Exploratory
research in general is unstructured, informal research undertaken with an
objective to gain background information about the general nature of the
research problem. Major emphasis is on converting broad, vague problem statements
into small, precise sub-problem statements. It has a great amount of flexibility
and does not offer any clear hypothesis about problem. It is generally followed
by confirmatory research because it gives a “feel” of various relevant issues.
The results of research can give some indication as to the “why”, “how” and
“when” something occurs, but it cannot explain “how often” or “how many”.
