Explorativt

Explorativt is a Swedish adjective and adverb meaning "exploratory." It describes an approach or attitude that seeks to discover and understand phenomena, often without fixed hypotheses. It emphasizes openness, learning from unexpected findings, and iterative development. In academic and professional contexts, explorativt signals that the purpose is to explore rather than to confirm prior assumptions.

In research, explorativt studies aim to map a problem space, generate hypotheses, or develop theories. Methods are typically qualitative or mixed, with open-ended interviews, observations, ethnography, and pilot tests. Designs are flexible and iterative; data collection and analysis occur simultaneously, allowing questions to adapt. Findings are descriptive and conceptual rather than confirmatory, serving as a basis for more targeted studies later.

Common domains include social sciences, user experience, market research, and early product research. Examples include studying how users interact with a new technology without assuming specific usage patterns; collecting narratives to understand needs; or exploring cultural practices to inform theory development. Limitations include limited generalizability, potential bias in interpretation, and longer timeframes required to build a coherent picture. Results often lead to hypotheses and subsequent confirmatory research.

Etymology and usage: the neuter form explorativt is used before neuter nouns (ett explorativt angreppssätt).