Before deciding how to conduct research, you need to be clear about what you want the research to achieve. Research can have different purposes. Some research seeks to explore a subject that is poorly understood, some seeks to describe a phenomenon systematically, and some seeks to explain why something happens. These are commonly described as exploration, description, and explanation.
The distinction is useful because the purpose of the research influences many of the decisions that follow.
Exploratory research asks what is happening and helps identify important questions, concepts, or patterns.
Descriptive research establishes what is happening, how much, how often, where, or among whom.
Explanatory research goes further by asking why something happens and examining the factors or processes that might account for it.
A project can combine these purposes, but researchers should understand which is most important for the question they are asking.
Research purpose therefore sits between the research question and the research design. Once you have begun to identify what you want to know, ask what kind of answer your question requires. Are you trying to discover and understand something unfamiliar, describe a pattern or phenomenon, or explain its causes? This decision will help determine the evidence you need, the methods you use, and the kinds of conclusions you can reasonably draw.
Thinking about research purpose also provides a useful test of the research question itself. If you cannot clearly say whether your project is primarily exploring, describing, or explaining something, the question may still need further refinement. Knowing the purpose gives the project direction and provides a bridge from what you want to know to how you are going to find out.
Exploratory research
Exploratory research is appropriate when we do not yet know enough about a subject to ask precise questions or offer convincing explanations. The researcher begins by investigating the area broadly, looking for features, patterns, problems, and possibilities that deserve closer attention. Exploratory research can help researchers:
Recognize patterns or issues that warrant further investigation;
Develop more focused research questions;
Develop an initial understanding of an unfamiliar subject;
Assess whether a proposed research project is practical;
Determine what evidence is available and how it might be studied.
Discover which aspects of the subject are most significant; and
Suggest possible explanations or hypotheses.
The main value of exploratory research is therefore discovery. Rather than testing a well-developed explanation, it helps establish what is worth investigating and provides a foundation for more focused research.
Descriptive research
Descriptive research is concerned with establishing an accurate account of a phenomenon, population, event, or situation. Rather than asking why something occurs, it concentrates on identifying what exists, what is happening, and how its important characteristics can be systematically documented. Descriptive research can help researchers:
Organize observations into meaningful groups or types;
Trace how an event or process develops over time;
Produce a systematic account of a subject or situation;
Identify changes, differences, or previously unrecognized patterns;
Provide reliable information that later research can seek to explain;
Establish the circumstances in which something occurs; and
Map the stages or elements involved in a particular process.
The main value of descriptive research is therefore accuracy and detail. Good description establishes what is actually happening and provides the empirical foundation upon which explanations can later be developed.
Explanatory research
Explanatory research is concerned with understanding why something happens. It moves beyond identifying or describing a phenomenon to investigate the factors, relationships, or processes that produce a particular outcome. Explanatory research can help researchers:
Identify the factors that contribute to an outcome;
Examine relationships between different variables or conditions;
Determine how and why those relationships operate;
Compare competing explanations for the same phenomenon;
Trace the processes or mechanisms that connect cause and outcome;
Test hypotheses or theoretical expectations; and
Develop or refine explanations of observed patterns.
The main value of explanatory research is therefore understanding causation and relationships. Where descriptive research establishes what is happening, explanatory research asks why it is happening and seeks to provide a convincing account of the processes or conditions responsible.
Exploratory, descriptive and explanatory research
Knowing the primary purpose helps determine what evidence is needed, which methods are appropriate, and what claims the research can reasonably make. The easiest way to work out the purpose is to look at the question: asking “what?” will usually be exploratory; a question asking “how?” will usually be descriptive; while a question asking “why?” will usually be explanatory. Of course, the English language allows a bit of leeway around these generalizations.
In practice though, these three purposes often blend together. A researcher may begin by exploring an unfamiliar subject, then describe the patterns that emerge, and finally attempt to explain why those patterns exist. Description may also be necessary before explanation is possible: before asking why public attitudes have changed, for example, we first need reliable evidence that they have changed and an accurate description of how.
A single project can therefore contain elements of exploration, description, and explanation. The important task is to identify the primary purpose of the research. This should follow from the research question.
The guided academic paper - research purpose
For your guided academic paper, record the purpose of your research in your research diary. Decide whether your project is primarily exploratory, descriptive, or explanatory. It may contain elements of more than one, but identify which purpose is most important. In your diary, write a short explanation addressing the following:
What is the primary purpose of your research?
Why is this purpose appropriate for your research question?
Does your project also involve either of the other two purposes?
What does your research purpose mean for the type of evidence you will need and the claims you will be able to make?
Do not treat this as a final decision. As your research question develops, return to this entry in your research diary and revise it if necessary. The important thing is to be able to explain clearly what your research is trying to achieve and how that purpose relates to your research question.
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