Methodologic

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Concerned with the procedures and techniques a field of study employs to gather and analyze information
2. Having to do with the systematic approaches researchers adopt when carrying out an investigation
3. Pertaining to the way a discipline organizes its procedures for reaching reliable conclusions

Etymology: "Methodologic" is a shorter variant of "methodological," formed by dropping the final "-al" from the longer adjective. Both descend from "methodology," which is built from the Greek "methodos," meaning "pursuit" or "way of going after something," combined with the suffix "-logy," from the Greek "logos," meaning "study" or "discourse." Methodology thus means the study of methods, and the adjective describes whatever relates to that study or to a systematic procedure. The adjective took its form in English by adding the suffix "-ical" to the noun, a pattern that came through Latin "-icus" and Old French "-ique." The "-al" that English speakers often add to such words, as in "methodological," comes from Latin "-alis," which passed through Old French into Middle English. Because "-ical" already contains that "-al," the form "methodologic" simply keeps the "-ic" ending on its own.

Synonyms: methodological