Applied Research vs Action Research, What is The Difference?

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Consider you are writing a research paper for your graduate course. You've spent weeks combing through the literature and jotting down notes about what you might include in your paper. And while you have a good grasp of your chosen topic, you uncover a new challenge that seems to complicate your writing. You discover that you must distinguish between applied and action research and explain how the two differ and connect.

Understanding the significance of applied research and action research within research skills will help you confidently tackle your writing. This guide will walk you through their definitions, similarities, differences, and applications to help you enhance your writing and write efficient papers, summaries, and articles with AI.

Unriddle's AI research assistant can help you reach your goals quickly and easily. This tool can improve your writing and help you organize and summarize complex information about applied research, action research, and any other topic you need to write about.

What is Applied Research?

Applied research targets specific, practical issues that require immediate solutions. While fundamental research lays the groundwork and develops theories, applied research focuses on how these theories can solve real-world problems. Applied research is often non-systematic and is typically initiated by an individual, organization, or agency looking for solutions to pressing issues.

Applied Research Can Be Divided Into Three Categories

Evaluation Research: How Can Existing Data Help Us Solve Problems?

Evaluation research analyzes existing data to uncover objective solutions to specific issues. For example, if a company wants to reduce supply-chain costs, it might analyze existing research on supply-chain efficiencies to identify actionable ways.

Research and Development: Creating Solutions for Specific Problems

Research and development (R&D) is a type of applied research that focuses on developing new products and services to help organizations meet the needs of specific target audiences. R&D is typically the least relevant for business dissertations.

Action Research: Transformative Solutions for Specific Business Issues

Action research targets specific business problems and helps organizations develop actionable solutions. For example, if Starbucks wanted to restore its brand image in the UK following a tax scandal, it might conduct action research to identify specific ways to improve its reputation among UK consumers.

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What is Action Research?

Action research is similar to applied research, aiming to find practical solutions to organizations' challenges and problems. It involves learning by doing. First, you identify a problem. Then, you take steps to address it. Next, you measure how well the efforts worked. If the results aren’t satisfactory, you repeat the process.

Learning by Doing

Action research involves learning by doing. First, you identify a problem. Next, you take steps to address it. Then, you measure how well the efforts worked. If the results aren’t satisfactory, you repeat the process.

Different Types of Action Research

Discover the three types of action research.

1. Positivist

Also called “classical action research,” this type treats it as a social experiment. It tests theories in the real world.

2. Interpretive

This kind of research is called “contemporary action research.” It believes that business reality is socially constructed. This type of research focuses on the details of local and organizational factors.

3 Critical

This action research cycle takes a critical reflection approach to corporate systems and tries to enhance them.

Applied Research vs Action Research: What is The Difference?

What Is Applied Research and Its Key Characteristics?

Applied research promotes practical problem-solving by connecting theory to real-world scenarios. Unlike basic research, which seeks to expand knowledge by answering specific scientific questions, applied research intends to use that knowledge to address immediate issues.

Applied research might focus on developing pest-resistant crop varieties to improve yields in agriculture. In medicine, it could involve testing a new treatment for effectiveness before it’s released for public use.

What Are the Goals of Action Research?

Action research promotes collaboration between researchers and participants to improve practices within specific contexts. The goal is to identify problems, develop actionable solutions, and implement those solutions to make positive changes within a particular community or organization.

In educational settings, action research might pair teachers with academic researchers to develop and assess a new curriculum. A partnership between company leadership and organizational consultants could be formed in the corporate world to identify inefficiencies and improve workplace productivity.

When should you use applied research and action research?

When Should You Use Applied Research

You can use applied research when you want to solve specific problems. Imagine you have a severe headache. You would like to find a solution to alleviate your pain. You would like to avoid engaging in a study of headaches to find out why they occur. Applied research is suitable for addressing specific issues and can help improve your situation quickly. Similarly, in a business context, applied research can help organizations find solutions to problems that hinder performance. For instance, if a company struggles with low employee productivity, applied research can help them identify the root cause of the problem and develop ways to fix it.

Also, you can use applied research to test new ideas or approaches. For example, if you want to evaluate the effectiveness of a new training program, you can conduct applied research to see how well it works and if it meets your goals. Finally, applied research can help you develop strong evidence to support your claims or recommendations. For instance, if you're trying to persuade your organization to adopt new technology, applied research can help you uncover the benefits of the technology and how it can improve your organization's performance.

When Should You Use Action Research?

Action research helps improve practice. It is conducive when you want to enhance your own practice or the practice of others. For instance, as an educator, you could use action research to evaluate the effectiveness of a new teaching strategy you implemented in your classroom. The findings from your research could help you improve your instructional techniques to boost student learning outcomes. Furthermore, action research can help you understand complex situations.

As a practitioner, you may encounter complex challenges that require a more profound understanding to navigate successfully. Action research allows you to investigate these issues systematically and develop practical solutions. Finally, action research can contribute to social change. This is particularly true for studies conducted in community settings. For example, practitioners may conduct action research to improve their practice when working with underserved populations. The findings from this research could uncover issues that, when addressed, would improve the outcomes of the community being studied.

What is The Main Difference Between Basic Research and Applied Research?

1. Research Outcomes: Curiosity-Driven vs. Solution-Driven

The primary distinction between basic and applied research lies in their outcomes. Basic research, often called fundamental or pure research, is typically curiosity-driven. This type of research is conducted to expand knowledge and understanding of a particular theory or phenomenon. Applied research, on the other hand, is solution-driven. This type of research aims to address a specific problem and find a solution.

Example

Basic Research

A physicist investigates the fundamental properties of dark matter to understand the universe better.

Applied Research

A pharmaceutical company develops a new drug to treat a specific disease.

2. Research Scope: Universal Scope vs. Specific Scope

Basic research has a broad scope. It explores various concepts to gain a more profound knowledge of a particular subject. Research methods involve studying multiple subjects to add information that connects evidence points in a more fantastic body of data. Applied research has a narrow scope. It focuses on a specific problem to gather evidence that addresses that problem.

Example

Basic Research

A biologist studies the evolution of plants in various ecosystems to understand the principles of natural selection.

Applied Research

A psychologist conducts a study to determine the effectiveness of a new therapy for anxiety disorders.

3. Research Approaches: Expanding Existing Knowledge vs. Finding New Knowledge

Basic research seeks to fill gaps in existing knowledge. It expands current theories to understand better how, what, or why a phenomenon occurs. Although applied research can be based on information derived from primary research, its objective is not to expand knowledge. Instead, applied research seeks to discover new information to solve a problem.

Example

Basic Research

A chemist explores the properties of a newly discovered element to expand our understanding of the periodic table.

Applied Research

An engineer develops a new type of battery to improve the efficiency of electric vehicles.

4. Research Commercialization: Informational vs. Commercial Gain

Basic research can lead to solutions that may eventually result in commercial products. However, the primary goal of basic research is to acquire new knowledge. Applied research, on the other hand, is often used to develop solutions for commercial gain.

Example

Basic Research

A linguist studies the evolution of language to understand human communication.

Applied Research

A software company develops a new artificial intelligence algorithm for facial recognition.

5. Theory Formulation: Theoretical vs. Practical Nature

Basic research usually begins with a theory about a particular subject. As researchers conduct their studies, they may develop the theory, which grows and changes as more information is discovered during the research process. Conversely, applied research focuses on practical applications. The goal is to solve a specific problem.

Example

Basic Research

A physicist proposes a new theory of gravity to explain the universe's expansion.

Applied Research

An agricultural scientist develops a new farming technique to increase crop yields.

Methods Used in Applied Research and Action Research

1. Using Unriddle AI

Unriddle AI helps researchers read faster and write better. The software allows users to quickly find information in documents, simplify complex topics, take notes, and write with the power of AI. Unriddle is trusted by thousands of researchers and students, from the classroom to the boardroom. The software generates an AI assistant on top of any document so you can quickly find, summarize, and understand information.

Unriddle AI understands the meaning behind your writing and automatically links you to relevant things you’ve read and written about. You can highlight text, and Unriddle will show you the most appropriate sources from your library using AI. Never lose a citation again. In addition, Unriddle can generate text with AI autocomplete to improve and expand your writing, with all suggestions based on the context of what you're working on. Plus, you can step into a collaborative workspace where everyone can contribute and chat with the same documents in real time.

2. Observations

Observations allow researchers to gather information about how subjects behave under different conditions. In applied and action research, studying research subjects for an extended time helps researchers collect qualitative data that can help them better understand a community or group's needs.

3. Interviews

Interviews help researchers gain information from other subjects and validate data. Both surveys and one-to-one discussions are typical in applied and action research to gain insights from those not involved.

4. Experiments

Experiments help researchers prove or disprove specific hypotheses based on information that has been gathered. While action and applied research are often focused on developing solutions to real-world problems, there is still room for experimentation to test the effectiveness of particular interventions.

5. Questionnaires

Questionnaires consist of questions related to the research context to help researchers gather quantitative information applicable to basic and applied research. In action research, they are often used to assess the needs of a group before implementing an intervention.

Complete Step-by-Step Guide On How To Use Unriddle's AI Research Tool

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From here, it's pretty simple.

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Interact with documents via AI so you can quickly find and understand info.

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Interact with documents

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Use this assistant to answer specific questions about the text, summarize content and simplify jargon.

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If you're summarizing a research paper, for example, instead of saying “Summarize” or “Summarize this research paper”, say something like “Explain this research paper to me in simple terms. What method did the researchers use? What did they find? Why does it matter?”.

The second prompt will produce a much better overview of the paper because we're giving the AI more hints about what we want.

Automatic relations

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Let's say you have a collection of nuclear physics papers in your library.

When you start writing a note about The Manhattan Project, simply mentioning "The Manhattan Project" will prompt Unriddle to find the connection between this note and the nuclear physics papers.

Even if you didn't explicitly mention the research papers, Unriddle's knowledge of Oppenheimer, his work, and the significant relevance of these papers means it understands the connection and automatically links them together.

In short, Unriddle shows you relevant content from your library at the exact moment you need it, even if you haven't explicitly mentioned it.

Citing your sources

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Highlight some text, click ‘Cite’ and you’ll see items from your library that contain information related to the selection of text you just highlighted as determined by our AI.

When you select an item Unriddle inserts a link into highlighted text that, when clicked, takes you to the referenced item.

Writing with AI

Click ‘New’ in the sidebar and hit ‘Note’ to open up a new note.

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Type ‘++’ to generate text based on the context of what’s already written.

Highlight text and click ‘Ask AI’ to open up the AI menu where you’ll find options to improve, expand, summarize and explain.

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Adjust the model, temperature and response length in the Setting sidebar.

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Similarities Between Applied Research and Action Research

Problem Solving: Applied Research and Action Research Tackle Real-World Issues

Applied research and action research share a common goal: solving pressing problems. While applied research seeks to address specific issues that impact people or animals, action research aims to improve practices to benefit a particular group or community. Both approaches produce knowledge that helps to make the world a better place.

Practical Applications: Research Findings Lead to Real-World Solutions

Both applied and action research produce findings that have practical applications. This is particularly important to stakeholders who research outcomes may impact. Research findings that can be readily applied to real-world situations help instill confidence in the study's validity and proposed solutions.

Collaboration: Researching with Stakeholders to Improve Outcomes

Applied research and action research often involve collaboration between researchers and stakeholders. In applied research, stakeholders may help identify the problem and be involved in the research process. In action research, stakeholders actively participate in the research process, helping develop the research questions and identify solutions.

Contextualized: Research That Works for Specific Situations

Applied and action research are both grounded in specific contexts and situations. The findings of both types of research need to be more generalizable to other settings. Instead, they aim to address the unique problems of a particular group, organization, or community.

Iterative: Cycles of Research to Promote Continuous Improvement

Action research is often iterative, involving planning, acting, observing, and reflecting cycles. Applied research can also be iterative, especially in development and evaluation.

Read Faster & Write Better With Unriddle for Free Today

Unriddle AI allows you to read faster and write better. Quickly find info in documents, simplify complex topics, take notes, and write with the power of AI. Unriddle is trusted by thousands of researchers and students, from the classroom to the boardroom. Unriddle generates an AI assistant on top of any document so you can quickly find, summarize, and understand info.

Unriddle AI understands the meaning behind your writing and automatically links you to relevant things you’ve read and written about. Highlight text and Unriddle will show you the most appropriate sources from your library using AI. Never lose a citation again. Generate text with AI autocomplete to improve and expand your writing, with suggestions based on the context of your work. Step into a collaborative workspace where everyone can contribute and chat with the same documents in real-time and much more!

Read faster & write better — try Unriddle for free today.