Applied research: Refers to scientific study and research that seeks to solve practical problems. It is used to find solutions to everyday problems, cure illness, and develop innovative technologies. Psychologists working in human factors or industrial/organizational fields often do this type of research.

Basic research: Refers to study and research on pure science that is meant to increase our scientific knowledge base. This type of research is often purely theoretical with the intent of increasing our understanding of certain phenomena or behavior, but does not seek to solve or treat these problems.

Discovery driven research: Research that is closely associated with individual Principal Investigators (PI's), who propose to investigate particular hypotheses or phenomena. Strives to deliver "understanding" with the tangible product being research reports, related scientific presentations, and ultimately, peer-reviewed journal manuscripts.

Outcomes research:  Measures a variety of impacts on patients and patient care (function, quality of life, satisfaction, readmissions, costs, etc).

Effectiveness research- Emphasizes the contrast with efficacy studies, and highlights the goal of learning how medical interventions affected real patients in "typical" practice settings. Effectiveness studies seek to understand the impact of health care on patients with diverse characteristics.

Translational research:  Collaborations across multiple disciplines and bring together the basic and clinical sciences so that laboratory research and discovery can be “translated” into new diagnostic and therapeutic applications at a much faster and successful rate.