This document discusses explanatory research and provides examples. Explanatory research aims to explain why events occur and test theories. It allows testing of specific theories and amendments to previous theories. One example tests a theory about reducing campus crime by limiting library access. Another analyzes the correlation between a region's migrant population share and support for anti-immigration initiatives in a Swiss referendum to see if attitudes towards migration relate to exposure to migrants. The research questions examine relationships between variables to help explain phenomena.

1. Explanatory Research
Research Methodology

2. Prepared By
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Manu Melwin Joy
Assistant Professor
Ilahia School of Management Studies
Kerala, India.
Phone – 9744551114
Mail – manu_melwinjoy@yahoo.com

3. Explanatory Research
• Explanatory Research is
the research whose
primary purpose is to
explain why events
occur to build,
elaborate, extend or test
theory.

4. Explanatory Research
• Explanatory research
allows the research to
test very specific
theories and make
amends to previous
theories.

5. Explanatory Research
• Exploratory research: A
researcher conducting
exploratory research would
generate ideas of what campus
crime is identified as based on
interviewing victims of campus
crime and evaluating what
circumstances fall under the
criteria of crime at
Georgetown.

6. Explanatory Research
• Descriptive Research: A
researcher conducting
descriptive research would look
to the campus crime databases
in order to understand the
statistics behind the crimes
being committed (when, where
and how they were
committed).They would then
define the most common profile
of campus crime.

7. Explanatory Research
• Explanatory Research: A researcher
conducting explanatory research
would test out a theory about
Georgetown campus crime. For
instance, the theory that could be
tested is: if we prevent guests from
entering the library, do student
backpacks and laptops get stolen at
the same rates as when guests were
allowed to enter the library.

8. Explanatory Research
• A referendum to limit migration
from European Union countries took
place on 10th February of 2014
in Switzerland. In the score of such
event, Alexandre Afonso (2014) and
Paul Haydon (2014) did a simple
analysis of correlation between the
share of migrants population per
canton and the share of yes to anti-
immigration initiative, based on the
results of the referendum.

9. Explanatory Research
• The research question that
lies beneath these analysis
might be “is there a
relationship between the
share of migrant
population in a given
community and the way
migration is seen by its
members.

10. Explanatory Research
• Interestingly both the graphic
and map bellow show
that wherever there is less
number of immigrants, the
rejection of immigrants is
greater. It is a clear example of
explanatory research, where the
main objective is identifying the
existence between two or more
variables.