Tutkimus

Tutkimus is the Finnish term for research or investigation. It denotes a systematic inquiry conducted to discover, explain, or predict phenomena, and it is used across disciplines—natural sciences, social sciences, humanities, and applied fields such as market research and policy analysis. The word combines the verb tutkia, to examine, with the noun-forming suffix -mus.

Scope and aims: Tutkimus seeks reliable knowledge, tests hypotheses, or develops new understandings that can be reproduced or evaluated by others.

Process: A typical tutkimus follows a cycle: formulate a question, review existing literature, design a method, collect and analyze data, interpret results, and report findings. Depending on the discipline, methods may be qualitative, quantitative, or mixed.

Types: basic (theoretical) research and applied (problem-solving) research; qualitative methods (interviews, observations, content analysis) and quantitative methods (experiments, surveys, statistics).

Ethics and quality: Research ethics, data protection, consent, transparency, and integrity are central. Quality is supported by peer review, clear documentation, replication where possible, and open reporting.

Impact and funding: In Finland and elsewhere, tutkimus is supported by universities, public funding agencies, and international programs; dissemination through journals, conferences, and public communication.