方法对比

	探索性定量研究	假设检验研究
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)	Early 20th century (Fisher 1925; Neyman–Pearson 1933)
提出者	Earl Babbie; John Creswell (systematic codification in social science methods)	Karl Pearson, Ronald A. Fisher, Jerzy Neyman, Egon Pearson
类型	Non-experimental quantitative research design	Quantitative confirmatory research design
开创性文献	Babbie, E. (2021). The Practice of Social Research (15th ed.). Cengage Learning. ISBN: 978-0357360767	Kerlinger, F. N., & Lee, H. B. (1986). Foundations of Behavioral Research (3rd ed.). Holt, Rinehart and Winston. ISBN: 978-0030417603
别名	quantitative exploratory design, exploratory survey research, initial quantitative investigation, preliminary quantitative study	hypothetico-deductive research, confirmatory quantitative research, null hypothesis significance testing, NHST design
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.	Hypothesis testing research is a quantitative design in which the investigator derives one or more explicit, falsifiable propositions from theory, translates them into a null hypothesis (H0) and an alternative hypothesis (H1), collects empirical data, and then applies an inferential statistical test to decide whether the evidence is sufficient to reject H0. The approach is the dominant paradigm for confirmatory science across the social, behavioral, health, and natural sciences.