Enumerative Versus Analytic Studies.

Enumerative Study: Here the goal or purpose of the study is identifiable, i.e., not ambiguous, and the elements of the population are well defined and unchanging under this study. The population could be an existing finite population about which one wants to draw conclusions. In this discussion, a sampling frame, which is a list of sample points to be collected is either available to an investigator or else can be constructed from definition of the study. Example of an Enumerative Study is a designed experiment.

Analytic Study: Is not an Enumerative study, which draws conclusions about a process that does not even exit at the time of the study. Generally, here the result of the study is new because the objective is to improve things to be used in the future. The study does not have a well-defined sampling frame and the impact of this study is highly localized and short term. Example of an Analytic Study is in the production industry, where the new product is developed as an improvement over the existing one.