While conducting research, it is inevitable to put either summary or abstract. I wanted to know if there are preferences to use one over the other, or could it be used interchangeably in all types of research papers, proposals, etc.
Thanks!
The abstract though it comes at the front of the article/dissertation should be written after the study is done. The summary should be done after each chapter to give an idea of what you covered in each section. Look at empirical articles for examples of the Abstract. It should have Methodology, Design, Sample, Results etc. It gives the reader information of the study in one small but detailed paragraph or page.
There is no general standard for all journals and books concerning abstracts and summaries. And different authors may treat these differently. Usually the abstract is something like a short summary at the beginning of the paper or the book chapter, more rarely at the beginning of a book. It should be able to stand also alone, without the paper's complete text, in bibliographic databases and platforms to describe the content. Many papers and books have a summary at the end, which can be more extended than the abstract. However, sometimes the abstract is called "summary". See also: https://www.researchgate.net/post/What-is-the-standard-for-writing-abstract-of-a-scientific-research-paper-for-publication
There is no solid difference, you may called an abstract a summary as well
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