Explanatory studies are like trying to figure out why your favorite toy works the way it does.
Imagine you have a robot dog that dances when you press a button on its back. You know pressing the button makes it move, but you want to know why it dances, is it because of one button, or several? Maybe you think it’s the red button, but someone else thinks it’s the blue one. An explanatory study helps you find out which one it really is.
Like Solving a Mystery
In an explanatory study, scientists are like detective kids who want to solve a mystery, they already know something happens, but they’re trying to understand why it happens. They test different ideas by changing things around and seeing what happens next.
For example, if the robot dog dances only when you press both the red and blue buttons together, that’s part of the explanation. If it dances even without pressing any buttons sometimes, that adds more clues to the mystery.
Making It Simple
It's like trying to find out why your friend gets happy every time they eat chocolate, is it because of the taste? The sweetness? Or maybe just seeing you?
Explanatory studies help scientists turn "what happens" into "why it happens."
Examples
- A child notices that plants grow taller when watered daily, so they do an explanatory study to see if the extra water is the reason.
- A baker wants to know why some loaves of bread are lighter than others and tests different recipes.
- A student wonders why their pet dog barks at night and keeps track of its behavior over a week.
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See also
- What are observational techniques?
- Are US scientists increasingly moving to other countries?
- How are Exoplanets Discovered?
- David Deutsch - What is Truth?
- How Does 1 What Is A Research Work?