INTRODUCTION

Research is one most important of the three sources of knowledge, the other two being authority and experience. Throughout the world, millions are spent on conducting research in every known field. The purpose of the research is to educate professionals around the globe to be better equipped in dealing with their respective fields and performing better on the whole. Researchers all over the world have made ground-breaking discoveries with the help of structured researches. The underlying concept behind all researches is that every event is set about by an identifiable cause which could be uncovered and studied through suitable research method1. Every research attempts to establish the validity of a claim or a hypothesis based on an observation. The research studies this hypothesis and builds its arguments based on its findings. It requires inductive and deduction reasoning to reach a valid conclusion. Induction is the hypothesis which has been derived through beliefs and observation. The testing of the hypothesis through surveys, interviews and questioning requires deductive reasoning. There are numerous ways to study these identifiable causes and research has been categorized into two groups- applied and basic research. The two categories have been created based according to degree of their application and further use of the research. Basic research is adopted to gain knowledge and develop a foundation for future researches. Applied research is adopted to make use of the basic research and develop applications of the established research to answer specific problems by giving proven solutions in the respective field2. The two researches have their own unique differences and thus different uses in business and scientific fields.

AIM OF THE PAPER

As discussed, there are two research concepts in research- basic research and applied research. This paper attempts to compare and contrast these two research concepts according to their use, functionality, nature and methodology.

Basic Research

Basic Research also known as fundamental research is research that develops a particular theory. Basic Research is employed to increase the scope of knowledge in a certain field. It studies the how, why and when of the reasons for certain actions and their subsequent reactions. The reason for employing basic research are to find answers to questions like why apples or anything for that matter automatically falls on the ground when dropped. The purpose is not to discover or invent something but to appease the curiosity of the researcher.

Examples of hypothesis of a typical Basic Research could be: