Question

Explain what is meant by exploratory research and discuss the circumstances that
would warrant the use of this research design .

Answer 1

                                       Exploratory research

Exploratory research is the process of investigating a problem that has not been studied or thoroughly investigated in the past . Exploratory type of research is usually conducted to have a better understanding of the existing problem, but usually doesn't lead to a conclusive result.

                                    Researchers use exploratory research when trying to gain familiarity with an existing phenomenon and acquire new insight into it to form a more precise problem. It begins based on a general idea and the outcomes of the research are used to find out related issues with the topic of the research.

                            Exploratory research is defined as a research used to investigate a problem which is not clearly defined. It is conducted to have a better understanding of the existing problem, but will not provide conclusive results. For such a research, a researcher starts with a general idea and uses this research as a medium to identify issues that can be the focus for future research. An important aspect here is that the researcher should be willing to change his/her direction subject to the revelation of new data or insight. Such a research is usually carried out when the problem is at a preliminary stage. It is often referred to as grounded theory approach or interpretive research as it used to answer questions like what, why and how.

Steps to conduct a research

1. Identify the problem: A researcher identifies the subject of research and the problem is addressed by carrying out multiple methods to answer the questions.

2. Create the hypothesis: When the researcher has found out that there are no prior studies and the problem is not precisely resolved, the researcher will create a hypothesis based on the questions obtained while identifying the problem.

3. Further research: Once the data has been obtained, the researcher will continue his study through descriptive investigation. Qualitative methods are used to further study the subject in detail and find out if the information is true or not.

Advantages of Exploratory research

a. The researcher has a lot of flexibility and can adapt to changes as the research progresses.

b. It is usually low cost.

c. It helps lay the foundation of a research, which can lead to further research.

d. It enables the researcher understand at an early stage, if the topic is worth investing the time and resources and if it is worth pursuing.

e. It can assist other researchers to find out possible causes for the problem, which can be further studied in detail to find out, which of them is the most likely cause for the problem.

Characteristics of Exploratory research

· They are not structured studies

· It is usually low cost, interactive and open ended.

· It will enable a researcher answer questions like what is the problem? What is the purpose of the study? And what topics could be studied?

· To carry out exploratory research, generally there is no prior research done or the existing ones do not answer the problem precisely enough.

· It is a time consuming research and it needs patience and has risks associated with it.

Exploratory Research Methods

Primary Research Methods

In primary research methods, data is collected directly from the subject of investigation. The subject, in this case, maybe a group of people or an individual.

1. Observations

In this primary research method, the researcher does not come in close contact with the subject. Rather, the subject is being watched from afar.

2. Surveys

Surveys are used to collect data from a predefined subject(s). It can be used collected to study trends, opinions, and behaviour of a group of people.

3. Interviews

Although more stressful and time-consuming than others, the interview technique is the best in terms of collecting detailed and correct data. Interviews can be conducted in person, via phone call or video call.

4. Focus Groups

Focus group is often used by researchers when trying to collect data from a group of people with similar characteristics.

Secondary Research Methods

Secondary research method uses existing resources on the subject under study. Existing sources like newspapers, magazines, articles, papers, etc. are what researchers conduct for exploratory research.

1. Literature

Literature research is the process of conducting old resources like publications, textbooks, articles, magazines, etc. All this information can be gathered in both sift copy and hard copy documents.

2. Online Sources

With the advent of technology, this research has gained much popularity among millennials. Online research sources are the cheapest and easiest method of research.

3. Case Study

A researcher might find relevant information on the problem under study by studying existing cases.

Exploratory Research Example: A fresh or inconclusive murder case will be investigated using exploratory research because it has not been investigated clearly in the past. To gain a better understanding of how exploratory research is used to conduct a murder investigation.

Another example of exploratory research is a podcast survey template that can be used to collect feedback about the podcast consumption metrics both from existing listeners as well as other podcast listeners that are currently not subscribed to this channel. This helps the author of the podcast create curated content that will gain a larger audience

                                          Exploratory research is carried out when a topic needs to be understood in depth, especially if it hasn’t been done before. The goal of such a research is to explore the problem and around it and not actually derive a conclusion from it. Such kind of research will enable a researcher to set a strong foundation for exploring his ideas, choosing the right research design and finding variables that actually are important for the analysis. Most importantly, such a research can help organisations or researchers save up a lot of time and resources, as it will enable the researcher to know if it worth pursuing.

These are some of the objectives that warrant the need for exploratory research

• To define an ambiguous problem more precisely like why sales of a specific product are declining.
• To gain a better understanding of an issue.
• To generate new ideas like what one can do to improve customer relationships.
• Develop hypotheses that can explain the occurrence of specific phenomena.
• For providing insights like what political changes in the international environmental are going to affect our business.
• To determine if some research would be practical and to set priorities for future like we must focus on these two product categories because as per research interest in other categories has waned and they are not profitable any more.