There are two scientific research methods: one is speculative research (which can be culture, political economy, history, etc. ), the purpose is to get the conclusion of the relationship between things; The other is empirical research, the purpose of which is to gain an understanding of the attributes of things. Empirical research can be divided into two ways: qualitative research and quantitative research. Qualitative research is mainly based on observation and interview. Through inductive analysis, discovery from materials, experiential interview and observation, the conclusions about the properties of things are drawn. Quantitative research draws conclusions about the properties of things through artificially controlled environment, hypothetical deductive topics, representative statistics and experiments. If the topic is empirical, it is generally best to combine qualitative and quantitative research, with one method as the main one and the other as the supplement.

No matter any research method, there is no distinction between high and low, and it is necessary to decide which one to adopt according to your own subject. Philosophical, historical and literary essays are more suitable to adopt speculative research methods; The papers on economics, sociology, communication, ethnology and international relations are mostly empirical studies. For more macro data, you can use the survey data of professional institutions.