The term 'empirical' in statistics or data analysis refers to techniques that make use of real data. This may be used as a contrast with theory, but ideally the two work alongside each other. In statistics empirical methods include various forms of empirical evaluation of hypotheses and also empirical statistics when the data does not follow a known or easily calculated distribution.
Also used in hcistats2e: Chap. 1: page 9; Chap. 10: page 111
Also known as: empirical
Used in glossary entries: empirical evaluation, empirical statistics