Vertaile menetelmiä

	Vahvistava tutkimus	Eksploratiivinen kvantitatiivinen tutkimus
Tieteenala	Tutkimusasetelma	Tutkimusasetelma
Menetelmäperhe	Process / pipeline	Process / pipeline
Syntyvuosi	1934 (Popper); widely adopted in social sciences from 1960s onward	Mid-20th century (codified in social research methods texts c. 1950s–1970s)
Kehittäjä	Karl Popper (falsificationism); formalized in behavioral sciences by Paul Meehl and others	Earl Babbie; John Creswell (systematic codification in social science methods)
Tyyppi	Quantitative research design	Non-experimental quantitative research design
Alkuperäislähde	Popper, K. R. (1959). The Logic of Scientific Discovery. Hutchinson. ISBN: 978-0415278447	Babbie, E. (2021). The Practice of Social Research (15th ed.). Cengage Learning. ISBN: 978-0357360767
Rinnakkaisnimet	hypothesis-testing research, deductive research, theory-testing research, confirmatory study	quantitative exploratory design, exploratory survey research, initial quantitative investigation, preliminary quantitative study
Liittyvät	4	4
Tiivistelmä	Confirmatory research is a deductive quantitative design in which the researcher specifies hypotheses derived from existing theory before data collection, then tests whether the data support or refute those hypotheses. Unlike exploratory approaches that generate ideas from data, confirmatory research begins with an established theoretical framework, pre-registers predictions, and applies statistical tests to evaluate those predictions against empirical evidence. It is the backbone of hypothesis-driven social, behavioral, and health science inquiry.	Exploratory quantitative research is a non-experimental design used when a phenomenon is insufficiently understood to support formal hypothesis testing. The researcher collects numerical data — typically through surveys, structured observation, or existing records — to describe distributions, detect patterns, and generate hypotheses that more targeted confirmatory studies can subsequently test. It occupies the first stage of a cumulative quantitative research programme.