Recall that the three major types of research designs are exploratory, descriptive, and causal.
Each type of design has a different objective. The objective of exploratory research is to
discover ideas and insights to better understand the problem. If Apple were to experience an unexpected drop in sales of its iPhone, they might conduct exploratory research with
a small sample of current and potential customers, or mine conversations in social media
sites and blogs on the Internet to identify some possible explanations. This would help
Apple to better define the actual problem.