Which among the following features applies to descriptive research? A. It may…

Concept: Descriptive research is defined by its purpose, not by its tools. It sets out to portray and interpret conditions, practices, attitudes or relationships as they exist or as they existed — it answers "what is / what was the case", in contrast with explanatory research, which pursues "why", and with prescriptive work, which pursues "what ought to be". Because the definition fixes the purpose and leaves the instrument open, descriptive research imposes no restriction on the kind of data collected or on the mode of reasoning used.

Application: each lettered statement is tested against that definition.

• A — "May involve the procedure of induction and analysis": a descriptive study gathers observations about an existing state of affairs, analyses that collected evidence, and reasons from the particular observations toward general statements. That is induction plus analysis, and the hedged wording "may involve" claims no more than this.

• B — "A study that describes and interprets what is/was the case": this is the standard textbook definition of descriptive research itself, so it restates the concept above.

• C — "It can never be normative": descriptive research includes the normative survey, in which data are gathered precisely to establish norms or standards for a group, an institution or a population. An unqualified "never" is therefore not sustainable.

• D — "It is used only in the quantitative research": qualitative descriptive designs — case studies, ethnographic description, documentary and content analysis — are descriptive research as well, so the restriction implied by "only" is not sustainable.

• E — "Survey studies is one of its types": the conventional classification of descriptive research lists survey studies (including the normative survey), case studies, developmental studies, documentary analysis and correlational studies among its forms.

Cross-check: the statements that survive the test are A, B and E. The two that fail — C and D — both fail on an absolute qualifier ("never", "only"), not on their subject matter. Reading the offered combinations against that result, only "A, B and E only" contains exactly the three surviving statements; every other offered combination carries C, D or both.

Exam note: in UGC NET statement-set items an unqualified "never", "only", "all" or "always" is the first place to test for a flaw, while hedged wording such as "may involve" usually survives.