Types of Research: 20+ Methods Explained With Examples

What Are the Types of Research?

There are two main ways to classify research. The first is by purpose: why the research is being done. The second is by method: how the data is collected and analyzed. Most research types fall somewhere within these two frameworks, and understanding both will help you make sense of your assignment requirements.

The sections below walk through each major category so you can quickly find what applies to your paper.

Basic Research vs. Applied Research

Explore the difference between basic and applied research:

Basic Research (Fundamental Research)

Basic research is the pursuit of knowledge for its own sake, without an immediate practical application in mind. It's about expanding what we know, even when we don't yet know how that knowledge will be used.

Key characteristics:

• Driven by curiosity or theory, not a specific real-world problem
  
• Usually conducted in academic or laboratory settings
  
• Forms the foundation that applied research builds on
  

Example: A psychologist studying how short-term memory works in the human brain, not to treat a disorder, but to understand the cognitive process itself.

Applied Research

Applied research takes existing knowledge and uses it to solve a specific, real-world problem. If basic research asks "how does this work?", applied research asks "how can we use this?"

Key characteristics:

• Focused on a defined practical problem
• Findings are meant to be acted on
• Often sponsored by organizations or government bodies

Example: A public health team studying which vaccination messaging strategies are most effective at increasing uptake in low-income communities.

Qualitative vs. Quantitative Research

See what are differences in qualitative and quantitative research:

Qualitative Research

Qualitative research explores meaning, experience, and human behavior through data that can't be reduced to numbers. It focuses on words, observations, and patterns rather than statistics.

Common methods include interviews, focus groups, and observational studies. For a deeper look at how it works and when to use it, see our guide to qualitative research methods. If you're exploring the different forms qualitative research can take, our article on types of qualitative research breaks those down as well.

Example: A researcher conducting in-depth interviews with first-generation college students about their sense of belonging on campus.

Quantitative Research

Quantitative research measures things numerically and uses statistical analysis to find patterns or test hypotheses. If you're working with surveys, experiments, or datasets, you're likely doing quantitative research.

Common methods include experiments, surveys with scaled responses, and statistical modeling. For a full breakdown, check out our guide to quantitative research.

Example: A study measuring the relationship between daily screen time and reported sleep quality across 500 participants, using survey scores and correlation analysis.

Mixed Methods Research

Mixed methods research combines both qualitative and quantitative approaches in the same study. You'd use this when numbers alone don't tell the whole story.

Example: A study that surveys 1,000 students about study habits (quantitative) and then interviews 20 of them to understand the reasons behind those habits (qualitative). Mixed methods works best when a number alone can't capture what's really going on.

Types of Research by Method

Explore research types by method:

Descriptive Research

Descriptive research describes a phenomenon as it exists, without manipulating any variables. The goal is to paint an accurate picture of what's happening, not explain why it's happening or change it. It's one of the most common starting points for student research papers.

Example: A study documenting the average number of hours high school students spend on homework each week across different school districts.

Correlational Research

Correlational research examines the relationship between two or more variables. The critical thing to remember: correlation shows a relationship, but it doesn't prove one thing caused the other. This distinction matters a lot when you're writing your analysis section.

Example: A study finding that students who eat breakfast tend to score higher on standardized tests. That connection exists, but it doesn't mean breakfast causes the higher scores.

Experimental Research

Experimental research tests cause and effect by manipulating one variable (the independent variable) and measuring its impact on another (the dependent variable), while keeping everything else constant.

Example: Randomly assigning students to two groups (one uses flashcards to study, the other uses re-reading) and then comparing their test scores. The randomization is what makes it a true experiment.

Exploratory Research

Exploratory research is used when a topic is new or not well understood. It doesn't test a hypothesis; it generates one. You'd use this at the beginning of a research process when you need to figure out what questions to even ask.

Example: A researcher conducting open-ended conversations with remote workers about their experiences with burnout before designing a formal study on the topic.

Explanatory Research

Explanatory research goes beyond describing what's happening to explain why it's happening. Where descriptive research documents a pattern, explanatory research digs into its causes.

Example: Not just noting that dropout rates are higher in urban schools, but investigating which specific factors (funding, teacher turnover, family income) explain the gap.

Types of Research by Design

Following are research types depending on research design.

Survey Research

Survey research collects data from a sample group using questionnaires or structured interviews. It's one of the most common research designs because it scales well and can reach large populations quickly.

Example: A political science student surveying 300 university students about their views on climate policy using a structured online questionnaire.

Case Study Research

Case study research involves an in-depth examination of a single subject: a person, group, organization, or event. It's especially useful when context matters and you can't generalize to a large sample. The depth you get from a case study often compensates for what it lacks in breadth.

Example: A business student analyzing how one startup navigated a product pivot during a market downturn, using internal documents, interviews, and financial records.

Longitudinal Research

Longitudinal research follows the same subjects over an extended period of time, often years. This makes it ideal for studying how things change or develop, and for identifying patterns that wouldn't show up in a shorter snapshot

Example: Tracking the same cohort of children from kindergarten through high school to study how early literacy skills affect long-term academic outcomes.

Cross-Sectional Research

Cross-sectional research captures a snapshot of a population at a single point in time. Unlike longitudinal research, it doesn't track the same people over time. Instead, it looks across a wide group all at once, which makes it faster and more practical for most student projects.

Example: Surveying people of different ages about their social media use habits in a single month to understand how usage patterns differ across generations.

Action Research

Action research is a cyclical, participatory process where researchers and practitioners work together to identify a problem, try a solution, reflect on the results, and repeat. It's common in education and social work settings where practitioners want to improve their own practice in real time.

Example: A teacher noticing that students struggle with reading comprehension, implementing a new instructional strategy, collecting classroom data on the results, and refining the approach each term. It's one of the few research types where the researcher is also a practitioner with a stake in the outcome.

If you're choosing a study framework for your paper, our guide to research design covers how to pick the right design for your specific goals.

Other Types of Research Worth Knowing

Explore some other research types that might be helpful for you:

Field Research involves collecting data in real-world settings rather than a controlled lab environment. Researchers go directly to the subject of study, whether that's a community, a workplace, or a public space, to observe and gather information as it naturally occurs.

Ethnographic Research is an immersive form of field research where the researcher becomes part of the group being studied, often over months or years, to understand culture and behavior from the inside rather than as an outside observer.

Grounded Theory Research builds a theory from the data itself rather than starting with a pre-formed hypothesis. Researchers analyze patterns in qualitative data until a coherent theory emerges organically from what the data actually shows.

Phenomenological Research focuses on lived experience, specifically what it's like to go through a particular event or situation from the participant's own perspective. It's common in nursing, psychology, and social sciences.

Causal Research (also called causal-comparative research) investigates cause-and-effect relationships between variables that already exist in the real world, without the researcher manipulating them directly. You're looking for causation after the fact.

Comparative Research examines similarities and differences between two or more groups, countries, time periods, or systems. It's widely used in political science, sociology, and international studies.

Policy-Oriented Research is conducted specifically to inform government or organizational decisions, evaluating what's working, what isn't, and what should change based on evidence.

Deductive Research starts with a theory or hypothesis and tests it against collected data, moving from the general to the specific. You're checking whether a broad principle holds up in a specific context.

Inductive Research works in the opposite direction: it starts with specific observations and works toward building a broader theory, moving from the specific to the general. It's common in exploratory and qualitative work.

Classification Research organizes phenomena into categories or taxonomies based on shared characteristics. It's foundational in biology, library science, and linguistics, where naming and grouping are core research activities.

How to Choose the Right Type of Research

Picking a research type isn't about choosing the most impressive-sounding option. It's about matching your approach to your actual research question. Once you understand the question you're trying to answer, the right type usually becomes clear. 

Here's a practical guide to help you get there:

• If your professor asks you to observe without changing any variables, use Descriptive or Correlational research. You're documenting what exists, not testing a cause.
• If you're testing a hypothesis about cause and effect, use Experimental research. You'll need a controlled setup and a clear independent variable.
• If you want to understand someone's lived experience or perspective, use Qualitative research (and specifically Phenomenological if you're focused on a single experience type).
• If you're analyzing numbers and running statistics, use Quantitative research. Your data will likely come from surveys, experiments, or existing datasets.
• If the topic is new and you're still figuring out what to even study, start with Exploratory research. Use it to generate questions, not test them.
• If you need both depth and breadth, use Mixed Methods. Combine a survey with interviews to get quantitative patterns and qualitative explanation.

The right type of research isn't the most impressive-sounding one; it's the one that actually fits your research question.

Once you know your research type, you'll need to write a methodology section that explains your choices. Our guide on how to write a research methodology walks you through it step by step.

Conclusion

In conclusion, understanding the different types of research is essential for conducting effective studies in both scientific and non-scientific academic fields. Each research type serves a unique purpose and helps researchers explore problems, discover patterns, and develop meaningful solutions.

However, selecting the right research type and writing a strong research paper can sometimes be challenging for students. If you find yourself struggling at any stage, professional support can make the process much easier.

Our expert writers are ready to help you with every aspect of your research paper, from choosing the right approach to delivering a well-written, properly formatted paper on time.