There are many different ways to design research studies. Over the years, dichotomies have developed around how to conduct research. These disagreements center around how one should answer research questions, or, the form answers should take.

You will hear the qualitative Vs. quantitative research debate, and then there’s the basic Vs. applied research debate. Researchers favoring qualitative research methods over quantitative research methods would tell you that numbers do not tell the whole story. Researchers conducting basic research do not consider applied research as “research.”

Others have tried to provide a framework to integrate these dichotomies. One is a circular framework in which the results of qualitative research is used to develop quantitative studies. Results from these quantitative studies can be further studied with qualitative studies. And, applied researchers try to use the results of the basic research conducted in laboratories in real world applications. Results from these studies can be then used to develop further questions that can be addressed by basic research.

In all likelihood, what we like to learn about any phenomena can be best addressed on a continuum. M.A.Patton’s research typology from Health Education Research does this quite nicely, and can be used to address epidemiological questions.