Dear All,
Since yesterday, I’ve had several off-list queries about papers and information on the distinctions between basic, applied, and clinical research. I’ve got to do a literature search to see what has been written — this is the kind of thing that used to be standard fare in the research training seminars for a PhD in many fields, but I don’t recall any specific papers or books on the subject. I (Friedman 2003: 510) explain the distinctions this way:
“Basic research involves a search for general principles. These principles are abstracted and generalized to cover a variety of situations and cases. Basic research generates theory on several levels. This may involve macro level theories covering wide areas or fields, midlevel theories covering specific ranges of issues or micro level theories focused on narrow questions. General principles often have broad application beyond their field of origin, and their generative nature sometimes gives them surprising power.
“Applied research adapts the findings of basic research to classes of problems. It may also involve developing and testing theories for these classes of problems. Applied research tends to be midlevel or micro level research. At the same time, applied research may develop or generate questions that become the subject of basic research.
“Clinical research involves specific cases. Clinical research applies the findings of basic research and applied research to specific situations. It may also generate and test new questions, and it may test the findings of basic and applied research in a clinical situation. Clinical research may also develop or generate questions that become the subject of basic research or applied research.
“Any of the three frames of research may generate questions for the other frames. Each may test the theories and findings of other kinds of research. Clinical research generally involves specific forms of professional engagement.”
It is in this sense that clinical research is frequently a form of research through practice. Just as clinical research mailed to applied or basic research, research through practice may also lead to questions and issues that permit generalisation.
Basic research is sometimes called pure research or fundamental research. This is a typical mode of research in theoretical physics, mathematics, experimental psychology, cognitive science, and much medical research. Some areas of legal research such as constitutional law may constitute a form of basic research without respect to specific cases, as do some forms of political economics.
Applied research is extremely common in engineering, HCI, pharmacy, law, surgery, and in most fields where researchers seek kinds or classes of solutions that can be applied to a range of specific cases and conditions. A great deal of law involves applied research, as does financial economics and some areas of organisation theory.
Clinical research is sometimes called diagnostics. It is the kind of research that solves specific problems. Clinical research is common in any professional practice where skilled practitioners use diagnosis together with the findings of applied research (and sometimes basic research) to solve client problems. Much case law involves clinical research. So does much research in organisation design, management, and business, especially the specific work of consultants solving problems in the direct organisational setting.
I discuss basic, applied, and clinical research together with related issues appear in the paper “Theory Construction in Design Research” (Friedman 2003). You will find a .pdf copy on my Academia page at:
https://swinburne.academia.edu/KenFriedman
Best regards,
Ken
Ken Friedman, PhD, DSc (hc), FDRS | Editor-in-Chief | 设计 She Ji. The Journal of Design, Economics, and Innovation | Published by Elsevier in Cooperation with Tongji University Press | Launching in 2015
Chair Professor of Design Innovation Studies | College of Design and Innovation | Tongji University | Shanghai, China ||| University Distinguished Professor | Centre for Design Innovation | Swinburne University of Technology | Melbourne, Australia
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References
Friedman, Ken. 2003. “Theory construction in design research: criteria: approaches, and methods.” Design Studies, 24 (2003), 507–522. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0142-694X(03)00039-5
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