Navigating the Maze: What Are the Different Types of Research Methods?

There are a number of different types of research designs and which one you pick depends on both what you're trying to do with your data and the data you have available and when in the process of data collection you have come in to complete the analysis.

One main way to break down the different types of research is experimental versus nonexperimental studies. An experimental study is one where a researcher is holding many of the potential variables constant and manipulating only the variables of interest to the research question. These experiments can take place either within a laboratory setting or in the field. This is often deemed the gold standard in pharmaceutical or medical research but remains often impossible in other fields such as economics.

A non-experimental study is one where many variables are gathered but none are intentionally manipulated. The researcher can still ask questions about what factors affect other factors either in comparison or by causation in a non-experimental study, but more care must be taken in identifying confounding variables.

Research is also broken down between qualitative and quantitative, with this distinction mainly being how variables gathered -- using mostly research instruments that translate data into numerical values (quantitative) or research instruments that leave data in more naturalistic states (qualitative). These two can also be combined into what's known as a mixed-methods study.