An exploratory study is undertaken when not much is known about the situation at hand, or no

information is available on how similar problems or research issues have been solved in the past. In such
cases, extensive preliminary work needs to be done to gain familiarity with the phenomena in the
situation, and understand what is occurring, before we develop a model and set up a rigorous design for
comprehensive investigation.

EXAMPLE:

Exploratory studies can be done by interviewing individuals and through focus groups. For instance, if a
company manufacturing cosmetics wants to obtain a thorough understanding on what induces people
to buy cosmetics, several focus groups can be convened to discuss the related issues

A descriptive study is undertaken in order to ascertain and be able to describe the characteristics of the
variables of interest in a situation.

EXAMPLE:

1. Descriptive studies are undertaken in organizations to learn about and describe the
characteristics of a group of employees, as for example, the age, educational level, job status,
and length of service
2. A marketing manager might want to develop a pricing, sales, distribution, and advertising
strategy for her product.
-The percentage of companies who have prices higher and lower than the industry norm;
-nature of the industry and the like

Studies that engage in hypotheses testing usually explain the nature of certain relationships, or establish
the differences among groups or the independence of two or more factors in a situation

EXAMPLE:

More men than women are whistleblowers, establishes the difference between two groups—men and
women—in regard to their whistle-blowing behavior.

Case studies involve in-depth, contextual analyses of matters relating to similar situations in other
organizations.

The study in which the researcher wants to delineate the cause of one or more problems is called a
causal study. When the researcher is interested in delineating the important variables associated with
the problem, the study is called a correlational study.
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