Empirical or Theoretical?
Empirical: Based on data gathered by original experiments or observations.
Theoretical: Analyzes and makes connections between empirical studies to define or advance a theoretical position.
Empirical Research Cycle
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A visual representation of A.D. de Groot's empirical cycle. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.
Page content courtesy of M. Denise Dimsdale, Georgia State University Libraries. See their guide.
How to Determine if an Article is Empirical
Check for these components:
- Peer-reviewed
- Charts, graphs, tables, and/or statistical analyses
- More than 5 pages
- Sections with names like: Abstract, Introduction, Literature Review, Method, Data, Analysis, Results, Discussion, References
Look for visual cues of data collection and analysis:
