A pilot experiment, pilot study, pilot test or pilot project is a small-scale preliminary study conducted to evaluate feasibility, duration, cost, adverse events, and improve upon the study design prior to performance of a full-scale research project.
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👉 Pilot studies in the context of Exploratory research
Exploratory research is "the preliminary research to clarify the exact nature of the problem to be solved." It is used to ensure additional research is taken into consideration during an experiment as well as determining research priorities, collecting data and honing in on certain subjects which may be difficult to take note of without exploratory research. It can include techniques, such as:
- secondary research - such as reviewing available literature and/or data
- informal qualitative approaches, such as discussions with consumers, employees, management or competitors
- formal qualitative research through in-depth interviews, focus groups, projective methods, case studies or pilot studies
According to Stebbins (2001) "Social Science exploration is a broad-ranging, purposive, systematic prearranged undertaking designed to maximize the discovery of generalizations leading to description and understanding". His influential book argues that exploratory research should not use confirmatory mechanisms like hypotheses. It should be qualitative and rely on inductive research methods like grounded theory introduced by Glaser and Strauss Qualitative exploratory research which use inductive approach do not use priori theorizing or build on previous research. Casula, Rangarajan and Shields (2020) argue that exploratory research should not be limited to inductive approaches. They propose the working hypothesis is a useful framework for deductive exploratory research that should be part of the social scientist's tool bag.