If the road is not yet clear to you,

we will show you the way how to get through.

In Descriptive Research a situation is described and the relations between the objects and their features are tested to make clear which aspects influences the situation.

Desriptive research compared to the other types of research

Every research can be classified on three dimensions:
   1) the research design
   2) the location of data collection and
   3) the number of cases.
Together they form the research cube. With this classification 72 types of research can be distinguished.

Descriptive research has this kind of design:

It simply says: this research is done by collecting data from a group of respondents or objects which are carefully selected on a selected moment.

It is very useful to know which aspects are important in a situation. For a store owner it is good to know why people come to the shop or why not. A nurse should know how to act in case someone gets a heart attack. Every situation and all the relevant aspects can be described. This is done in descriptive research.

For descriptive research the scientist needs to have some theory. Based on this theory, a conceptual model can be constructed and a hypothesis can be stated and tested. This will improve the theory about how to act in specific situations.

If descriptive research is being done in a scientific way, is has an impact on scientific knowledge. Read more about scientific, fundamental and applied research on our pages.

Read more about the longitudinal design in our paper: How to create research designs and conceptual models.

Related topics to descriptive research

• Research design 
  • Explorative research
  • Comparative research
  • Evaluation research
  • Experimental research
  • Longitudinal research
• Theory
• Hypothesis
• Scientific Research
• Fundamental research
• Applied research
• Model

Do professional research. Read our manuals, for instance:

• How to create research designs and conceptual models

Return to the index of this dictionary