Descriptive research is one of three types of marketing research objectives. Others are exploratory research and causal research.
Descriptive research is marketing research to better describe marketing problems, situations, or markets, such as the market potential for a product or the demographics and attitudes of consumers who buy the product.
For example, would a 10 percent decrease in tuition at a private college result in an enrollment increase sufficient to offset the reduced tuition? Managers often start with exploratory research and later follow with descriptive or casual research.