Menetelmäksi

Menetelmäksi is the translative form of the Finnish noun menetelmä, meaning method, technique, or approach. The translative case (-ksi) indicates designation as a role or state or a transformation into that state, so men—t is used to say something is to be treated or used as a method. In practice, it answers the question “as what?” and is common in academic, procedural, and policy language to specify the chosen or proposed approach.

Usage and examples

The form often occurs with verbs such as käyttää (to use), pitää (to regard as), or esittää (to present), for example: “käytetään menetelmäksi ilmiön selvittämiseksi” (used as a method to investigate the phenomenon) and “tämä lähestymistapa esitettiin menetelmäksi ongelman ratkaisemiseksi” (this approach was presented as a method for solving the problem). It can also appear in documents that describe design choices, recommendations, or comparative analyses of methods.

Relation to other forms

Menetelmä is the head noun; its other grammatical forms include the partitive menetelmää and the plural menetelmiä. The suffix -ksi is one of several Finnish translative forms used to express designation, transformation, or role. The overall sense is to label or designate something as a method or approach for achieving a goal.

Etymology and related terms

The word menetelmä comes from Finnish roots and has been influenced by Nordic and European borrowings related to the concept of method. Related terms include metodi (method) and metodologia, which share the same semantic field of systematic approaches.