Lecture Five
Types of Scientific Research
Scientific research has been classified into several categories
based on the purpose of writing, as follows:
1- Exploratory (Discovery) Research: This type of research is
concerned with studying the core of a scientific phenomenon
and arriving at the facts that led to it. In this type of study, the
researcher is not required to arrive at results that can be
generalized; rather, they are required to emphasize the accuracy,
validity, and organization of information. This type of research
is used to address social, political, and economic problems.
2- Critical Interpretive Research: This type of research is
considered a complement to the exploratory research paradigm
because it is concerned with reaching specific scientific results
using logical and rational patterns employed by the researcher.
This is achieved through analyzing the information and data at
hand, highlighting the optimal method for addressing the
research problem.
[Comprehensive Research]: This type of research combines
the two previous types, as it relies on facts and methods that
contribute to solving the research problem.
3- Survey (Exploratory) Research: This type of research is
concerned solely with identifying the problem. The researcher is
required to use this type of research when the available
information is simple and insufficient.
4- Descriptive Research: The aim of this type of research is to
determine the attributes, characteristics, and components of a
specific phenomenon in terms of quantity, quality, and modality.
5- Experimental Research: This type is based on precise
observation and experimentation to verify the validity of the
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hypotheses and theories proposed by the researcher, by using
general laws.
Classification of Research by Objective:
1- Theoretical Research: This type of research focuses on
arriving at facts, scientific laws, and dependent theories to
achieve a comprehensive and profound understanding of all
existing scientific laws and theories, regardless of their
application.
2- Applied Research: This type of research works to apply
available scientific knowledge to solve urgent current problems
or to arrive at scientific knowledge that helps in solving certain
problems.
Classification of Research by Writing Style:
1- Descriptive Research: This type of research aims to describe
phenomena or specific events, collect facts about them, interpret
and analyze them, and draw logical conclusions for them in light
of specific criteria.
2- Historical Research: This research describes various events
and phenomena and analyzes the causes that led to them in the
past, in order to discover generalizations that help in
understanding the present and predicting other events in the
future.
The Survey Method: This means conducting a general study of
a phenomenon existing among a group of individuals in a
specific place at the present time. The survey may be general for
the population of a state or specific for the children of a certain
village, for example. The survey is concerned with field studies;
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it differs from other methods in terms of material and human
resources. This method goes through several stages:
1. Problem Definition Stage: This requires experience and
expertise in the field of research.
2. Hypotheses Stage: This means a prior assumption of an
expected solution; the researcher must formulate accurate
and comprehensive hypotheses covering all aspects of the
research they are conducting.
3. Data Collection Stage: This is done using observation,
questionnaires, or interviews. The researcher must also
standardize these tools scientifically.
4. Data Analysis Stage: The results of the research
conducted by the researcher require full translation and
clarification.
5. Conclusion Stage: It is required that a successful result be
placed in a comprehensible framework and formulated in a
simplified style.
The Descriptive Method: The aim of this method is to collect
complete and accurate scientific descriptions of the phenomenon
under research and to study the relationships existing between
various phenomena. This method also uses multiple ways to
study the phenomenon, including:
Organized Scientific Observation: The researcher is
interested in studying the current state of the phenomenon
and determining its nature through the surrounding
circumstances and trends.
It also includes direct observation of groups and
individuals in their social situations and recording them
fully.
Therefore, the researcher must use precise means in
recording and defining the observations they encounter in
their study.
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The Survey Study is a basis for collecting complete
descriptions of a specific phenomenon and attempting to
use data to produce more accurate plans aimed at
improving behavioral processes. The goal of these
processes is to reveal the existing status quo and determine
its efficiency by comparing it with the selected criteria.
Steps of the Descriptive Method
The Clinical Method: The clinical method emerged as a
reaction to the laboratory experiments initiated by Wundt and
Weber. The first to use this method was the American
psychologist Lightner Witmer, who conducted a deep study of
the mental disorders occurring in children. He considered that
the clinical method has practical goals that help in the treatment
and prevention of mental retardation in individuals. He also paid
special attention to children suffering from learning difficulties
and analyzed those difficulties and the causes behind them by
focusing on research in the cognitive field. The clinical method
is characterized by the highest degree of comprehensiveness
because it studies the individual as an integral unit that does not
accept fragmentation.
The Inductive Method: This is the transition from the specific
to the general, from results to principles, or from phenomena to
their laws. Induction is of two types:
Complete: In which the researcher observes the
phenomenon in a complete and detailed manner.
Incomplete: In which the researcher is required to observe
parts of the phenomenon relying on statistics.
This method also goes through three stages:
The Research stage,
The Discovery stage,
The Proof stage.
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The Experimental Method: This method consists of
attempting to verify a specific hypothesis by comparing
expectations with the objective data collected. Psychological
experimentation is based on organized control of all causes of
changes that occur in behavior, and behavior is the basis of the
subject matter of psychology. This method goes through several
stages: the observation stage, the hypotheses formulation stage,
the experimentation stage, and the results stage.