Basic research

Basic research or fundamental research (sometimes pure research) is research carried out to increase understanding of fundamental principles. Many times the end results have no direct or immediate commercial benefits: basic research can be thought of as arising out of curiosity. However, in the long term it is the basis for many commercial products and applied research. Basic research is mainly carried out by universities. Basic research advances fundamental knowledge about the human world. It focuses on refuting or supporting theories that explain how this world operates, what makes things happen, why social relations are a certain way, and why society changes. Basic research is the source of most new scientific ideas and ways of thinking about the world. It can be exploratory, descriptive, or explanatory; however, explanatory research is the most common. Basic research generates new ideas, principles and theories, which may not be immediately utilized; though are the foundations of modern progress and development in different fields. Today's computers could not exist without the pure research in mathematics conducted over a century ago, for which there was no known practical application at that time. Basic research rarely helps practitioners directly with their everyday concerns. Nevertheless, it stimulates new ways of thinking about deviance that have the potential to revolutionize and dramatically improve how practitioners deal with a problem. A new idea or fundamental knowledge is not generated only by basic research can build new knowledge. Nonetheless, basic research is essential for nourishing the expansion of knowledge. Researchers at the center of the scientific community conduct most of the basic research.

Applied research
Applied research is research that is applied, accessing and using some part of the research communities' (the academy's) accumulated theories, knowledge, methods, and techniques, for a specific, often state, commercial, or client driven purpose. Applied research is often opposed to pure research in debates about research ideals, programs, and projects. Although it is impossible to generalize completely, Applied Research deals with practical problems and is generally empirical. Because applied research resides in the messy real world, strict research protocols must often be relaxed. For example, it may be impossible to use a random sample. Thus, transparency in the methodology is critical. Implications for interpretation of results brought about by relaxing a more or less strict cannon of methodology should also be developed. The OECD's Frascati Manual defines "Applied research" as one of the three forms of research, along with basic research & experimental development.

Developmental Research
The purpose of developmental research is to assess changes over an extended period of time. For example, developmental research would be an ideal choice to assess the differences in academic and social development in lowincome versus high-income neighborhoods. It is most common when working with children as subjects for obvious reasons and can be undertaken using several methods: longitudinal, cross sectional, and cross sequential.