Academic Research vs Professional Research – What’s the Difference?

If you are interested in the difference between academic and professional research, we recommend you read this article carefully, as it will provide all the necessary information. We will find out what each type of research means and how they differ.

What is a Research Project?

A research project is an experiment to find answers to a question or solve a problem.

This type of project can contribute to your study of any area of interest. Ensure you have a problem you should solve, a theory to test, or a question to answer. If one of these problems exists, a research project can be developed to solve it.

There are two main types of research projects: academic and professional. Academic research primarily aims at making discoveries for the scientific community. Professional study is more about solving a specific problem for an organization, often a business, or its customers.

What is Academic Research?

Of course, any research is always a good idea that can benefit the world of knowledge, but there is a significant difference between ordinary and academic research. Let’s get to the bottom of it:

1. So, academic research is usually done solely for knowledge creation. It can change the way people think about what is being researched. That’s why there is a high demand for it. 
2. Also, students who do academic research follow a scientific method that ensures objectivity – they take the same concept from beginning to end to find the most logical conclusion to the question at hand. The researcher creates a hypothesis – the answer they think they will find (they try to prove or disprove the idea).

You should find ways to improve your understanding of what is being studied, discover something new, or verify that your account of the subject is correct. Thus, ensure that the research meets academic standards so the audience can trust your conclusions.  

What is Professional Research?

Professional research, also called applied one, involves finding a solution to an immediate problem facing society or an industrial/commercial organization. Thus, such research:

• consists of the analysis of information that aims to solve a specific problem or provide entirely new solutions to issues;
• suggests the practical use of scientific methods to handle everyday problems.

When conducting this kind of research, you should be very careful to identify the problem, develop research hypotheses, and test those hypotheses using the experimental method. Since this kind of research takes a direct approach to finding a problem solution, it is often considered non-systematic. Still, it usually involves a research outline during which the results are examined to be validated and applied to create innovative solutions.

Common Differences You Should Know

We hope it is more or less clear what each type of study means and what the main differences are, but we would like to summarize the information and share some details with you:

1. Academic research is called scholarly research, while professional research can be thought of as applied research.
2. In academic research, students and faculty generalize or add value to a knowledge base, while professional study aims to solve a problem.
3. Academic research raises conceptual questions, while professional study solves practical problems.
4. Academic research focuses on theory, while professional research focuses on practice, organization, and experimentation.
5. Academic research is spread mainly through academic papers, while professional study is spread through internal reports or professional conferences and publications revealing the results.

Are You Going to Do a Research?

If you have to write research papers, we recommend you decide on the type of research you need to perform and prepare before you begin. The essential thing, in the beginning, is organizing and creating your plan of action. 

How to Start Your Research Work?

1. First, find a problem – what should be studied.
2. Then define the topic – the title should be concise and reflect the essence of the problem.
3. Pay attention to relevance – why you should study this problem.
4. Purpose of the research – what result do you expect to obtain?
5. Create a hypothesis – what is not evident in the object.
6. Ensure novelty – what new things you discovered during the research?
7. Make research objectives – what to do theoretically and experimentally.
8. Do a literature review – what is already known about the problem.
9. Choose a research methodology.
10. Find out the results of the study.
11. Make conclusions – brief answers to the objectives.
12. Ensure the significance of your study – how the results affect practice.

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