Assignment Project-Research Methods Identify and submit four research design methods that can be used in your research paper. Explain your reasoning behind choosing these research methods and why yo

Running head: KEY TERMS IN RESEARCH 0

Key Terms in Research

Kenya Foxworth

Rasmussen College

Author Note

This paper is submitted on July 9, 2020, for Heather Edward’s HI410/HIM4115 Section 01 Applied Research in Health Information Management course.

Key Terms in Research

Research is very important in healthcare. It has led to the development of vaccines and treatments of various diseases in healthcare. It helps to inform actions and contextualize findings within a larger research body. When companies are opening a new business, opening a new market, or even launching a new product or service, research is very crucial to the company involved. However, researchers may be torn in between understanding the differences between primary and secondary research as well as applied and basic research. This paper will explain the differences between primary and secondary research with examples and the differences between applied research and basic research with specific examples.

Primary research is the research that is conducted to provide results that are specific to the company. Primary research may be conducted through surveys, focus groups, observation, and interviews (Williams et al., 2017). It helps to answer questions that are relevant to the company and the results are tailored specifically to meet the needs of the company. This makes primary research very relevant to the company. The researcher gathers exploratory information as well as specific information. The cost of this research is thus higher and it may take longer to acquire the required information (Williams et al., 2017). A good example of primary research is a company conducts surveys or interviews to determine the views of the consumers regarding a new product that has been launched into the market. On the other hand, secondary research involves applying the results of past research conducted by a different company to a similar situation in the company (Williams et al., 2017). When conducting secondary research, the company may either use an internet search or research marketing journals to identify relevant information to meet its needs. The main sources of secondary research are thus reports and studies conducted by government agencies, businesses in the industry, or trade associations. The results may thus not be very specific to the company as the results could be broader than the niche of the company. The company using secondary research may thus not be in a better position to make better-informed decisions. When compared to primary research, secondary research is either free or of low cost. Furthermore, it takes much less time compared to primary research. A good example of secondary research is when a small business with limited budget visits a government agency to acquire data that is free of charge to help the business expand into new markets.

The main difference between applied research and basic research lies in what the type of research will be used for. Applied research is used to answer specific questions that may lead to direct applications to the real world (Coccia, 2018). It is intended to acquire new knowledge with specific commercial objectives. This means that applied research is conducted to answer specific questions that are intended to solve practical questions. For instance, it may be used to identify new procedures, products, or services that could be introduced to address certain issues. An example is when an organization conducts research on the employees to identify ways to improve workplace efficiency and organizational policies. On the other hand, basic research is intended to expand knowledge and is thus driven by curiosity (Coccia, 2018). It does not yield any immediate commercial objectives. In fact, basic research may not necessarily result in solutions or interventions for practical problems. For example, a psychologist may conduct basic research to identify how consuming caffeine impacts the brain.

References

Coccia, M. (2018). Competition between basic and applied research in the organizational behavior of public research labs. Journal of Economics Library, 5(2), 118-133.

Williams, I., Harlock, J., Robert, G., Mannion, R., Brearley, S., & Hall, K. (2017). Decommissioning health care: identifying best practice through primary and secondary research–a prospective mixed-methods study.