The Empirical Paper

Some of you have been coming to me with topics which would accomodate further research but which seem in the literature you are uncovering to offer little that would lend itself to a paper based on real, original inquiry. In such instances, it may prove helpful to explore your topic through what is called an empirical paper, that is, a paper based on direct observation of a specific case. As such, your paper can also be termed a case study paper.

Kairos for an Empirical (Case Study) Paper

Shortly stated, the purpose of the empirical case study is to test a theory concerning a problem found in previous literature through direct observation of a specific case. The data you uncover will form the basis of your paper; the empirical paper is, therefore, a data-driven paper, one which thrives on information gathered through direct observation and which reports and then interprets that data.

The reason for hunting out this data in the first place is, as mentioned above, to test prior theories explaining certain phenomena. As often happens with theories, they can explain and/or predict many cases based on observation and generalization, but they are (as all human constructions are) limited in their scope, accuracy, and/or applicability. The job of the empirical paper is to assemble and organize data from the "nitty-gritty" of everyday life or from controlled experiments and subject it to comparison and analysis in light of a previous theory. Should the paper reveal that the theory does in fact hold up in this instance, then the scholarly community will be benefited knowing that the theory applies in situations not addressed by it. Should, however, the data call the theory into question, then the scholarly community will be benefited as well by having to go about the business of revising previous models for explaining phenomena in order to make those models more effective. If the paper finds that such revision is in order, it will state as much and point the scholarly community in that direction through a discussion of that data.

Structure of the Empirical Paper

The structure of the empirical paper is divided into four (4) main sections. First, of course, is the introduction, in which previous theoretical statements on the given topic are overviewed. Here, the limits of these statements will be shown, and the paper will legitimate its own place in the discourse through a statement of research questions not addressed by prior research. These questions will be answered as the paper moves along.

Secondly is the methodology section, in which the paper offers a glimpse into its own making. The empirical paper is a very "self-revealing" and transparent genre because the rhetorical situation (kairos) for which it is designed. Generally, the empirical paper finds itself in the context of the sciences—both "hard" sciences like biology and chemistry and "soft" sciences like sociology and psychology—in which researchers satisfy the demands of their research communities that they be forthcoming about how they reach their conclusions (e.g., what tests/experiments were conducted, how survey answers were gathered, etc.). For many papers, this section will be the shortest unless the research method involves a high level of complexity, calling for a high level of textual specificity.

Next comes the results section. Here is where the data gathered from the empirical observation (the "footwork" of the research project) is assembled and organized. The data will be so arranged as to answer the research questions named in the introduction. The data will also be described in scrupulous detail, but it will not be accompanied by commentary, which comes last.

The discussion section is the final portion of the paper. It is also the most important part of the paper since it is here that the findings of the results section are interpreted in light of previous literature. Whether the theory holds up or fails in new contexts will be gone into at some length. Here, the researcher is free to speculate and theorize about why the findings turned up as they did. As this section is the most important, it will also need to be the most developed.

Sample Paper

For a sample paper of this genre, click the following link:

http://www.tarleton.edu/~popken/13nursing.html