or immediate commercial benefits: basic research can be thought of as arising out of curiosity. However, in the long term it is the basis for many commercial products and applied research. Basic research is mainly carried out by universities. Basic research advances fundamental knowledge about the human world. It focuses on refuting or supporting theories that explain how this world operates, what makes things happen, why social relations are a certain way, and why society changes. Basic research is the source of most new scientific ideas and ways of thinking about the world.

QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
Qualitative research is a method of inquiry employed in many different academic disciplines, traditionally in the social sciences, but also in market research and further contexts. Qualitative researchers aim to gather an in-depth understanding of human behavior and the reasons that govern such behavior. The qualitative method investigates the why and how of decision making, not just what, where, when. Hence, smaller but focused samples are more often needed, rather than large samples. Qualitative methods produce information only on the particular cases studied, and any more general conclusions are only hypotheses (informative guesses). Quantitative methods can be used to verify which of such hypotheses are true. qualitative research approaches include the following: 1. Ethnographic Research, used for investigating cultures by collecting and describing data that is intended to help in the development of a theory. This method is also called ethnomethodology or "methodology of the people". An example of applied ethnographic research, is the study of a particular culture and their understanding of the role of a particular disease in their cultural framework. 2. Critical Social Research, used by a researcher to understand how people communicate and develop symbolic meanings. 3. Ethical Inquiry, an intellectual analysis of ethical problems. It includes the study of ethics as related to obligation, rights, duty, right and wrong, choice etc

QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH
The most widely used branch of mathematics in quantitative research outside of the physical sciences, and also finds applications within the physical sciences, such as in statistical mechanics. Statistical methods are used extensively within fields such as economics, social sciences and biology. Quantitative research using statistical methods starts with the collection of data, based on the hypothesis or theory. Usually a big sample of data is collected - this would require verification, validation and recording before the analysis can take place. Software packages such as SPSS is typically used for this purpose. Causal relationships are studied by manipulating factors thought to influence the phenomena of interest while controlling other variables relevant to the experimental outcomes. In the field of health, for example, researchers might measure and study the relationship between dietary intake and measurable physiological effects such as weight loss, controlling for other key variables such as exercise. Empirical relationships and associations are also frequently studied by using some form of general linear model, non-linear model, or by using factor analysis. A fundamental principle in quantitative research is that correlation does not imply causation. EMPIRICAL RESEARCH Empirical research is a way of gaining knowledge by means of direct observation or experience. It is used to answer empirical questions, which must be precisely defined and answerable with data Usually, a researcher has a certain theory regarding the topic under investigation. Based on this theory some statements, or hypotheses, will be proposed From these hypotheses predictions about specific events are derived .These predictions can then be tested with a suitable experiment. Depending on the outcomes of the experiment, the theory on which the hypotheses and predictions were based will be supported or not Accurate analysis of data using standardized statistical methods in scientific studies is critical to determining the validity of empirical research. Statistical formulas such as regression, uncertainty coefficient, t-test, chi square, and various types of ANOVA (analyses of variance) are fundamental to forming logical, valid conclusions. If empirical data reach significance under the appropriate statistical formula, the research hypothesis is supported. If not, the null hypothesis is supported (or, more correctly, not rejected), meaning no effect of the independent variable(s) was observed on the dependent variable(s). EMPIRICAL CYCLE Observation: The collecting and organisation of empirical facts; Forming hypotheses. Induction: Formulating hypotheses. Deduction: Deducting consequenses of hypotheses as testable predictions.

Testing: Testing the hypotheses with new empirical material. Evaluation: Evaluating the outcome of testing.

CONCEPTUAL RESEARCH