abhishreshthaa
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BASIC VS APPLIED RESEARCH
- Research can either be applied (or action) research or fundamental (or basic or pure) research.
- Applied research aims at finding a solution for an immediate problem facing a society or an industrial/business organization, whereas fundamental research is mainly concerned with generalizations and with the formulation of a theory.
- “Gathering knowledge for knowledge’s sake is termed as pure or ‘basic’ research”.
- Research concerning some natural phenomenon or relating to pure mathematics are examples of fundamental.
- Similarly, research studies, concerning human behavior carried on with a view to make generalizations about human behavior, are also examples of fundamental research, but research aimed at certain conclusions (say, a solution) facing a concrete social or business problem is an example of applied research.
- Research to identify social, economic or political trends that may affect a particular solution or the copy research (research to find out whether certain communications will be read and understood) or the marketing research or evaluation research are examples of applied research.
- Thus, the central aim of applied research is to discover a solution for some pressing practical problem, whereas basic research is directed towards finding information that has a broad base of application and thus, adds to the already existing organized body of scientific knowledge.