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observational

observational

27 5.0
Based on watching people or events rather than on ideas
  • adjective
  • /ˌɑːbzərˈveɪʃənl/
translation icon : observacional
  • Our study was limited by its observational study design, making causal inference challenging.
  • observational study
  • observational data
  • observational method

Now, this was an observational, a cohort study.

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Examples

  • The MET study includes observations of over 3,000 teachers in Grades 4-9 and is using several observational protocols.

    Academic text (2013)
  • Perhaps the most important reason to conduct observational assessments of classrooms is for the purposes of professional development.

    Academic text (2013)
  • It's going to be long term observational studies.

  • Stop talking about observational studies from self reported data.

  • But according to my observational report, a healthy human host has approximately... three days.

  • This is strictly an observational mission.

  • Next, the authors describe several observational methods for collecting data on classroom environment and student behavior.

    Academic text (2011)
  • Researchers emphasize that much of the evidence so far in the field is observational, meaning the biological mechanisms remain unknown.

    Academic text (2013)
  • In secondary classrooms, there is no current work that provides national-level observational data on these environments.

    Academic text (2013)
  • The research team conducted an observational study to analyze the behavior of birds in their natural habitat.

Synonyms

empirical
vsobservational
  • Formal
62 5.9

Based on what you see or experience rather than on ideas

focuses on information gathered mainly by looking or watching
data-based
vsobservational
1 4.1

Using information from watching or measuring things rather than guessing

focuses on information gathered by watching rather than numbers or measurement
a posteriori
vsobservational
  • Formal
1 9.3

Something that comes from observation or experience rather than theory

is used mainly as an adjective focusing on information from watching

How Observational

observational
27 5.0
anecdotal
52 6.5
experimental
223 4.7
theoretical
133 6.3
speculative
26 6.7

Surface Forms

observational positive

Morphology

observational = observation (transparent) = observe + ation + al

The adjective is formed in the regular way from 'observation' plus '-al', and its meaning is straightforwardly 'relating to observation'.

Etymology

Observational comes from the verb observe, which in turn comes from Latin observare meaning 'to watch' or 'to look at carefully'. So observational describes something based on watching or real facts, not just on ideas or theory.