Empirical studies

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Empirical studies in social sciences are when the research ends are based on evidence and not just theory. This is done to comply with the scientific method that asserts the objective discovery of knowledge based on verifiable facts of evidence.

The concept of an empirical study is divided into both quantitative and qualitative research epistemology. The statistical, data bound, analysis belongs to the quantitative and shares many research methodologies with the discipline economics, while the qualitative works with data that are not easily analyzed numerically. Some interpret the lack of a statistical breakdown in qualitative works as what prevents an empirical analysis.

Researcher’s empiricism is also criticized on the usage of secondary as opposed to primary sources. Primary evidence is the original form of data and by its very nature cannot be surpassed in authenticity. Thus, researcher’s empiricism has been tested on these grounds. Although sometimes primary documents are not available in a researcher’s subject area.^[clarify]