Exploratory Research

Research involves various activities, often beginning with an exploratory research process to gain a better understanding of the topic being studied. Typically, the researcher follows three basic steps: (1) making observations, (2) examining the observations and looking for patterns, and finally (3) making a tentative conclusion or generalization about the identified patterns. The exploratory research method emphasizes starting with detailed data through observations and discovering what is occurring more often. It can be thought of as a bottom-up approach and is sometimes called the inductive method since it moves from the particular to the general. Frequently, exploratory studies are a starting place for more extensive research studies. Exploratory research is helpful when the researcher has no expectations or beliefs about how a system operates but ...