Exploratory Research
Definition
A design used when a topic is poorly understood, aimed at generating hypotheses and mapping the scope of a problem rather than testing a fixed claim, typically through interviews, case studies or small samples.
Related terms
- Descriptive Research
- A design that profiles the scale, pattern or distribution of a phenomenon, for example who is affected, where and how often, without...
- Doctrinal Research
- Legal research that analyses primary sources, statutes, judgments and authoritative commentary, to state what the law currently is and how courts have...
- Evaluation Research
- A form of applied research that measures whether an existing programme, policy or intervention achieved its intended outcome, often using a before-and-after...
- Experimental Research
- A design in which the researcher deliberately manipulates one variable, ideally with random assignment to treatment and control conditions, to isolate its...
- Explanatory Research
- Also called analytical research, a design that tests a proposed relationship between variables to establish why a phenomenon occurs, usually through statistical...