Recherche exploratoire

Guide de la recherche exploratoire de Voxco

Mener une recherche exploratoire semble délicat, mais un guide efficace peut vous aider.

Téléchargez notre guide pour renforcer votre recherche, dégager des informations clés et devenir plus centré sur le client.

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Table of Contents
Vous ne pouvez pas développer un nouveau produit sans comprendre le besoin ou l’intérêt qu’il suscite sur le marché. Alors comment commencer une telle recherche ? Quelle recherche devriez-vous même mener ? Cela nous amène à parler de la recherche exploratoire. La recherche exploratoire nous aide à comprendre un sujet, à définir les variables du problème et à établir une base pour une question de recherche plus spécifique. Lisez l’article pour apprendre ce qu’est la recherche exploratoire, ses caractéristiques et les méthodes utilisées pour la réaliser.

Qu'est-ce que la recherche exploratoire?

La recherche exploratoire étudie des problèmes qui ne sont pas clairement définis. Elle est menée pour mieux comprendre le problème existant, mais la recherche exploratoire ne fournit pas de réponse concluante à ces problèmes. 

Le chercheur part d’une idée de nature générale et l’utilise comme un moyen de reconnaître les questions qui peuvent faire l’objet de recherches futures. Une caractéristique importante de la recherche exploratoire est que le chercheur doit garder l’esprit ouvert et être prêt à changer l’orientation de sa recherche au fur et à mesure qu’il collecte des données de plus en plus pertinentes.

La recherche exploratoire utilise l’approche de la théorie ancrée, également connue sous le nom de recherche interprétative. Elle vise à répondre à des questions telles que: « Que se passe-t-il? » « Pourquoi cela se produit-il? » « Comment cela se passe-t-il? »

Par exemple, si un chercheur veut savoir comment un filtre particulier est perçu par le public cible de son application, il peut d’abord déterminer quelle section utilise son application. Il pourra ensuite déterminer quels sont les filtres les plus utilisés, pourquoi ils le sont, et décider si l’ajout d’un filtre supplémentaire similaire à ceux qui existent déjà est une bonne idée.

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Quelles sont les caractéristiques de la recherche exploratoire?

Maintenant que nous avons défini la recherche exploratoire, il est important de se familiariser avec ses attributs. La recherche exploratoire présente plusieurs caractéristiques que les chercheurs doivent connaître pour savoir quand l’utiliser. 

Les caractéristiques de la recherche exploratoire sont les suivantes: 

  1. Ils ne sont pas structurés par nature.
  2. La recherche exploratoire est interactive, ouverte et généralement peu coûteuse pour le budget de l’organisation.
  3. Elle aide les chercheurs à trouver des réponses à des questions telles que : quel est le problème étudié ? Quelle est la nécessité de cette étude ? Quels sont les sujets à inclure dans l’étude ?
  4. Elle prend du temps et exige donc de la patience et de la persévérance de la part du chercheur.
  5. La recherche exploratoire est vaste, flexible et adaptative par nature.
  6. Le chercheur doit passer en revue toutes les informations et les données recueillies dans le cadre de la recherche.
  7. La recherche exploratoire doit avoir un coût ou une valeur importante, sinon il est inefficace de mener la recherche.
  8. Le chercheur doit disposer de quelques théories qui l’aideront à étayer les résultats découverts au cours de la recherche exploratoire.
  9. La recherche exploratoire produit généralement des données qualitatives.
  10. Dans certains cas, lorsque l’échantillon de l’étude est important et que les données sont recueillies par le biais d’enquêtes et d’expérimentations, la recherche exploratoire peut être quantitative.

Maintenant que nous avons catalogué les caractéristiques, la question est de savoir comment collecter les données pour votre recherche exploratoire. La section suivante explique les deux méthodes que vous pouvez utiliser pour mener votre recherche.

Méthodes de recherche exploratoire

Il existe plusieurs méthodologies qui peuvent vous aider à décider du meilleur modèle de recherche, de la manière de collecter les données et des variables à étudier. 

Il existe deux méthodes principales pour mener une recherche exploratoire: la recherche primaire et la recherche secondaire. Sous ces deux grands types, il existe différentes méthodes qui peuvent être utilisées en fonction de la nature de votre étude. 

Les données peuvent être de nature quantitative ou qualitative. Examinons en détail chacune de ces méthodes de recherche.

Méthodes de recherche primaire 

Dans la recherche primaire, les informations sont collectées directement auprès des personnes interrogées. Ces données peuvent être recueillies auprès d’un groupe de personnes ou d’un seul individu. 

La recherche primaire peut être menée par le chercheur lui-même ou être confiée à un tiers. La recherche primaire est généralement effectuée pour explorer un problème qui nécessite une analyse approfondie.

  • Enquêtes:

Les enquêtes ou les sondages peuvent être utilisés pour recueillir de grandes quantités de données, généralement auprès d’un groupe prédéterminé de répondants. Il s’agit de l’une des méthodes de recherche quantitative les plus populaires. Les enquêtes ou les sondages sont utilisés dans le cadre de recherches exploratoires afin d’étudier les opinions, les tendances ou les croyances de la population cible. 

Les enquêtes peuvent désormais être réalisées en ligne et donc être rendues plus accessibles, grâce à la technologie ! De nos jours, les organisations ont commencé à proposer des enquêtes plus courtes et des récompenses aux personnes qui y répondent, afin d’augmenter le taux de réponse et d’obtenir plus d’informations. Des enquêtes courtes peuvent être envoyées aux répondants par SMS juste après qu’ils aient effectué un achat et qu’ils aient été invités à y répondre en échange d’un coupon ou d’une réduction, afin que les organisations puissent connaître leur opinion sur le produit étudié.

 

Voxco vous permet de mener des enquêtes omnicanales afin de recueillir des données d’études de marché perspicaces, partout et à tout moment.

  • Groupes de discussion:

Une autre méthodologie largement utilisée dans la recherche exploratoire est celle des groupes de discussion. Dans cette méthode, on choisit un groupe de personnes interrogées et on leur demande d’exprimer leur opinion sur le sujet qui les intéresse. 

Une considération importante lors de la constitution d’un groupe de discussion est de choisir des personnes qui ont un passé commun et des expériences similaires afin d’obtenir des données unifiées et cohérentes. 

Un exemple de groupe de discussion est celui d’un chercheur qui souhaite explorer les qualités auxquelles les consommateurs attachent de l’importance lors de l’achat d’un ordinateur portable. Il peut s’agir de la qualité de l’écran, de l’autonomie de la batterie, de la valeur de la marque ou même de la couleur. Le chercheur peut constituer un groupe de discussion composé de personnes qui achètent régulièrement des ordinateurs portables et comprendre la dynamique qu’un consommateur prend en compte lorsqu’il achète des appareils électroniques.

  • Observation:

La recherche par observation peut être quantitative ou qualitative. Cette recherche consiste à observer un individu et à tirer des conclusions de ses réactions à certaines variables. 

Cette recherche ne nécessite pas d’interaction directe avec les participants. Par exemple, un chercheur peut simplement enregistrer les observations de la réaction des gens lors du lancement d’un nouveau produit.

  • Interviews:

Les enquêtes vous permettent d’obtenir d’énormes quantités d’informations dans un laps de temps relativement court, mais un entretien avec une personne peut vous fournir des informations approfondies qui peuvent être négligées dans les enquêtes. Les entretiens sont une méthode de collecte de données pour la recherche qualitative. 

Les entretiens peuvent être menés en face à face ou même par téléphone. Les entretiens contiennent généralement des questions ouvertes, ce qui permet de découvrir des informations enrichissantes sur le sujet. Par exemple, un entretien avec un employé sur sa satisfaction au travail peut vous apporter des informations précieuses qui passeraient inaperçues dans les questions fermées d’une enquête.

Voxco propose une suite complète d'outils pour les études de marché

Méthodes de recherche secondaires:

Dans la recherche secondaire, les informations sont recueillies à partir de la recherche primaire qui a été publiée auparavant. Par exemple, la collecte d’informations à partir d’études de cas, de journaux, de blogs ou de sites Web en ligne, ou de sources gouvernementales.

  • Ressources en ligne:

Le moyen le plus rapide de trouver des informations sur n’importe quel sujet est l’internet. Une énorme quantité de données est disponible sur l’internet que vous pouvez télécharger et utiliser quand vous en avez besoin. Un facteur important à prendre en compte lors de l’acquisition de données en ligne est de vérifier l’authenticité des sources fournies par les sites web. 

Par exemple, un chercheur peut découvrir le nombre de personnes utilisant une marque de vêtements préférée grâce à un sondage réalisé par un site web indépendant en ligne.

  • Revue de la littérature:

L’examen de la littérature existante sur un sujet particulier à partir de sources en ligne, de bibliothèques ou de bases de données commerciales est la méthode la moins coûteuse de collecte de données. Les informations contenues dans ces sources peuvent aider un chercheur à découvrir une hypothèse qu’il pourra tester. 

Ici, les sources peuvent inclure des informations fournies par des journaux, des revues de recherche, des livres, des documents gouvernementaux, des rapports annuels publiés par des organisations, etc. Cependant, l’authenticité des sources doit être considérée et examinée. 

Les sources gouvernementales peuvent fournir des données authentiques, mais vous devrez peut-être payer un prix symbolique pour les acquérir. Les agences de recherche produisent également des données que vous pouvez acquérir à un coût nominal, et ces données ont tendance à être de nature quantitative.

  • Études de cas:

Une autre façon pour les chercheurs de recueillir des informations pour leur recherche exploratoire est d’analyser soigneusement les cas qui sont passés par un problème similaire à celui que le chercheur souhaite étudier. Ces cas sont importants et critiques, notamment dans le monde des affaires. 

Le chercheur doit prendre la précaution d’examiner et d’analyser un cas qui est similaire en ce qui concerne les variables concernées dans la présente étude. Cette méthodologie est couramment utilisée dans le secteur de la santé, les sciences sociales et les organisations commerciales. 

Par exemple, supposons qu’un chercheur cherche à comprendre comment résoudre efficacement les problèmes de rotation du personnel dans les organisations. En explorant, il est tombé sur une organisation qui avait un taux de rotation élevé et qui a réussi à résoudre le problème avant la fin de l’année. Le chercheur peut étudier ce cas en détail et proposer des méthodes qui augmentent les chances de succès de cette organisation. 

Quelles sont les étapes à suivre pour mener une recherche exploratoire?

Exploratory research
  1. Identifier le domaine du problème. La toute première étape consiste pour le chercheur à identifier le domaine de recherche et le problème peut être abordé en trouvant des moyens de le résoudre.
  2. Création d’une hypothèse. Si le chercheur cherche à résoudre un problème pour lequel il n’existe pas d’études antérieures, ou si le problème n’a pas été résolu de manière efficace dans des recherches antérieures, le chercheur crée son propre énoncé de problème. Cet énoncé du problème, également appelé hypothèse, sera basé sur les questions que le chercheur s’est posées en identifiant le domaine concerné.
  3. Faire avancer la recherche future. Une fois que les données relatives au problème actuel ont été obtenues, le chercheur poursuivra l’étude par une enquête descriptive. En général, les méthodes qualitatives sont utilisées pour une étude détaillée des données afin de découvrir si les informations recueillies par la recherche exploratoire sont vraies ou non.

Avantages de la recherche exploratoire

La recherche exploratoire donne au chercheur l’occasion de garder l’esprit ouvert et d’explorer les variables affectant son domaine d’intérêt. Voici quelques-uns des avantages de la recherche exploratoire :

  • Elle permet aux chercheurs d’être flexibles et de modifier leur position sur le problème étudié au fur et à mesure que la recherche progresse.
  • Elle est rentable.
  • Il jette les bases et la structure des recherches futures.
  • Elle peut aider les chercheurs à trouver les causes du problème étudié, qui pourront être approfondies dans des études futures.

Maintenant que nous avons énuméré les avantages, nous ne pouvons pas oublier les limites. Il est important de connaître les deux avant de se lancer dans la recherche. 

Vous vous demandez quel sera le coût de la réalisation d'une enquête par Voxco ?

Limites de la recherche exploratoire

La recherche exploratoire n’est pas sans limites.  

  • Les réponses de la recherche exploratoire sont généralement peu concluantes. 
  • Certaines des données collectées peuvent être biaisées ou subjectives car elles sont essentiellement de nature qualitative. 
  • Comme la recherche exploratoire porte sur un échantillon de taille réduite, on hésite à généraliser les résultats à l’ensemble de la population. 
  • Si les données sont collectées à partir de sources secondaires, il est possible qu’elles soient anciennes ou périmées.

En conclusion;

La recherche exploratoire vous aide à jeter les bases de votre projet de recherche. Elle jette les bases d’une question de recherche que vous pourrez explorer à l’avenir. 

La recherche exploratoire est utilisée lorsque vous avez besoin d’un aperçu d’un problème ou d’un phénomène avant de commencer à mener des recherches plus approfondies.

Table of Contents

You can’t just develop a new product without understanding the need or interest for it in the market. So how do begin with such research? Which research should you even conduct?

This brings us to the topic, of exploratory research. Exploratory research helps us gain an understanding of a topic, defines the variables of the problem, and establishes a basis for a more specific research question. 

Read the article to learn what is exploratory research, its characteristics, & the methods used to perform it.

What is Exploratory Research?

Exploratory research investigates problems that are not clearly defined. It is conducted to gain insight into the existing problem, however, exploratory research does not provide a conclusive answer to these problems. 

A researcher starts with an idea that is general in nature and uses this as a means to recognize issues that can become the focus of future research. An important feature of exploratory research is that the researcher should keep an open mind and be willing to change the direction of their research as they collect more and more insightful data.

Exploratory research uses the grounded theory approach also known as interpretive research. It aims to answer questions such as: “What is happening?” “Why is this happening?” “How is this happening?”

For example; if a researcher wants to know how a particular filter is perceived by the target audience of their app, they can first find out which section uses their app. Then proceeding to find out which filters are most used, why they are used, and decide whether adding an additional filter similar to the existing ones will be a good idea.

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What are the Characteristics of Exploratory Research?

Now that we have defined exploratory research, it is important to be familiar with its attributes. Exploratory research has several features that researchers need to learn to understand when to use it. 

The following are the characteristics of exploratory research: 

  1. They are not structured in nature.
  2. Exploratory research is interactive, open-ended, and is usually easy on the budget of the organization.
  3. It helps researchers uncover answers to questions such as; what is the problem being studied? What is the need for this study? What topics should be included in the study?
  4. It is time-consuming and thus requires patience and persistence on the part of the researcher.
  5. Exploratory research is broad, flexible, and adaptive in nature.
  6. The researcher needs to go through all the information and data collected through the research.
  7. Exploratory research needs to have an important cost or value, if not, then it is ineffective to carry out the research.
  8. The researcher should have some theories that will help in supporting the findings uncovered during the exploratory research.
  9. Exploratory research generally produces qualitative data.
  10. In certain cases, where the sample of the study is large and data is collected through surveys and experimentation, explorative research can be quantitative.

Now, that we have cataloged the characteristics, the question is how to go about collecting the data for your exploratory research. The following section explains the two methods you can use to conduct your research. 

Methods of Exploratory Research

Carrying out research on something that one has limited information about sounds and feels difficult, there are several methodologies that can help you to decide the best research design, how to go about collecting data, and the variables to study. 

There are two main methods of conducting exploratory research – primary research and secondary research. Under these two broad types, there are various methods that can be used depending upon the nature of your study. 

The data can be of quantitative or qualitative nature. Let’s look at each of the research methods in detail.

Primary Research Methods 

In the primary research, the information is collected directly from the respondents. This data can be collected from a group of people or just an individual. 

Primary research can be conducted by the researcher themselves or it can be carried out by a third party to conduct it instead. Primary research is usually done to explore a problem that needs in-depth analysis.

  • Surveys:

Surveys or polls can be used to gather large amounts of data, usually from a predetermined group of respondents. It is one of the most popular quantitative research methods. Surveys or polls are used in exploratory research in order to explore the opinions, trends, or beliefs of the target population. 

Surveys can now be conducted online and thus be made more accessible, thanks to technology! Organizations, nowadays, have started offering shorter surveys and rewards to the respondents who fill them so that they can increase the response rates and gain more insights. Short surveys can be sent to respondents through text messages right after they make a purchase and are asked to fill it for a coupon/discount in return, so organizations can understand their views on the product under study. 

Voxco lets you conduct omnichannel surveys for gathering insightful market research data anywhere, anytime. 

  • Focus Groups:

Another widely used methodology in exploratory research is focus groups. In this method, a group of respondents are chosen and are asked to express their opinions on the topic of interest. 

One important consideration when making a focus group is to choose people who have a common background and similar experiences to get unified and consistent data. 

An example of a focus group would be when a researcher wants to explore what qualities consumers value when buying a laptop. This could be the display quality, battery life, brand value, or even the color. The researcher can make a focus group of people who buy laptops regularly and understand the dynamics a consumer considers when buying electronic devices.

  • Observation:

Observational research can either be quantitative or qualitative. This research is done to observe an individual and make inferences from their reactions to certain variables. 

This research does not require direct interaction with the participants. For instance, a researcher can simply record the observations of how people react at the launch of a new product.

  • Interviews:

Surveys give you huge amounts of information in a relatively short period of time, but an interview with one person can give you the in-depth information which can otherwise be overlooked in surveys. Interviews are a methodology to collect data for qualitative research. 

Interviews can be carried out face-to-face or even on the telephone. Interviews usually contain open-ended questions so that enriching information is uncovered about the topic. For example; an interview with an employee on their job satisfaction can offer you valuable insights that would otherwise go unnoticed in the close-ended questions asked in a survey.

 [Related read: Primary Research]

Voxco offers a complete suite of tools for market research

Secondary Research Methods:

In secondary research, information is gathered from primary research that has been published before. For instance, gathering information from case studies, newspapers, online blogs or websites, or government sources.

  • Online Resources:

The quickest way to find information on any topic is through the internet. A huge amount of data is available on the internet that you can download and use whenever you need it. One important factor to consider when acquiring data online is to check the authenticity of the sources provided by the websites. 

For example, a researcher can find out the number of people using a preferred brand of clothing through a poll conducted by an independent website online.

  • Literature review:

Reviewing the existing literature on a particular topic from online sources, libraries or commercial databases is the most inexpensive method of collecting data. The information in these sources can help a researcher discover a hypothesis that they can test. 

Here, sources can include information provided by newspapers, research journals, books, government documents, annual reports published by organizations, etc. However, the authenticity of the sources needs to be considered and examined. 

Government sources can provide authentic data but may require you to pay a nominal price to acquire it. Research agencies also produce data that you can acquire at a nominal cost, and this data tends to be quantitative in nature.  

  • Case studies:

Another way researchers can gather information for their exploratory research is by carefully analyzing the cases that have been through a similar problem the researcher wishes to study. These cases are important and critical in the business world, especially. 

The researcher should be cautious to review and analyze a case that is similar in regards to the variables of concern in the present study. This methodology is commonly used in the health sector, social sciences, and business organizations. 

For example; let’s assume that a researcher is interested in understanding how to effectively solve the problems of turnover in organizations. While exploring, he came across an organization that had high rates of turnover and was able to solve the problem by the end of the year. The researcher can study this case in detail and come up with methods that increased the chances of success for this organization. 

[Related read: Primary Vs. Secondary Research]

What are the Steps to Conduct Exploratory Research?

Exploratory research
  1. Identifying the problem area. The very first step is for the researcher to identify the area of research and the problem can be addressed by finding out ways to solve it.
  2. Creating a hypothesis. If the researcher is aiming to solve a problem for which there are no prior studies, or the problem has not been resolved efficiently in previous research, then the researcher creates his/her own problem statement. This problem statement, also called a hypothesis, will be based on the questions that the researcher came up with while identifying the area of concern.
  3. Advancing future research. Once the data for the current problem has been obtained, the researcher will continue the study through a descriptive investigation. Generally, qualitative methods are used for a detailed study of the data to find out if the information gathered through exploratory research is true or not.

Advantages of Exploratory Research

Exploratory research provides the researcher an opportunity to keep an open mind and explore the variables affecting their area of interest. Some of the advantages of exploratory research are:

  • It allows researchers to be flexible and change their stance on the problem being studied as the research progresses.
  • It is cost-effective.
  • It lays a foundation and structure for future research.
  • It can help researchers find out the causes of the problem being studied which can be elaborated on in future studies.

Now that we have listed the benefits, we can’t forget the limitations. It is important to learn about both before you jump into the research mode. 

Wondering what will be the cost of conducting survey research using Voxco?

Limitation of Exploratory Research

Exploratory research is not without its limitations.  

  • The answers of exploratory research are usually inconclusive. 
  • Some of the data collected can be biased or subjective as it is mostly qualitative in nature. 
  • Since exploratory research has a smaller sample size, there is hesitancy to generalize the findings to the whole population. 
  • If data is collected through secondary sources there is a chance of the data being old or outdated.

Wrapping up;

Exploratory research helps you form the foundation of your research project. It lays down the groundwork for a research question you can explore in the future. 

Exploratory research is best used when you need insights on a problem or phenomenon before you begin to conduct further research. 

Table of Contents

You can’t just develop a new product without understanding the need or interest for it in the market. So how do begin with such research? Which research should you even conduct?

This brings us to the topic, of exploratory research. Exploratory research helps us gain an understanding of a topic, defines the variables of the problem, and establishes a basis for a more specific research question. 

Read the article to learn what is exploratory research, its characteristics, & the methods used to perform it.

What is Exploratory Research?

Exploratory research investigates problems that are not clearly defined. It is conducted to gain insight into the existing problem, however, exploratory research does not provide a conclusive answer to these problems. 

A researcher starts with an idea that is general in nature and uses this as a means to recognize issues that can become the focus of future research. An important feature of exploratory research is that the researcher should keep an open mind and be willing to change the direction of their research as they collect more and more insightful data.

Exploratory research uses the grounded theory approach also known as interpretive research. It aims to answer questions such as: “What is happening?” “Why is this happening?” “How is this happening?”

For example; if a researcher wants to know how a particular filter is perceived by the target audience of their app, they can first find out which section uses their app. Then proceeding to find out which filters are most used, why they are used, and decide whether adding an additional filter similar to the existing ones will be a good idea.

New call-to-action

What are the Characteristics of Exploratory Research?

Now that we have defined exploratory research, it is important to be familiar with its attributes. Exploratory research has several features that researchers need to learn to understand when to use it. 

The following are the characteristics of exploratory research: 

  1. They are not structured in nature.
  2. Exploratory research is interactive, open-ended, and is usually easy on the budget of the organization.
  3. It helps researchers uncover answers to questions such as; what is the problem being studied? What is the need for this study? What topics should be included in the study?
  4. It is time-consuming and thus requires patience and persistence on the part of the researcher.
  5. Exploratory research is broad, flexible, and adaptive in nature.
  6. The researcher needs to go through all the information and data collected through the research.
  7. Exploratory research needs to have an important cost or value, if not, then it is ineffective to carry out the research.
  8. The researcher should have some theories that will help in supporting the findings uncovered during the exploratory research.
  9. Exploratory research generally produces qualitative data.
  10. In certain cases, where the sample of the study is large and data is collected through surveys and experimentation, explorative research can be quantitative.

Now, that we have cataloged the characteristics, the question is how to go about collecting the data for your exploratory research. The following section explains the two methods you can use to conduct your research. 

Methods of Exploratory Research

Carrying out research on something that one has limited information about sounds and feels difficult, there are several methodologies that can help you to decide the best research design, how to go about collecting data, and the variables to study. 

There are two main methods of conducting exploratory research – primary research and secondary research. Under these two broad types, there are various methods that can be used depending upon the nature of your study. 

The data can be of quantitative or qualitative nature. Let’s look at each of the research methods in detail.

Primary Research Methods 

In the primary research, the information is collected directly from the respondents. This data can be collected from a group of people or just an individual. 

Primary research can be conducted by the researcher themselves or it can be carried out by a third party to conduct it instead. Primary research is usually done to explore a problem that needs in-depth analysis.

  • Surveys:

Surveys or polls can be used to gather large amounts of data, usually from a predetermined group of respondents. It is one of the most popular quantitative research methods. Surveys or polls are used in exploratory research in order to explore the opinions, trends, or beliefs of the target population. 

Surveys can now be conducted online and thus be made more accessible, thanks to technology! Organizations, nowadays, have started offering shorter surveys and rewards to the respondents who fill them so that they can increase the response rates and gain more insights. Short surveys can be sent to respondents through text messages right after they make a purchase and are asked to fill it for a coupon/discount in return, so organizations can understand their views on the product under study. 

Voxco lets you conduct omnichannel surveys for gathering insightful market research data anywhere, anytime. 

  • Focus Groups:

Another widely used methodology in exploratory research is focus groups. In this method, a group of respondents are chosen and are asked to express their opinions on the topic of interest. 

One important consideration when making a focus group is to choose people who have a common background and similar experiences to get unified and consistent data. 

An example of a focus group would be when a researcher wants to explore what qualities consumers value when buying a laptop. This could be the display quality, battery life, brand value, or even the color. The researcher can make a focus group of people who buy laptops regularly and understand the dynamics a consumer considers when buying electronic devices.

  • Observation:

Observational research can either be quantitative or qualitative. This research is done to observe an individual and make inferences from their reactions to certain variables. 

This research does not require direct interaction with the participants. For instance, a researcher can simply record the observations of how people react at the launch of a new product.

  • Interviews:

Surveys give you huge amounts of information in a relatively short period of time, but an interview with one person can give you the in-depth information which can otherwise be overlooked in surveys. Interviews are a methodology to collect data for qualitative research. 

Interviews can be carried out face-to-face or even on the telephone. Interviews usually contain open-ended questions so that enriching information is uncovered about the topic. For example; an interview with an employee on their job satisfaction can offer you valuable insights that would otherwise go unnoticed in the close-ended questions asked in a survey.

 [Related read: Primary Research]

Voxco offers a complete suite of tools for market research

Secondary Research Methods:

In secondary research, information is gathered from primary research that has been published before. For instance, gathering information from case studies, newspapers, online blogs or websites, or government sources.

  • Online Resources:

The quickest way to find information on any topic is through the internet. A huge amount of data is available on the internet that you can download and use whenever you need it. One important factor to consider when acquiring data online is to check the authenticity of the sources provided by the websites. 

For example, a researcher can find out the number of people using a preferred brand of clothing through a poll conducted by an independent website online.

  • Literature review:

Reviewing the existing literature on a particular topic from online sources, libraries or commercial databases is the most inexpensive method of collecting data. The information in these sources can help a researcher discover a hypothesis that they can test. 

Here, sources can include information provided by newspapers, research journals, books, government documents, annual reports published by organizations, etc. However, the authenticity of the sources needs to be considered and examined. 

Government sources can provide authentic data but may require you to pay a nominal price to acquire it. Research agencies also produce data that you can acquire at a nominal cost, and this data tends to be quantitative in nature.  

  • Case studies:

Another way researchers can gather information for their exploratory research is by carefully analyzing the cases that have been through a similar problem the researcher wishes to study. These cases are important and critical in the business world, especially. 

The researcher should be cautious to review and analyze a case that is similar in regards to the variables of concern in the present study. This methodology is commonly used in the health sector, social sciences, and business organizations. 

For example; let’s assume that a researcher is interested in understanding how to effectively solve the problems of turnover in organizations. While exploring, he came across an organization that had high rates of turnover and was able to solve the problem by the end of the year. The researcher can study this case in detail and come up with methods that increased the chances of success for this organization. 

[Related read: Primary Vs. Secondary Research]

What are the Steps to Conduct Exploratory Research?

Exploratory research
  1. Identifying the problem area. The very first step is for the researcher to identify the area of research and the problem can be addressed by finding out ways to solve it.
  2. Creating a hypothesis. If the researcher is aiming to solve a problem for which there are no prior studies, or the problem has not been resolved efficiently in previous research, then the researcher creates his/her own problem statement. This problem statement, also called a hypothesis, will be based on the questions that the researcher came up with while identifying the area of concern.
  3. Advancing future research. Once the data for the current problem has been obtained, the researcher will continue the study through a descriptive investigation. Generally, qualitative methods are used for a detailed study of the data to find out if the information gathered through exploratory research is true or not.

Advantages of Exploratory Research

Exploratory research provides the researcher an opportunity to keep an open mind and explore the variables affecting their area of interest. Some of the advantages of exploratory research are:

  • It allows researchers to be flexible and change their stance on the problem being studied as the research progresses.
  • It is cost-effective.
  • It lays a foundation and structure for future research.
  • It can help researchers find out the causes of the problem being studied which can be elaborated on in future studies.

Now that we have listed the benefits, we can’t forget the limitations. It is important to learn about both before you jump into the research mode. 

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Limitation of Exploratory Research

Exploratory research is not without its limitations.  

  • The answers of exploratory research are usually inconclusive. 
  • Some of the data collected can be biased or subjective as it is mostly qualitative in nature. 
  • Since exploratory research has a smaller sample size, there is hesitancy to generalize the findings to the whole population. 
  • If data is collected through secondary sources there is a chance of the data being old or outdated.

Wrapping up;

Exploratory research helps you form the foundation of your research project. It lays down the groundwork for a research question you can explore in the future. 

Exploratory research is best used when you need insights on a problem or phenomenon before you begin to conduct further research.