How Basic Research Is Used in Psychology

By 
Kendra Cherry 
 Fact checked by 
Emily Swaim 


Updated on May 01, 2020
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The term basic research refers to study and research meant to

increase our scientific knowledge base. This type of research is
often purely theoretical, with the intent of increasing our
understanding of certain phenomena or behavior but without
seeking to solve or treat these problems.

Examples
Examples of basic research in psychology might include:

 An investigation looking at whether stress levels influence how often students engage in
academic cheating
 A study looking at how caffeine consumption impacts the brain
 A study assessing whether men or women are more likely to be diagnosed with
depression
 A study looking at how attachment styles among children of divorced parents compare to
those raised by married parents

Notice in all of these examples, the goal of the research is merely to increase the amount of
knowledge on a topic, not to come up with a practical solution to a problem.

However, as Stanovich (2007) noted, many practical solutions to real-world problems have
emerged directly from basic research.1 For this reason, the distinction between basic research
and applied research is often simply a matter of time. As social psychologist Kurt Lewin once
observed, "There is nothing so practical as a good theory."2

For example, researchers might conduct basic research on how stress levels impact students
academically, emotionally, and socially. The results of these theoretical explorations might lead
to further studies designed to solve specific problems. Researchers might initially observe that
students with high stress levels are more prone to dropping out of college before graduating.
These first studies are examples of basic research designed to learn more about the topic.
As a result, scientists might then design research to determine what interventions might best
lower these stress levels. Such studies would be examples of applied research. The purpose of
applied research is specifically focused on solving a real problem that exists in the world. Thanks
to the foundations established by basic research, psychologists can then design interventions that
will help students effectively manage their stress levels, with the hopes of improving college
retention rates.

Observations
One important thing to remember about basic research is that its possible applications might not
be obvious right away. During the earliest phases of basic research, scientists might not even be
able to see how the information gleaned from theoretical research might ever apply to real-world
problems. However, this foundational knowledge is essential. By learning as much as possible
about a topic, researchers are able to gather what they need to know about an issue to fully
understand the impact it may have.

"For example, early neuroscientists conducted basic research studies to understand how neurons
function. The applications of this knowledge were not clear until much later when neuroscientists
better understood how this neural functioning affected behavior," explained author Dawn M.
McBride in her text The Process of Research in Psychology.3 "The understanding of the basic
knowledge of neural functioning became useful in helping individuals with disorders long after
this research had been completed."

Basic research focuses on the search for truth or the development of theory.
Because of this property, basic research is fundamental. Researchers with their
fundamental background knowledge “design studies that can test, refine,
modify, or develop theories.”

Generally, these researchers are affiliated with an academic institution, and

they perform this research as part of their graduate or doctoral works.
Gathering knowledge for knowledge’s sake is the sole purpose of basic
research.

Basic research is also called pure research. Basic research is driven by a

scientist’s curiosity or interest in a scientific question.

The main motivation in basic research is to expand man’s knowledge, not to

create or invent something. There is no obvious commercial value to the
discoveries that result from basic research.

The term ‘basic’ indicates that, through theory generation, basic research
provides the foundation for applied research. This approach of research is
essential for nourishing the expansion of knowledge.

It deals with questions that are intellectually interesting and challenging to the
investigator. It focuses on refuting or supporting theories that operate in a
changing society.

Basic research generates new ideas, principles, and theories, which may not be
of immediate practical utility, though such research lays the foundations of
modern progress and development in many fields.

Basic research rarely helps practitioners directly with their everyday concerns
but can stimulate new ways of thinking about our daily lives.

Basic researchers are more detached and academic in their approach and tend
to have their motives. For example, an anthropologist may research to try and
understand the physical properties, symbolic meanings, and practical qualities
of things.

Such research contributes to an understanding of broad issues of interest to

many social sciences-issues of self, family, and material culture.

Having said so, we come up with the following definition of basic research:

Definition of Basic Research

 When the solution to the research problem has no apparent applications to
any existing practical problem but serves only the scholarly interests of a
community of a researcher, the research is basic.

Most scientists believe that a fundamental understanding of all branches of

science is needed for progress to take place.

In other words, basic research lays down the foundation for the applied
research that follows. If basic work is done first, then applied spin-offs often
eventually result from this research.

A person wishing to do basic research in any specialized area generally must

have studied the concepts and assumptions of that specialization enough to
know what has been done in the past and what remains to be done.

In the health sector, for example, basic research is necessary to generate new
knowledge and technology to deal with major unsolved health problems. Here
are a few examples of questions asked in pure research:

 How did the universe begin?

 What are protons, neutrons, and electrons composed of?
 How do slime molds reproduce?
 How do the Neo-Malthusians view the Malthusian theory?
 What is the specific genetic code of the fruit fly?
 What is the relevance of the dividend theories in the capital market?

As there is no guarantee of short-term practical gain, researchers find it

difficult to obtain funding for basic research.

Examples of Basic Research

Example #1

The author investigated the smoothness of the solution of the degenerate

Hamilton-Bellman (HJB) equation associated with a linear- quadratic regulator
control.
The author established the existence of a classical solution of degenerate HJB
equation associated with this problem by the technique of viscosity solutions
and hence derived an optimal control from the optimality conditions in the
HJB equation.

Example #2

Hasan (2009) gave a solution to linear programming problems through

computer algebra. In his paper, he developed a computer technique for
solving such linear fractional programming problems.

At the outset, he determined all basic feasible solutions of the constraints,

which are a system of linear equations.

The author then computed and compared the objective function values and
obtained the optimal objective function value and optimal solutions. The
method was then illustrated with a few numerical examples.