What are the Objectives of Research

Objective of research is one the important elements for conducting any research because it helps in determining the possibility of conducting the study. Basically, the broad aim of all researches is to confirm the reliability of existing knowledge and to find the deviation of existing knowledge i.e. to contribute new knowledge in the existing knowledge. Before conducting the research it is important to identify your objective(s) because it evades wastage of time and efforts in afterward stages. Keeping the system requirement into consideration, research objectives must be clearly identifiable. To identify a research objective(s) following things are important:

1. Research Questions
2. Hypotheses
3. Research Study Boundary

Research Questions

Research questions arise before the study is conducted. These problems are the issues which are not resolved till date. Some of the important problems which can arise during research are: What is the objective(s) of the study? How would the objective(s) of the study be achieved? And why is the specified method applied for the study? Objectives and Hypotheses of the study or research problem would be achieved by giving answers to the above questions.

Hypotheses

Hypotheses are assumptions about some characteristics of population which must be accepted or rejected on the basis of empirical evidence. Few examples of the hypotheses are given below:

1. A firm performance has positive relationship with capital structure.
2. There is a positive relationship between firm performance and CEO compensation.
3. Direct foreign investment has no influence over the employment of the country.

In the above conditions, Hypotheses may be true or false. It is generally constructed for a situation where the influence is not explicit. After collecting and analyzing the data the fact can be indentified.

Research Study Boundary

After clearly defining the research problems and hypotheses, the boundaries and limits of the study must be properly defined. Assumptions of the study will make the research infeasible when it will consider the whole universe in the study. Although, it may be beneficial for the firm to evaluate each and every aspect during the process of research but it is not possible due to size constrains and complexities.

Categorization of Research Objectives

Research objective(s) can be categorized into qualitative and quantitative. The aim of the qualitative objective is to test the hypotheses significance of a research. Examples of the qualitative objectives are following:

1. A research on testing the impact of cultural change on national economy.
2. A research on the impulse buying behavior of consumers at grocery stores.
3. A study on testing the relationship between the level of employment and industrial automation.
4. A research on testing the relationship between sales and the education level of sales force of an organization.

The purpose of the quantitative objectives is to optimize certain performance measures of the research system. Here are few examples of quantitative research objectives:

1. A research to predict the product demand with high precision.
2. A research on training methods to find out the merits and demerits of numerous training methods applied in a firm with a view to increase the productivity of labor.
3. A research on layout design aimed to minimize the material handling cost and increase the equipments utilization.
4. A research on advertising budget in relation to other expenditures such that the incremental sales revenue is maximized.