Very important

Question 1

Explanation exploratory

Answer 1

Exploratory research is not aimed at explaining anything, but simply at describing, categorizing, mapping a new phenomenon or process
- Mostly qualititative
- Mostly primarily

Question 2

Explanation theory-testing

Answer 2

Theory-testing research seeks to validate (test, verify the hypothesized relationships between variables.
- Descriptive or causal
- Primarily quantitative data and analysis
- Hypotheses starting point
- Quantitative research

Question 3

Explanation theory-building

Answer 3

Theory-building research seeks to build explanations about observed phenomena or processes and/or develop propositions about relationships between constructs
- Explanatory
- Primarily qualitative data
- Qualitative research
- The problem/topic studied is new but already clear
- May be rather limited academic literature about the topic

Question 4

Explanation decision-science

Answer 4

Can be used to generate decision alternatives, scenarios, high quality and optimal solutions
- Mostly quantitative
- Both primarily and secondarily
- Both empirical and simulated
- Uses inductive logic/approach to theory development (abductive is also ok).
- Generates prescriptive knowledge.

Question 5

Approach exploratory

Answer 5

Inductive logic (or abductive if topic is not completely new).

Question 6

Approach theory-testing

Answer 6

This type of research uses deductive scientific logic (or scientific reasoning) OR deduction as approach to theory development

Question 7

Approach theory-building

Answer 7

Inductive logic (or abductive for theory refinement)

Question 8

Approach decision-science

Answer 8

Inductive logic

Question 9

Typical strategy exploratory

Answer 9

case study, secondary data analysis,

Question 10

Typical strategy theory-testing

Answer 10

Typical research strategies are experiment and survey

Question 11

Typical strategy theory-building

Answer 11

case study, secondary data analysis, interviews or focus groups

Question 12

Typical strategy decision-science

Answer 12

development of mathematical models

Question 13

Typical outputs exploratory

Answer 13

Output is a description of a phenomenon or a process (maybe a text, a categorization, a process map, etc.)

Question 14

Typical outputs theory-testing

Answer 14

Proof or/and quantification of relationships (or strength of relationships) between variables

Question 15

Typical outputs theory-building

Answer 15

Typical outputs are assumptions or propositions about relationships between constructs, or a conceptual model

Question 16

Typical outputs decision-science

Answer 16

Output is techniques, algorithms, models for optimization of processes, decisions, better prediction, etc.