PO217 Chapter Notes - Chapter 3: Testability, Scientific Method
Document Summary
Applied research: research directed at finding answers to a specific problem, with immediate practical usage. Applied research is often used by governments, businesses, marketing agencies, political campaign organizers etc. Applied research uses the maximum effectiveness and efficiency in the short term. Limitation of applied research is that is usually descriptive in nature; it indicated how things are but does not explain why they are that way. It addresses a single question in narrow manner. Basic research: aims to broaden our understanding of political life. Seeking to advance general knowledge, basic researchers examine theories about politics and attempt to formulate explanations and generalizations by empirically testing hypotheses. From research, you can develop a number of theories and explanations. Basic research is continuously testing hypotheses based on theories to maximize their explanatory power. Some of the biggest projects in canadian social science have combined applied and basic research. Theory: an integrated set of explanations of the political and social worlds.
