Polytechnic University of the Philippines

College of Engineering
Department of Civil Engineering



Methods of Engineering Research


Chapter 4
Types of Research and Research Methodology







BSCE 3-4
Bandonillo, Jerico D.
Rodriguez, Regnault Lois V.
Venzon, Robellie D.
Lantin, Kevin U.
Saldua, Adrian Jay A.


Engr. Edna Arrojado
30 September 2014
Types of Inquiry

An inquiry is any process that has the aim of augmenting knowledge, resolving
doubt, or solving a problem. A theory of inquiry is an account of the various types of
inquiry and a treatment of the ways that each type of inquiry achieves its aim.

Confirmation Inquiry verifying concepts by following a procedure
Structured Inquiry following a procedure to find an answer
Guided Inquiry Teacher provides a question, students design an experiment to
find answer
Open Inquiry Students ask the question, then find the answer

Types of Research
There are many kinds of personnel research. Three dimensions are particularly
important in classifying types of research:

Applied and Basic Research. Applied research is research designed to solve a
particular problem in a particular circumstance, such as determining the cause of low
morale in a given department of an organization. Basic research is designed to
understand the underlying principles behind human behavior. For example, you might
try to understand what motivates people to work hard at their jobs. This distinction is
discussed in more detail in another handout. Click here to read it.

Exploratory and Confirmatory Research. Exploratory research is research into the
unknown. It is used when you are investigating something but really don't understand it
all, or are not completely sure what you are looking for. It's sort of like a journalist whose
curiosity is peaked by something and just starts looking into something without really
knowing what they're looking for. Confirmatory research is where you have a pretty
good idea what's going on. That is, you have a theory (or several theories), and the
objective of the research is to find out if the theory is supported by the facts.

Quantitative and Qualitative Research. Quantitative studies measure variables with
some precision using numeric scales. For example, you might measure a person's height
and weight. Or you might construct a survey in which you measure how much
respondents like President Clinton, using a 1 to 10 scale. Qualitative studies are based
on direct observation of behavior or on transcripts of unstructured interviews with
informants. For example, you might talk to ten female executives about their decision-
making process behind their choice to have children or not, and if so, when. You might
interview them for several hours, tape-recording the whole thing, and then transcribe
the recordings to written text, and then analyze the text.
As a general rule (but there are many exceptions), confirmatory studies tend to be
quantitative, while exploratory studies tend to be qualitative.

Methods of Research