Reports are commonly separated into different types based on the audience that it aims to target. Therefore, basic and applied research appears to be widely used for a specific group of people, educational researchers, and potential users related to the same field of study, respectively. Overall, the reports serve distinct purposes as they focus on solving different problems in the chosen topic; however, both basic and applied research still have their benefits and drawbacks to the audience.
To begin with, basic and applied research seem different as their aims and audience are entirely dissimilar. For instance, basic research focuses on formulating a new theory or hypothesis based on the findings of other researchers. In contrast, an applied report seeks to provide the reader with the solution to the chosen problem (Check & Shutt, 2017). Their structures are also distinct as the academic research includes an abstract to elaborate on all the parts of the piece while applied one starts with the executive summary that describes the findings and methodology. In addition, the number of pages dedicated to the literature review is considerably smaller in the applied report.
As stated, applied research commonly focuses on literature analysis to tackle a specific issue in the field of study. Therefore, they are helpful to people that study the same subject and seek to advance their knowledge on the topic. Moreover, the applied report provides more information concerning the study’s findings, elaborating on statistics and charts (Check & Shutt, 2017). To be more particular, an executive summary is usually presented by the authors with bullet points to adequately illustrate the primary ideas highlighted in the research (Check & Shutt, 2017). On the one hand, this type of report is helpful to the audience as it mainly focuses on the solutions and outcomes without including an abundance of extra data. On the other hand, the findings cannot be generalized and can be applied only to the specific topic. Overall, this type of report is helpful for the audience seeking the answers to their questions without having to read an enormous amount of literature.
As for the basic research, it is mainly targeted at educational specialists and students as it is published in journal articles. It is significant to note that academic reports require peer-review from “several experts in the field … prior to acceptance for publication” (Check & Shutt, 2017, p. 9). The responsibility of publishing in the journal articles leads to the report’s authors reviewing and editing their work until it meets all the requirements. Check and Shutt (2017) consider this process beneficial to the writers as they spend considerable time reviewing their mistakes so that they can learn from them and not repeat them in further works. The revisions assist the researchers in advancing their skills and, consequently, help “the entire field moves forward as researchers continually critique and suggest improvements in each others’ research reports” (Check & Shutt, 2017, p. 9). As for the disadvantages, authors may face challenges while correcting and reviewing their reports prior to submitting them to the journal article.
To sum up, basic and applied research both aim to advance their audience’s knowledge. However, their preparations seem different as submission of the basic report is more challenging than of applied one due to the mandatory peer review, which is usually followed by several revisions. Still, the applied study appears to be more structured and on point as its focus is on the outcomes and findings and not the literature review.
Reference
Check, J., & Schutt, R. K. (2017). Research methods in education. Research Methods in Education. Published.