Rationale

Research

The reasoning behind a research topic and method choice — why this study, on this population, with this method, now.

Sources

1. Merriam-Webster — rationale merriam-webster.com accessed 23 September 2026

Merriam-Webster: “an explanation of controlling principles of opinion, belief, practice, or phenomena”, and “an underlying reason: basis”. From Latin ratio, reason; first recorded 1657. In a paper the first sense is what a rationale section owes the reader — the principle behind the choice, not merely the fact that a choice was made.

Merriam-Webster is cited as the dictionary of record: where an entry defines a word rather than a position, a dictionary is the primary source for it. The research usage above is this lexicon’s own.

Related terms

• Abbreviation
• Abstract
• Abstraction
• Academic Database
• Analysis
• Annotation

From the AJG lexicon archive (July 2026).