help with basic and applied research

Question

which of the following are examples of applied research?

 

a.  studying the chemical structure of a substance

b.  using the knowledge of the chemical structure of a substance to develope a new drug

c.  carrying out a common chemical reaction

d.  all of these

 

 

I need help with trying to decide what is the difference between basic and applied research.  If I understand this correctly basic research is something that has taken place over a period of time??

 

thanks

Answer 1

Hi  L,

 

Basic research implies to find and add information about basic knowledge. For instance, we know the structure of the cell at electron microscope level. However, if a company comes with live imager at EM level then it would give the information   about living cell with EM resolution. Such research that adds to basic findings is known as basic research.

 

Therefore, studying the chemical structure of a new substance is basic research and the same is true for carrying out chemical reaction. However, using the knowledge of the chemical structure of the substance to generate new therapeutic drugs is  the application of information of basic research that is applicable to medical science and therefore, it is applied research.

 

Hope this helps.