1.2 Objectives of Research

The research pursuit's ends (the list to reproduce): (i) to discover new facts and relationships (the extension of knowledge); (ii) to describe accurately what exists (the faithful portrait); (iii) to explain — the causes and mechanisms (the why beneath the what); (iv) to predict — the patterns that project forward; (v) to evaluate — the performance of rules, institutions and programs against their aims; (vi) to prescribe — the solutions and reforms the findings warrant; (vii) to develop the tools of research itself (methodology's self-improvement). The objectives ladder — describe → explain → predict → prescribe — is the exam's compact answer.