Finding solutions to problems is what science is all about, and that's what researchers set out to do. The primary goal of investigation is to unearth previously unknown or concealed information. 

Despite the fact that the goals of each research project are unique, they may generally be categorized as follows: 

The goals of research can be:

 1. to learn about a phenomenon or to gain new insights into it (these types of studies are known as exploratory or formulative research studies);

 2. to accurately portray the characteristics of an individual, situation, or group (these types of studies are known as descriptive research studies);

 3. to ascertain the frequency with which something occurs or is associated with something else (these types of studies are known as frequency analysis research studies). 

Various Forms of Study

 There are several ways in which research might be categorized. The following are a few of the most common ways that studies are categorized. 

Research may be categorized into many different types, including:

1.  Descriptive vs. Analytical;
2.  Applied vs. Fundamental; 
3.  Qualitative vs. Quantitative; 
4.  Conceptual vs. Empirical. 

Investigating something's current state is the primary goal of descriptive study. In contrast, the goal of analytical research is to evaluate the veracity of a theory via the examination of data. 

Research with a practical purpose, such as improving product or process design or informing public policy, is called "applied research." The primary motivation for doing fundamental research is the desire to gain new knowledge, rather than the need to immediately use that knowledge. 

Not everything about a study topic can be measured or analyzed quantitatively, thus those characteristics are the focus of qualitative research.

Measurements and statistical methods are used extensively in quantitative studies. 

Research in the realm of concepts includes digging into the minds of people and drawing conclusions about how they think. Empirical studies, on the other hand, are based on hard evidence gleaned from either direct observation of phenomena in their natural habitats or from controlled laboratory experiments.

 Various Other Forms of Study Depending on the question being asked, the available resources, the setting in which the study is conducted, or some other element, all additional research methods are just variants of the ones listed above. From a temporal perspective, studies may be either one-offs or ongoing studies.

 The former involves studies that cover just a single time period, whereas the later encompasses a wider range of intervals. Depending on the location, research may be conducted in the field, in a laboratory, or via simulation. Clinical and diagnostic research are also valid interpretations of the term "research." Such studies often use case-study or in-depth methodologies to get to the root of the problem. 

These kinds of investigations often employ tiny sample sizes and in-depth instruments to get into the root causes of the phenomena that pique our curiosity. The study might be informal or highly structured. 

In contrast to more structured, organized research investigations, the goal of exploratory research is to generate new ideas rather than evaluate existing ones. Research into the past, including the thoughts and philosophies of individuals and communities from the distant past, is called historical research. The goals of research may be broken down into two broad categories: drawing conclusions and making choices. It's up to the researcher to choose an issue, rethink the inquiry as he goes, and come up with whatever concepts he likes while drawing conclusions. 

Decision-oriented research is always tailored to the requirements of a decision maker, thus the researcher is not free to pursue topics of interest. Decision-oriented research includes fields like operations research, which uses scientific methods to provide executive departments a quantitative foundation for making choices about activities under their control. Methodologies for Research As was made clear in the preceding section, there are two primary ways to do research: quantitatively and qualitatively. The former requires the creation of numerical data amenable to strict quantitative analysis in a controlled and regimented setting. Subsets of this methodology include inferential, experimental, and simulation studies. To infer population traits or associations, researchers use inferential methods to compile databases. This often refers to research methods like surveys, when a subset of a population is researched (via questions or direct observation) to draw generalizations about that community.

Some factors are altered to examine their influence on other variables, a hallmark of the experimental technique that allows for far better control over the study setting. The goal of the simulation method is to create a simulated setting in which real-world data and information may be created. This allows for the controlled study of a system's (or its sub-system's) dynamic behavior. 

"The operation of a numerical model that represents the structure of dynamic process," is the definition of a simulation used in the context of business and social science applications. The behavior of a process over time may be simulated by running a model with known beginning conditions, parameters, and external variables.

Using a simulation technique may help with model construction for foreseeing future situations. Subjective evaluation of beliefs, values, and actions is central to the qualitative research methodology. In such a setting, study results depend on the individual researcher's intuitions and assumptions. Research conducted in this manner often yields findings that cannot be reduced to quantitative form or that are not submitted to such examination. Common methods include depth interviews, projective techniques, and focus groups.

Methodology vs. Research Methods

An explanation of the distinction between research techniques and research methodology appears warranted at this stage. The term "research methods" may refer to any and all approaches used in the course of a study. Thus, when discussing the means by which researchers conduct their studies, they are referring to research methodologies or procedures. In other words, research techniques include everything a researcher does to dig into his research topic. Since the goal of research, especially applied research, is to find a workable solution to a problem, it follows that the known and unknown elements of that issue must be connected in some way. Considering this, there are three broad categories into which research techniques may be classified:

Methods that focus on information gathering make up the first category. If the information at hand is insufficient, these techniques will be employed; if relationships between the data and the unknowns need to be established, these techniques will be used; and if the results obtained need to be evaluated for accuracy, these techniques will be employed. Methods from the final two categories are the ones most often used as analytical instruments in research. A research technique is a set of procedures for efficiently resolving a research issue. It may be thought of as the study of the scientific method itself. In it, we examine the typical procedures used by a researcher to better understand his research challenge, as well as the reasoning behind these procedures. The researcher needs not just familiarity with research methodologies and procedures, but also with the approach itself. Not only do researchers need to know how to develop specific indices or tests, how to calculate the mean, mode, median, or standard deviation, how to apply specific research techniques, but they also need to understand which methods and techniques are relevant and which are not, and what their results would mean and indicate. Researchers also require familiarity with the assumptions underpinning different methods and the criteria for determining which methods and processes will be appropriate for certain situations.

 This implies that each study topic has its own unique approach, which the researcher must develop. When designing a structure, an architect, for instance, must carefully consider the rationale behind every choice he makes, down to the kind and quantity of construction materials used and the placement of each door, window, and ventilator. In the same way, researchers should put their research choices to the test before putting them into action. So that his selections can be reviewed by others, he must be extremely specific about which ones he chooses and why he chooses them. Based on what has been discussed thus far, it is clear that research techniques are a component of the larger research methodology. Comparatively, the purview of research methodologies is narrower than that of research methodology. Therefore, when discussing research methodology, we not only discuss the research methods, but also consider the rationale for the methods we use in the context of our research study, and explain why we are using a particular method or technique, and why we are not using others, to ensure that the research results can be evaluated by the researcher, or by someone else. Research methodology typically addresses questions like "why this study was conducted," "how the research problem was defined," "how the hypothesis was formulated," "what data were collected," "what particular method was adopted," "why this specific technique was used to analyze the data," and "why another similar technique was not used," among many others.