Joe Carson, the owner of Carson Sailboats, is concerned about slumping sales. Sales so far this year are 40 percent below last year's sales. Joe is concerned. He starts doing some research on the Internet to see if there are any trends he can identify to explain the slump. He then talks to several other people in the industry to get their opinions. Joe is conducting ________research.
A)preliminary
B)causal
C)secondary
D)exploratory

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Joe is trying to gather information and explore potential explanations for the slump in sales, which suggests that he is conducting exploratory research. He is not yet trying to establish causality or test hypotheses, which would suggest causal research. Additionally, he is using both primary (Internet research) and secondary (talking to industry experts) sources, but the overall goal is to explore potential explanations rather than verify or confirm existing data, which suggests that he is conducting exploratory rather than secondary research. While this research may be preliminary in the sense that Joe has not yet arrived at a definitive conclusion, "preliminary research" is not a commonly used term in this context.

Joe Carson, the Owner of Carson Sailboats, Is Concerned About