The purpose of research is to discover answers through the application of scientific procedures.
This is to:
To gain familiarity with a phenomenon or to achieve new insights into it – Exploratory or Formulative Research.
To portray accurately the characteristics of a particular individual, situation or a group – Descriptive Research.
To determine the frequency with which something occurs or with which it is associated with something else – Diagnostic Research.
To test a hypothesis of a causal relationship between variables – Hypothesis-Testing Research.