方法对比

	探索性定量研究	确认性研究
领域	研究设计	研究设计
方法族	Process / pipeline	Process / pipeline
起源年份	Mid-20th century (codified in social research methods texts c. 1950s–1970s)	1934 (Popper); widely adopted in social sciences from 1960s onward
提出者	Earl Babbie; John Creswell (systematic codification in social science methods)	Karl Popper (falsificationism); formalized in behavioral sciences by Paul Meehl and others
类型	Non-experimental quantitative research design	Quantitative research design
开创性文献	Babbie, E. (2021). The Practice of Social Research (15th ed.). Cengage Learning. ISBN: 978-0357360767	Popper, K. R. (1959). The Logic of Scientific Discovery. Hutchinson. ISBN: 978-0415278447
别名	quantitative exploratory design, exploratory survey research, initial quantitative investigation, preliminary quantitative study	hypothesis-testing research, deductive research, theory-testing research, confirmatory study
相关	4	4
摘要	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.	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.